Dylan Jacobs Wins Foot Lockers to Make Carl Sandburg High in Illinois The First With Two Different FL Champs (Lukas Verzbicas)
by LetsRun.com
December 9, 2017
Dylan Jacobs, a senior at Carl Sandburg High, bounced back from a 13th-place finish at NXN last week to win the 2017 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 15:19.7, ahead of fast-closing sophomore Graydon Morris (Aledo, TX), who was second in 15:23.3. Lukas Verzbicas, the 2009 and 2010 Foot Locker champ and a Carl Sandburg graduate, held the finish line tape today, as Carl Sandburg became the first school to produce two separate individual champions at Foot Lockers.
Boys’ Race
With no clear favorite, the first mile was a cautious one. West Regional champion Kashon Harrison (Red Valley, AZ) was the leader at 4:55.7, but there was a tightly-bunched pack behind him, with all but one boy within five seconds of the lead. The first serious action of the race took place as the field climbed the course’s major hill for the first time, with Harrison pushing the pace and opening up a five-meter lead.
On the downhill, Dalton Hengst (York, PA) took a page out of Reed Brown’s winning playbook from last year by sprinting to the lead but his advantage would prove to be short-lived as Jacobs overtook him just after the halfway point. Jacobs soon had company in the familiar form of Danny Kilrea (La Grange Park, IL), a fellow Illinoisan and Notre Dame commit, and by two miles (9:48.3), those two had opened up a seven-second gap on the field with three South athletes (Morris, Michael Phillips, and John Tatter) forming the chase pack.
As they approached the hill for the second time, Jacobs made another move. His lead was 10 meters at the base but had almost doubled by the top. Kilrea had no response, and as they headed downhill and back across the road to the finish, he was fading as Jacobs continued to motor.
Jacobs kept pushing until he spotted the finish line, at which point he began to smile and soak in his victory. He noticed Verzbicas holding the finish line tape and pointed excitedly, the two men sharing a special moment and a unique accomplishment in high school history.
Morris closed extremely quickly, cutting what was an 8.7-second deficit at 2.5 miles to 3.6 by the finish, but had to settle for second, the highest finish for a sophomore since Verzbicas won it all in 2009 (Verzbicas was old for his grade and reclassified as a senior the following year).
Jacobs’ winning time of 15:19.7 was the slowest since Chad Hall’s 15:20 in 2006.
Analysis below results.
Foot Locker National Championships December 9, 2017 - Balboa Park - San Diego, CA Results by Finish Results www.finishedresults.com Boys ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLACE NAME YR HOMETOWN FINISH PACE 0.5 MILE 1 MILE 1.5 MILE 2 MILE 2.5 MILE 3 MILE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Dylan Jacobs 12 Orland Park IL 15:19.7 4:56 2:26 4:57 7:16 9:49 12:20 14:48 2 Graydon Morris 10 Aledo TX 15:23.3 4:58 2:26 4:57 7:19 9:57 12:28 14:56 3 Daniel Kilrea 12 La Grange Park IL 15:27.3 4:59 2:26 4:57 7:18 9:49 12:22 14:56 4 John Tatter 12 Winston-Salem NC 15:27.9 4:59 2:26 4:58 7:20 9:57 12:27 14:58 5 Jake Renfree 11 Knoxville TN 15:38.7 5:03 2:27 4:59 7:27 10:07 12:42 15:10 6 Robert Carter Chees 11 Keller TX 15:41.1 5:03 2:26 4:58 7:22 10:02 12:40 15:12 7 Drew Bosley 11 Thiensville WI 15:41.9 5:04 2:26 4:58 7:23 10:06 12:39 15:14 8 Drew Thompson 12 Trumbull CT 15:43.7 5:04 2:26 4:58 7:26 10:07 12:42 15:13 9 Clayton Mendez 12 Chicago IL 15:45.0 5:05 2:27 4:58 7:26 10:08 12:43 15:15 10 Devin Hart 11 Point Pleasant NJ 15:45.9 5:05 2:26 4:57 7:23 10:06 12:41 15:13 11 Chad Johnson 12 Galion OH 15:46.6 5:05 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:08 12:43 15:19 12 Zachary Kreft 12 Sunbury OH 15:48.2 5:06 2:26 4:59 7:24 10:02 12:40 15:13 13 Harrison Scudamore 12 Denver CO 15:48.3 5:06 2:27 4:59 7:28 10:11 12:46 15:19 14 Kashon Harrison 11 Fruitland NM 15:50.9 5:07 2:26 4:56 7:17 10:00 12:40 15:17 15 Carter Coughlin 12 Knoxville TN 15:52.3 5:07 2:26 4:56 7:21 10:03 12:42 15:20 16 Michael Phillips 12 Tallahassee FL 15:52.3 5:07 2:26 4:57 7:18 9:56 12:40 15:22 17 Collin Ullrich 12 Galt CA 15:57.0 5:08 2:26 4:57 7:25 10:08 12:45 15:27 18 Fahd Nasser 12 Jersey City NJ 15:57.8 5:09 2:27 4:59 7:30 10:15 12:53 15:27 19 Matt Scrape 12 Pickerington OH 15:58.5 5:09 2:27 5:00 7:30 10:13 12:50 15:29 20 David Melville 12 Summerfield NC 15:59.2 5:09 2:25 4:58 7:30 10:16 12:55 15:29 21 Meikael