The fields are almost set for the 2012 Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships. This morning, three of the four regional qualifiers were run to determine the ten individuals who would earn a spot on the starting line in San Diego.

Championships in cross country are unique. From the regional to national level, you only get one shot to make it to the next level.

Other sports have entire seasons to determine a team’s seed in the playoffs followed by a series of games. If you lose one, it’s alright - you can make it up later in the season.

Even in the track and field, there are safety nets. Automatic qualifiers allow top individuals or relay teams some leeway come qualification time. Just in case something happens to the top seeded runner, they’ll still be able to move on to the next level.

In a rare, but logical case, World Championship gold medalists automatically qualify for the next outdoor championship. This explains why double 2007 World Champion, Bernard Lagat, ran the 800m rather than the 1500m or 5000m at 2009 trials. There wasn’t any room for error because errors didn’t exist in this scenario.

This is why cross country is different. There is no protection in the woods from bears, being spiked, or missing the national meet. Sometimes the best runners have off-days and don’t make it to Foot Locker or NXN.

As Kurt Vonnegut said, “So it goes.”



Rest in peace, you brilliant man.

Midwest Regional

The story of the day comes from the Foot Locker Midwest Regional in Kenosha, WI. 

One mile in, everything seemed normal. A group lead by Erin Finn, Maria Hauger from Shakopee, MN, Courtney Ackerman from Wilmette, and Jordyn Colter from Centennial, CO passed the first mile in 5:31.

One of the pre-race favorites, Anna Rohrer from Mishawaka, IN, seemed poised to take the victory with a mile left in the race. Rohrer had a 10m lead on Hauger and Ackerman as she fly by the marker in 10:51.

Rohrer glided away for the win and a new course record in 16:54.

The results are linked below. There are two big surprises.

Unfortunately, Erin Finn will not be able to improve on her second place finish from the 2011 FL Finals. Finn faded late in the race and finished 12th, two spots from an automatic qualifier.

When we talked to Finn last week, it seemed as her anemia problems were behind her after she had won the Michigan XC title. We’re not sure what happened to Finn today, but one thing is for certain: She’ll be back.

Edit: Finn had the stomach flu

Another sub-16:20 5k’er who had us looking down the finishing chute in confusion was Warsaw Community High School senior Ashley Erba. Erba had finished first at the NXN Midwest Regional, but deferred her spot because she did not “want to race five weeks in a row.”

Instead, Erba chose to risk the chance and try and qualify for Foot Locker. Unfortunately, Erba finished 65th in 18:55. There are too many unconfirmed reports, but this is very atypical for a runner as dominant as Erba.

While we can find Erba in the results sheet, we cannot find senior Julia Bos. Bos finished 10th at the 2011 Foot Locker Finals and most recently won the Michigan State XC Championships - Lower Peninsula in 17:20.40.

She didn’t run the NXN regional meet as we thought she had chosen to return to Foot Locker.

What’s going on in the Midwest?

As Vonnegut would say, “So it goes.”

The boy’s race was a bit less stressful. Senior Nicholas Raymond from Erie, MI lead through two miles in 9:53. Approximately 10m behind was pre-race favorite Jake Leingang from Bismark, ND. Leingang and Sam Wharton from Tipp City, OH reeled in Raymond and went stride for stride to the finish.

Leingang was credited with the win in 14:56 and Wharton was second with the same finishing time. Raymond hung on for third in 15:02.

Foot Locker Midwest Seeded results

South Regional

Sean McGorty didn’t need a safety net. The standout senior from Chantilly High School, Virginia was on a mission from the gun. Earlier this season at the Great American XC Festival, we saw McGorty run hard from the start and win one of the best duels we’ve seen from this season.

McGorty set the pace and was alone as he passed the first mile in 4:31.



Behind him was an anxious chase pack. There were only nine tickets left to San Diego and at least fifteen runners who were still in contention.

While McGorty had established himself up front, Joshua Brickell from Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, GA didn’t want it to leave it to chance. While McGorty passed two miles in 9:18, Brickell had broken away from the chase pack and was only 17-seconds behind the leader.

The two contenders didn’t have to worry about automatic qualifiers. McGorty broke the tape at FL South with a time of 14:29. He broke the previous course record held by Andrew Bumbalough by four seconds. Brickell took second in 14:49. Last year, Brickell took 8th at FL Finals and McGorty placed 10th.

Foot Locker Qualifiers in Bold
1 14:28 1425 Sean McGorty  12 Fairfax, VA
2 14:49 211 Joshua Brickell  12 Lawrenceville, GA
3 14:54 2471 Aaron Templeton  11 Knoxville, TN
4 14:58 2157 Jacob Thomson  12 Louisville, KY
5 14:58 588 Robert Domanic  12 Lewisville, TX
6 14:59 1019 Brad Hort  12 Peachtree City, GA
7 15:00 1435 Quintin McKinnish  11 Talbott, TN
8 15:03 765 Noah Gade  12 Stillwater, OK
9 15:04 1005 Simon Holden  12 Lookout Mountain, GA
10 15:06 573 Brent Demarest  11 Charleston, SC
11 15:07 6 Bakri Abushouk  12 Cary, NC
12 15:11 1113 Patrick Joseph  12 Leesburg, VA
13 15:15 2154 Conner Thompson  12 Murfreesboro, TN
14 15:15 2196 Nicholas Tuck  12 Burke, VA
15 15:16 1985 Trevor Sleight  12 Asheville, NC

The favorites also separated themselves from the rest of the field in the Girl’s Seeded Race. Sandie Raines from Kingwood, TX and Sophie Chase of Burke, VA lead the field through the mile in 5:11.

