ARCADIA & MANLIUS CAPTURE NIKE CROSS NATIONAL TEAM TITLES
By Chris Lotsbom
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
(04-Dec)
-- At a cold, windy Portland Meadows Race Track in Portland,
Ore., the seventh annual Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) were held to crown
the top teams in American high school cross country, with additional
bragging rights on the line for the individual winners. With the
temperatures dropping and a gusty wind blowing around 20 MPH (32 KPH),
the muddy course made for classic from-the-gut racing.
The boys
race had a star-studded field, with defending individual NXN champion
Craig Lutz, 2009 Foot Locker Cross Country champion Lukas Verzbicas, and
Bowdoin (N.Y.) course record holder Jim Rosa all competing. Adding to
the competitive mix was California's Ammar Moussa and Elias Gedyon, plus
New Jersey's Ed Cheserek, all of whom had to be considered contenders
for the individual titles.
After the cannon fired, a lead pack of
five separated themselves from the rest of the field. Cheserek, born
in Kenya but currently living in New Jersey, joined Lutz, Verzbicas and
Moussa at front, going through 2
km in 6:11 and 3 km in 9:26. After the 3-K mark, Verzbicas, an elite
junior triathlete, showed why he was the Foot Locker champion last
year. He injected a quick pick-up, creating a slight gap in front of
Lutz and Cheserek going over the "whoop-de-doos." Making it look easy
despite getting a spike wound, Verzbicas prevailed comfortably in
15:59.2.
"This is definitely the top of the top. I am very
relieved to have won this," he said on the live webcast hosted by
RunnerSpace.com "Right at the start I got boxed in pretty bad, but then
I went with the leaders."
Lutz, who is bound for the University
of Texas, made a hard effort to clinch second place in the final 1000
meters, but was out-kicked by Cheserek, 16:01.5 to 16:04.4. Moussa
finished fourth in 16:16.3.
In the team competition, it was
Arcadia (Calif.), led by Moussa (4th), Eric Garibay (35th) and Sergio
Gonzales (39th), which
became the first team ever from California to earn the NXN
championship, scoring 92 points. Behind them was Manlius XC
(Fayetteville-Manlius, N.Y.) in second with 135, and Columbus XC
(Indiana) in third (165).
In the girls race, two harriers broke
away from the field very quickly. Junior Christie Rutledge of Manlius
XC (Fayetteville-Manlius, N.Y.), running in her first Nike Cross
Nationals, took the early lead. Rutledge, the New York Class AA
Champion, kept Plano, Texas's Rachel Johnson three meters back. In her
intimidating black and gold singlet, Rutledge kept the gap consistent,
hitting the 3 km mark in 10:45.42, with Johnson just a fraction of a
second behind. By this point, the two were ten seconds ahead of the
rest of the field.
Johnson, who hadn't lost a meet all season
until the Foot Locker South Regional last week, seemed content staying
behind, biding her time in order to set up for her
final kick. Neck-and-neck over a set of hay bales at 4 km, Johnson
finally felt it was time to move, taking the lead for the first and
final time. Pumping her arms fiercely, she crested the final hill with a
small gap, and never let up, going on to win the final race of her high
school cross country career in a time of 18:16.6. Rutledge was second
(18:21.4), while Amy Eloise-Neale (Northwest-2) finished a distant third
(18:48.8).
"I was just really excited," said the champion
Johnson. "I trained harder this year, and I feel I was in better shape
than last year" (when she finished sixth).
"I just tried to stay
on [Rutledge's] shoulder," she continued. "I was aiming to stay up with
the front runners, and then make a move in the last mile."
In
the team competition, Manlius XC (Fayetteville-Manlius, N.Y.) simply ran
away with the title, scoring only 27 points. Their score was about
half the previous NXN record
for lowest team score of 51 points. With five in the top twelve, and
all seven in the top 30, the Manlius girls won their fifth national
title in a row. Coached by Bill Aris, the Manlius girls are on the
verge of becoming a dynasty in high school cross country.
Second
place went to Manlius's New York rivals, Kinetic XC (Saratoga Springs,
N.Y.) with 104 points. Their best finisher was Taylor Driscoll in 35th
place.
NOTE: Next weekend's Foot Locker Cross Country
Championships in San Diego, Calif., the original end-of-season national
cross country championship for American high school runners, does not
feature a team competition and crowns only individual champions --Ed.