Hacker uses late kick to win NXN Heartland

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

 
For the second week in a row Olin Hacker of Madison West (Wisc.) has risen to the occasion and won a championship meet.

Hacker overtook South Dakota champion Will Lauer in the final 100 meters with a big kick to win the NXN Heartland Regional on Sunday at Yankton Trails in South Dakota in 15:05.4. A week eariler, Hacker dipped under 15 minutes at the Wisconsin state meet.

With one national-meet ticket already in hand (NXN), Hacker will try to earn a spot at Foot Locker Midwest next. Last year, he missed the trip to San Diego by two spots.

"I was pretty confident coming into the race," Hacker said. "I thought I could run with all the guys (at Heartland)."

The first four teams to advance to the national championship at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland and all four come from Minnestoa. The Wayzata (Minn.) boys and girls, who both won on Sunday, will return to the national meet, along with the Willmar girls and the Edina boys. Wayzata's girls are the defending NXN national champions.

At the front of the girls race, Bethany and Megan Hasz reversed their order from a week earlier at the Minnesota state meet. Bethany won the NXN regional, followed by Stephanie Jenks, making her cross country season debut, and Megan Hasz was third.

A day earlier, Jenks swam in the Iowa state swimming championships, placing 16th in the 500-yard freestyle and taking a leg on Linn-Mar's third-place 400-yard freestyle relay.

Bethany Hasz won the NXN regional race for the second straight year in 17:06 -- 11 seconds faster than her winning time in 2013. Jenks, a member of the U.S. team at the IAAF World Juniors, was next with 17:12.3.

In the boys race, a large pack clung together for about two miles before Lauer took the pace up a notch and broke it apart. Lauer, Hacker and Minnesotans Connor Olson and Joe Klecker stuck together until late in the race.

Hacker also used a late kick to take the win at the Roy Griak Invitational earlier this fall.

"I'm really feeling good right now," he said. "It's great for my confidence going into the rest of the season to put together two races like that."