#10 Nathan Lopez (St. John's Prep)
Nathan Lopez had a strong freshman cross country season finishing as the top freshman in the Massachusetts with his 16:11 PR from MSTCA Frank Mooney Coacheslast year. His 14th place MIAA Division 1 finish last fall at 16:36 was the fastest of any freshman or sophomore in 2019.
High School
| Indoor | |
| 1000 Meter Run | 2:39.47 |
| 1500 Meter Run | 4:26.42 |
| One Mile Run | 4:27.69 |
| CC | |
| 2000 Meter Run | 5:52.00 |
| 3000 Meter Run | 9:55.90 |
| 5000 Meter Run | 16:11.80 |
On top of the in-state cross country success, he won the Freshman/Sophomore race at Foot Locker Northeast running 16:44 on the difficult Van Cortlandt Park course.
Lopez came into high school with great credentials already. He ran a 2:01 800m, 4:13 1500m and 9:09 3000m during the middle school AAU circuit. Though his high freshman track season abruptly ended after the indoor season he went on to run 4:27 in the Mile and 2:39 in the 1000m. Lopez held a middle school indoor Mile PR of 4:44, showing a 17 second improvement year over year in the event.
Some other things we see in Lopez is the ability to win or contend in big races. Getting a win over a competitive Foot Locker Northeast Freshman/Sophomore field is no easy feat. He also has shown great success against his age group at the AAU Junior Olympic National Championships and New Balance Indoor and Outdoor Nationals.
I expect Lopez to become one of the stars of New England over the next three years, and it wouldn't surprise me if 2020 was the year he had a major breakout on the cross country course. Lopez comes in at #26 in our database's returning rankings, but I'd be surprised if he was not ahead of that at the end of the upcoming season.