The field has become a bit more definite a mile later. Karis Jochen from College Station, TX moved up to challenge Chase as they passed two miles in 10:51.



Chase pulled away with 600m left in the race to take the win in 17:05. Jochen was second in 17:07.

Foot Locker Qualifiers in Bold
1 17:05 393 Sophie Chase  12 Burke, VA
2 17:07 1092 Karis Jochen  12 College Station, TX
3 17:10 609 Margaret Drazba  12 Saint Marys, WV
4 17:11 539 Alex Davis  12 Ardmore, OK
5 17:12 328 Carmen Carlos  12 Mobile, AL
6 17:12 156 Bridget Blake  12 Orlando, FL
7 17:12 1745 Sandie Raines  12 Kingwood, TX
8 17:19 21 Caroline Alcorta  10 Springfield, VA
9 17:29 1172 Allie Klimkiewicz  10 Oakton, VA
10 17:32 1645 Amelia Paladino  11 Morgantown, WV
11 17:39 890 Alana Hadley  10 Charlotte, NC
12 17:44 736 Katie Fortner  11 Roanoke, VA
13 17:51 733 Kathryn Foreman  9 Fayetteville, GA
14 17:54 961 Emily Helms  12 Mustang, OK
15 17:55 1520 Kayla Montgomery  11 Winston Salem, NC


The finish.

The first big surprise from the morning came from the South Regional. Pre-race favorite, sophomore Alana Hadley from Charlotte, NC, finished in the dreaded 11th spot. Unfortunately, she was the first finisher not go make it to FL Finals.

Even as a sophomore in high school, Hadley is a true distance runner. She’s posted personal bests in the 5k (16:51), 10k (34:59), and set the USA single-age record of 1:16:36 in the half-marathon. She placed 34th at FL Finals last year.

So what happened to the distance running phenomenon? Reports indicate that she strained her achilles a week ago during a workout and restrained it early in the race this morning. Her 11th place finish isn’t solely disappointing, but is valiant as well. She grit her teeth, ran with heart, and just missed out on another Foot Locker appearance.

So it goes.

Northeast Regional

Edward Cheserek missed the beginning of this cross country season. The defending Foot Locker champion sat out from racing as he prepared for the SAT in lieu of as he'll be looking to run in college next year. One thing he wasn’t going to miss was the 2012 Foot Locker Finals.

In the fashion that’s typical for a king, Cheserek lead into the famed Van Cortlandt Park woods and never relinquished his lead. He broke the tape in 15:21.8.

Two runners we right up with him for the majority of the race. Jonathan Green from Berlin, MA and Shawn Wilson from Marlton, NJ tried to hang with Cheserek for as long as possible. At the mile, the two were on Cheserek’s heels. By two miles, only Green was chasing with Wilson in third. The pair finished in that order with Green crossing the line in 15:36.8 and Wilson in 15:42.5.

Foot Locker Qualifiers in Bold
1     1 Cheserek, Edward              12 Newark               NJ 15:21.8 
2     3 Green, Jonathan               12 Berlin               MA 15:36.8 
3  1309 Wilson, Shawn                 12 Marlton              NJ 15:42.5 
4  1274 Shearn, Brendan               12 Frackville           PA 15:45.5 
5   612 Kroon, Kyle                   11 Toms River           NJ 15:46.0 
6  1136 Crawley, Trevor               12 Cumberland           RI 15:47.3 
7  1234 Norris, Max                   12 Narberth             PA 15:48.3 
8   725 Alvarado, Chris               11 Fairfield            CT 15:49.1 
9   603 Kennedy, Brent                11 New Kensington       PA 15:50.9 
10  1251 Pondel, Austin                12 Columbus             PA 15:51.0 
11  1351 O'Donnell, Michael            12 Methuen              MA 15:54.8 
12  1109 Bertrand, William             12 Germantown           MD 15:55.5 
13  1330 Grosvenor, Daniel             12 Cabot                VT 16:02.0 
14   582 Hanko, Josiah                 11 Montville            NJ 16:03.0 
15  1250 Plunkett, Malcolm             12 South Burlington     VT 16:03.3

It was the lucky number three for Catarina Rocha. The senior was Peabody, MA took the lead from Katie Lembo from Penfield, NY after two miles and pulled away for the win in 17:49.5. Lembo hung on for a third place finish in 18:11.0 and Megan Curham from Warren, NJ made the late charge to take second in 18:08.5.

Foot Locker Qualifiers in Bold
1    11 Rocha, Catarina               12 Peabody              MA 17:49.5 
2  1142 Curham, Megan                 12 Warren               NJ 18:08.5 
3     8 Lembo, Katie                  11 Penfield             NY 18:11.0 
4   666 Rome, Regan                   11 Dallas               PA 18:13.3 
5  1705 Shehadeh, Anoush              10 Larchmont            NY 18:15.0 
6   514 Barry, MacKenzie              11 Mendham              NJ 18:23.0 
7   672 Saenger, Marissa              11 Clarence             NY 18:31.3 
8  1259 Ruskan, Marisa                12 Bound Brook          NJ 18:31.8 
9   274 Reilly, Megan                  9 Warwick              NY 18:35.8 
10     4 Weisner, Kennedy              11 Saint Marys          PA 18:36.8 
11     7 Brown, Bethanie               12 Waterville           ME 18:42.3 
12  1103 Aldrich, Stephanie            12 West Chester         PA 18:48.5 
13   690 Steinke, Kara                 11 Collegeville         PA 18:53.8 
14   649 Norris, Josette               11 Tenafly              NJ 18:54.3 
15   221 Clahane, Mady                  9 Mechanicsburg        PA 18:57.3

We’ll have to wait until December 1st and the West Regional to find out the complete Foot Locker Final start list.