I think it's safe to say that Averi Lowen is the best cross country runner, boy or girl, in state history. And it's entirely possible she's the best runner in state history, at any distance. When I watched her break 17 minutes at Carrollton, that was something I had never seen before and something that I don't know if we will ever see again. It's hard to imagine even seeing her top that performance next year. Is it on par with Maurice Gleaton's sub 10 from this past spring? Probably not quite there, but she's getting close. However, if she becomes the first Georgia runner to win a national title, that could put her there in that conversation. And she's got two shots at it, after earning her Golden ticket to Brooks Nationals, something she definitely deserves. If she somehow wins two national titles? Then we're talking potentially the best XC runner in US history.
And now that she's won NXRSE two years in a row, something else nobody has ever done, let's see how Georgia runners stack up...