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Verzbicas and Goethals Win Foot LockersAfter an amazing come-from-behind finish from Megan Goethals to catch Chelsea Sveinsson, sophomore Lukas Verzbicas crushed the boys by 15 seconds in a blowout margin not seen since 2002 By LetsRun.com Boys Race The last boy to win the Foot Locker Championships as a junior was Dathan Ritzenhein in 1999. That year Ritzenhein ran 14:29, the fastest time ever recorded at the Foot Locker Finals. It is widely considered to be a rare and special feat for any boy to win the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships before their senior year. Verzbicas stayed in the lead pack for the first mile and waited until the eighth minute to put his stamp on the race. Before pulling away Verzbicas briefly allowed Texas junior and Nike Cross Nationals champion Craig Lutz to lead. The two-man show was quickly transformed to a one-man display of dominance when Verzbicas took off for good. While extending his lead to over 100m, Verzbicas looked back occasionally to measure his opponents, the closest being Flagstaff's Brian Shrader who would end up 5th, 23 seconds behind. No runner ate into Verzbicas' lead as he basically cruised home unpressed. After the race Verzbicas calmly answered questions with a slight grin on his face. Verzbicas was in every way the most comfortable runner on the course. In a profile in his hometown paper Southtown Star this week, Verzbicas' coach John O'Malley made some quotes that caught our eye including what seemed like a short-sighted quote at the time considering Verzbicas is still a sophomore, "Lukas might be the best distance runner in American high school history." It wasn't until after the race, however, that we took notice of the following quote: "When we've seen Lukas this week, he has been grinning about the opportunity to compete against runners such as Craig Lutz, of Texas, who recently won a Nike national title. Most kids would be intimidated by that, but Lukas is as excited as could be. That is the mark of a champion." Sure enough, Verzbicas was grinning during his pre-race introduction, a sort of all-knowing, sly grin that certainly spoke volumes of his confidence just minutes before the race. We saw the grin and thought, "well nobody's beating this guy!" Lutz, vying to become the first NXN/Foot Locker double winner in the same year, certainly couldn't match the cool stride of Verzbicas and came home in 4th place over 20 seconds behind the triathlon-trained Illinois resident. Comparing Verzbicas' win to Ritzenhein's 1999 triumph, we can see that the now American record holder at 5000m had a very tough task. In 1999, Ritzenhein won as a junior to beat seniors Don Sage, Matt Tegenkamp, Josh Rohatinsky and Ian Dobson by between 5 and 18 seconds (results here). One certainly didn't get the impression that Verzbicas' competition were of the same caliber as Sage (the most feared runner from the '99 class), Tegenkamp (now a 12:58 5k'er), Rohatinsky (NCAA xc champ) and Dobson (accomplished professional) considering his biggest rival was supposed to be a junior who was not even favored to win NXN. 2009 seems to be a strange year without a single senior cross country front-runner. The last time a runner won Foot Lockers by 15 seconds or more was 2002 when Chris Solinsky won by 21 seconds over Wesley Smith. Verzbicas' win should therefore be labeled as remarkable for two reasons: he's only a sophomore and he won by a margin rarely seen at the national championships. The top boy senior finisher was California's Matt McElroy. Speaking after the race, McElroy noted that to earn second was a huge accomplishment for him and his whole plan was not to run to win but rather to run a smart race. Job well done for McElroy as he defeated more highly touted Craig Lutz and Brian Shrader. 