Sponsored by Nike, It was designed to heighten competition between high school cross country teams nationwide.

Because the series is not sanctioned by NFHS, the high school sports governing body, the meet is conducted under normal USATF Open competition rules.

An Open Race was new to the 2006 event, with 30 top boys and girls from around the country given the chance to compete as a team on the national level; however, they did not qualify and therefore Nike did not provide their expenses or clothing.

These selections were based on regional and national rankings updated weekly during the fall cross country season.

The venue has an enclosed 3,000-seat grandstand, allowing spectators to see the whole race, unlike normal cross country meets.

Since NXN is held on the same weekend as the Foot Locker Cross Country West Regional Championship, in 2005 and 2006, the top two runners at NXN who would have otherwise competed in the west region earned automatic bids to the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship.

South Dakota continued its hold on the girls' individual championship, with Betsy Bies winning in a mud-filled 19:23 victory.

On the girls' side, Ashley Higginson from New Jersey won in 19:18, five seconds faster than the previous year's champion.

After Saratoga and Hilton won the previous two years, Fayetteville–Manlius became the third different girls' team from New York to win the national title.

Illinois and New York continued their Nike Team Nationals dominance in the fourth edition of the event at Portland Meadows on December 1, 2007.

Illinois and New York continued adding to their impressive performances at NXN in the 2008 edition in both the boys' and girls' races.

In the boys' team race, North Central High School (Spokane, Washington) won the national title 134–151 over York (Illinois).

In the individual championships, Texas swept the titles with Reed Connor winning on the boys' side in 15:14, and Chelsey Sveinsson taking the girls' victory in 17:27—both times were NXN records up this point.

For the third time in NXN history, New York teams went 1–2 as Saratoga High School reclaimed runner-up status to Fayetteville–Manlius from fourth-place Saugus (California).

The Fayetteville–Manlius dynasty continued with a 74-point team score to top Saratoga's 146 for their fourth consecutive national title as Katie Flood (Iowa) took the girls' individual crown in a time of 17:47.

Arcadia tied the inaugural 2004 national champions, York, for the lowest scoring team in NXN history.

After Boerne (Texas) set the NXN record for the highest scoring champion, either boys or girls (with 195 points) the previous year, Fayetteville–Manlius set the NXN record for the lowest score, either boys or girls en route to their fifth consecutive national championship with a minuscule 27 points.

With a four-point margin of victory, Christian Brothers Academy became the first New Jersey team to claim a national championship with 91 points.

However, unlike 2010, there would not be complete and total domination by Fayetteville–Manlius en route to the championship, as Saratoga would give Fayetteville–Manlius their toughest fight yet for the win.

Tatnall won the third-place trophy on the sixth-runner tiebreaker, giving the school their second podium finish in their history.

The ninth annual edition of the Nike Cross Nationals was held on December 1, 2012, once again at Portland Meadows, Oregon.

The girls of Carmel, Indiana would earn the Midwest girls' first podium finish in NXN history after Wilmette XC Club (New Trier High School, Illinois) had tied for third with Wilmington XC Club (Tatnall School, Delaware) but finished fourth on the sixth-runner tiebreaker.

Whereas in the girls' race it was almost as if it were business as usual, in the boys' race, the mud was even worse and led to surprising results: Sam Wharton of Ohio won in 17:08, which was more than two minutes slower than the winning time in the previous year and is the slowest winning time ever in boys' NXN history.

In the team battle, Fayetteville–Manlius was on pace for an eighth consecutive championship, but Wayzata out of Minnesota (Heartland Champion) had other plans in the last kilometer.

The individual champion—putting an end to a streak of three consecutive champions out of the Midwest at NXN—was Taylor Wilmot of North Spokane XC Club, who won in a very quick 15:00.

In fact, North Spokane XC Club took two of the top three podium spots, as Wilmot's teammate, Tanner Anderson ended up taking third place.

The boys race was supposed to one for the ages with Nico Young, Cole Sprout, and Josh Methner coming off of historic seasons and careers.

Instead, Nico Young was away from the field at 1 km and did not look back, setting a course record on a day where rain fell steadily for the entirety of the race.

He was given a speed rating of 205 by "Tully Runners," indicating the best performance by a high school boy since Drew Hunter in 2015.

On the team side, Newbury Park won on the back of Young and fellow All-American teammate, Jace Aschbrenner.