Northville Girls Run Strong While Four Serve NXN Suspension


This past weekend at an early season cross country meet, the top four returners from Northville High School did not compete. According to Brad Emons of hometownlife.com, Ana Barrott, Cayla Eckenroth, Olivia Harp and Rachel Zimmer were serving the first of a three-meet suspension as retribution for competing at Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) last December.

A dramatic nine-day period last November saw the following events happen:

  • Northville placed second at NXN Midwest and became the first team from Michigan to qualify for NXN
  • The MHSAA said they were not allowed to go to NXN, per an old rule that disallows participation in all-star games or national championships or face suspension from high school sports for a max of one year
  • This rule had not prevented the girls from participating in the NXN Regional every year since 2013
  • There was some nasty back-and-forth internet blogging and emailing between the MHSAA and Northville parents [read the full story here]
  • The Northville parents threatened legal action
  • Northville and the MHSAA came to an undisclosed agreement that allowed the girls to compete at NXN, where they placed 17th

Could Northville qualify for a second straight NXN appearance? It's possible. They did not quite make the Saucony Flo50 Pre-Season Rankings, but they nearly won the AA Running Company End of Summer Classic even without their top four runners. Sophomore Nicole Cybul led the charge in fourth place with a 19:34 run, as Northville scored 77 points to take second behind Ann Arbor Pioneer (59 points).

Also of note: Grandville sophomore Madison Malon defeated her teammate, Madison Troy, who is a back-to-back NXN/Foot Locker All-American last fall and ranked No. 12 on the Saucony Flo50, for the overall title. Malon ran 18:25.1 to Troy's 18:34.