2009 Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals - 12/12/2009 Morley Field, San Diego, CA Last Completed Event Event 2 Boys 5k Run CC ======================================================================= Name Year School Finals Points ======================================================================= Results - Men 1 Lukas Verzbicas 10 MW,Orland Hills,IL 15:07.8 1 2 Matthew McElroy 12 WE,HuntingtonBch,CA 15:22.6 2 3 Wade Meddles 12 WE,Gardnerville, NV 15:24.0 3 4 Craig Lutz 11 SO,HighlandVllg,TX 15:29.6 4 5 Brian Shrader 12 WE,Flagstaff, AZ 15:30.9 5 6 Jake Hurysz 12 SO,Mebane, NC 15:31.9 6 7 Tyler Byrne 12 MW,Georgetown, IN 15:33.1 7 8 Kirubel Erassa 12 SO,Grayson, GA 15:34.2 8 9 Shane Moskowitz 12 WE,Bremerton, WA 15:34.5 9 10 Matthew Mizereck 12 SO,Tallahassee, FL 15:36.8 10 11 Chris Walden 11 MW,Carmel, IN 15:37.7 11 11 Steve Magnuson 12 WE,Oro Valley, AZ 15:37.7 12 13 Martin Grady 12 MW,Burr Ridge, IL 15:38.0 13 14 Brandon Lord 12 SO,Hixson, TN 15:39.6 14 15 Dave Oster 12 NE,Verona, NJ 15:41.5 15 16 Tyler Udland 12 NE,Short Hills, NJ 15:42.3 16 17 Scott Fauble 12 MW,Golden, CO 15:43.4 17 18 Kevin Dowd 12 SO,Farifax, VA 15:43.6 18 19 Quinn Raseman 12 NE,East Setauket,NY 15:44.8 19 20 Blake Williams 11 SO,Durham, NC 15:44.9 20 21 Brad Miles 12 NE,Hatfield, PA 15:45.6 21 22 Walter Schafer 12 MW,Centennial, CO 15:45.8 22 23 Brian Atkinson 12 SO,MelbourneBch,FL 15:46.3 24 Rad Gunzenhauser 12 NE,Pittsburg, PA 15:47.3 23 25 Anderson Barclay 11 SO,FairOaksRnch, TX 15:47.8 26 Danny Nicolls 12 MW,Parker, CO 15:48.2 24 27 Chris Bendtsen 12 NE,Wolcott, CT 15:49.5 25 28 Ryan Poland 12 MW,Westminster, CO 15:50.9 29 Conner Peloquin 12 WE,Gig Harbor, WA 15:51.9 26 30 Cody Helbling 12 WE,Coeur d'Alene,ID 15:52.0 27 31 Ryan Gil 11 NE,Pittsburg, PA 15:52.5 28 32 Kurt Ruegg 12 WE,Yountville, CA 15:58.2 33 Pablo Rosales 12 WE, San Pedro, CA 16:06.0 34 Billy Orman 11 WE,Tuba City, AZ 16:07.0 35 John Raneri 12 NE,New Fairfiled, C 16:09.9 36 John Murray 11 NE,Shrewsbury, MA 16:14.5 37 Cory Puffett 12 NE,UpperMarlboro,MD 16:16.7 38 Colby Alexander 12 MW,Strongsville,OH 16:19.0 39 Nathan Karr 12 MW,Ann Arbor, MI 16:34.2 40 Colin Barker 12 SO,Atlantic Beach, 16:57.4
Girls Race When Sveinsson's pre-arranged take-off point arrived, she confidently and smoothly bolted, opening a huge gap on everyone in the field save for Goethals. But even Goethals was way back, let's say 4 or 5 seconds when the gap was at its biggest. This gap held up even as the leaders passed the 3-mile mark signaling about 150m to the finish..
2009 Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals - 12/12/2009 Morley Field, San Diego, CA Last Completed Event Event 1 Girls 5k Run CC ======================================================================= Name Year School Finals Points ======================================================================= Results - Women 1 Megan Goethals 12 MW,Rochester, MI 17:06.9 1 2 Chelsey Sveinsson 11 SO,Dallas, TX 17:07.1 2 3 Emily Sisson 12 MW,Chesterfield, MO 17:18.8 3 4 Aisling Cuffe 11 NE,Cornwall-Hdsn,NY 17:21.4 4 5 Megan Ferowich 10 SO,Caryville, TN 17:31.0 5 6 Kelsey Lakowske 11 MW,Boulder, CO 17:32.6 6 7 Chelsea Ley 12 NE,Clarksboro, NJ 17:37.2 7 8 Katie Flood 12 MW,Des Moines, IA 17:42.0 8 9 Ashlie Decker 12 MW,Des Moines, IA 17:43.8 9 10 Wesley Frazier 9 SO,Raleigh, NC 17:44.2 10 11 Rachel Johnson 11 SO,Plano, TX 17:51.0 11 12 Molly Grabill 11 WE,Poway, CA 17:52.2 12 13 Jessica Tonn 12 WE,Paradise Vlly,AZ 17:57.1 13 14 Liberty Miller 12 WE,West Hills, CA 17:58.1 14 15 Karlie Garcia 9 WE,Roseville, CA 17:59.7 15 16 Amanda Russell 12 SO,Cedar Park, TX 18:00.7 16 17 Megan Morgan 12 WE,Del Mar, CA 18:01.9 17 18 Marielle Hall 12 NE,Mt Laurel, NJ 18:05.8 18 19 Diane Robison 12 MW,Chesterfield, MO 18:07.5 19 20 Grace Tinkey 9 SO,Macon, GA 18:08.0 20 21 Sara Sargent 9 NE,Yardley, PA 18:09.4 21 22 Abbey Leonardi 10 NE,Kennebunkport,ME 18:10.6 22 23 Maddie Meyers 10 WE,Seattle, WA 18:11.6 23 24 Avery Clifton 12 MW,Topeka, KS 18:12.0 24 25 Julie Nacouzi 11 WE,Santa Rosa, CA 18:15.0 25 26 Theresa Devine 12 WE,San Rafael, CA 18:17.2 27 Colleen Schmidt 11 NE,Point Lookout,NY 18:17.9 26 28 Kathryn Fluehr 11 SO,Naples, FL 18:18.6 27 29 Marya Haegler 12 MW,Cascade, WI 18:24.4 30 Shannon Osika 11 MW,Waterford, MI 18:28.3 31 Alaina Alvarez 11 WE,Dana Point, CA 18:28.7 32 Lauren Mullins 10 NE,Binghamton, NY 18:29.2 28 32 Lauren Sara 12 NE,Stratford, CT 18:29.2 34 Erika Fluehr 11 SO,Naples, FL 18:34.1 35 Sara Kroll 12 MW,Westland, MI 18:35.2 36 Meg Ryan 12 NE,Fairfield, CT 18:38.9 37 Emily Durgin 10 NE,Standish, ME 18:40.6 38 Paige Kvartunas 12 SO,Springfield, VA 18:57.6 39 Shelby Hayes 12 SO,Orlando, FL 19:10.5 40 Jacque Taylor 12 WE,Petaluma, CA 19:18.0
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