Beaudoin-Ro 12 Sunnyvale CA 16:01.1 5:10 2:27 5:00 7:31 10:14 12:50 15:29 22 Darius Riley 12 Rancho Cucamonga CA 16:01.5 5:10 2:27 5:00 7:31 10:18 12:58 15:32 23 Rusty Kujdych 12 Feasterville PA 16:06.6 5:12 2:26 4:59 7:29 10:15 12:57 15:36 24 Dalton Hengst 12 York PA 16:08.0 5:12 2:26 4:57 7:16 9:59 12:42 15:33 25 Damien Dilcher 12 Brick NJ 16:10.9 5:13 2:26 4:57 7:23 10:07 12:51 15:37 26 Matthew Schadler 12 Chandler IN 16:14.3 5:14 2:26 5:03 7:34 10:20 13:01 15:41 27 Shuaib Aljabaly 12 Coldwater MI 16:15.2 5:14 2:26 4:58 7:26 10:16 13:01 15:45 28 Nathan Lawler 12 Pittsford NY 16:15.2 5:14 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:15 12:58 15:42 29 Joaquin Martinez de 12 San Diego CA 16:15.7 5:15 2:26 4:57 7:23 10:09 12:55 15:44 30 Roberto Porras 12 Draper UT 16:15.7 5:15 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:15 12:58 15:44 31 Bronson Winter 12 Farr West UT 16:23.7 5:17 2:27 4:58 7:28 10:15 12:58 15:50 32 Justin Hartshorn 12 Alpine UT 16:25.5 5:18 2:28 5:00 7:34 10:25 13:11 15:54 33 Kyle Harkabus 10 Senoia GA 16:27.4 5:18 2:27 5:00 7:34 10:26 13:12 15:57 34 Zachary Winter 12 Farr West UT 16:29.6 5:19 2:27 4:59 7:29 10:20 13:10 15:57 35 Titus Winders 12 Mansfield TN 16:36.1 5:21 2:26 4:59 7:33 10:25 13:12 16:05 36 Mason Gatewood 12 Garden City NY 16:37.9 5:22 2:26 4:58 7:29 10:26 13:19 16:08 37 Turlan Morlan 12 Spokane WA 16:38.8 5:22 2:28 5:01 7:39 10:29 13:13 16:04 38 Lucas Aramburu 11 Brookline MA 16:41.1 5:23 2:26 4:59 7:33 10:25 13:14 16:07 39 Tristan Shelgren 12 Boxford MA 16:55.6 5:27 2:25 4:56 7:26 10:25 13:19 16:20 40 Camren Fischer 11 Fayetteville AR 17:14.5 5:33 2:27 5:00 7:36 10:42 13:38 16:36
Quick Take: For the second year in a row, a boy won Foot Lockers after failing to finish in the top three at his state meet
In our preview, we noted the similarities between Jacobs and last year’s champion Reed Brown, two big talents who entered Foot Locker over a month removed from their last victories. However, like Brown, Jacobs had the fastest 1600/mile PR in the field and, like Brown, Jacobs is now a Foot Locker champion.
Brown and Jacobs also had an in-state rival whom they struggled to beat until Foot Lockers. For Brown, it was Sam Worley, and for Jacobs, it was Kilrea. Both Worley and Kilrea beat Brown and Jacobs four straight times (states, Nike regionals, FL regionals, NXN) before turning the tables at FL nationals.
Here’s how Brown and Jacobs’ postseason runs compare to one another.
Reed Brown, 2016 | Dylan Jacobs, 2017 | |
States finish | 4th | 6th |
NXR finish | 2nd | 4th |
FL regional finish | 6th | 5th |
NXN finish | 6th | 13th |
FL finals finish | 1st | 1st |
We should point out, however, that Jacobs was sick before the Illinois state meet, and that illness persisted the following week ahead of NXR Midwest. But even at 100% Kilrea, who wound up third today, would have been tough to beat at states (though Jacobs did beat him at the sectional meet the week before).
“He’s beaten me more than I’ve beaten him and I really respect him,” Jacobs said of Kilrea.
One thing’s for sure: Notre Dame is going to be very happy with today’s results. Jacobs (1st), Kilrea (3rd), and Zach Kreft (12th) are all going to South Bend next year.
Quick Take: NXN was undoubtedly stronger in 2017, but will that change next year?
The fact that Jacobs won today, and his slow winning time in ideal conditions, was more evidence that NXN was the stronger of the two national meets this year as he could only manage 13th a week ago in Portland. Obviously runners have good and bad days (Jacobs lost to both Kilrea and Drew Bosley last week and beat both convincingly today), but it’s hard to argue that FL was better than NXN in 2017.
That may not be the case in 2018, however, as sophomore sensation Graydon Morris — who was second today and also qualified as a freshman last year — said he wants to emulate join Jorge Torres as the only boy to qualify for four Foot Locker finals (he also said he wants to run 8:45 for 3200 on the track this year).
Considering five of the top six at NXN last week were seniors, Morris may enter next fall as the #1 runner in the country. If he runs FL and FL can engineer a showdown between Lane and Tuohy (Lane said today she’s running FL again next year, and Tuohy has said that she wants to race Lane at some point), FL may be the more prestigious meet in 2018.
Girls recap here: Claudia Lane (17:03) Crushes Field to Win Second Straight Title at 2017 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships