Favorites Lukas Verzbicas And Aisling Cuffe Take Care Of Business At 2010 Foot Locker Finals
Verzbicas Cements His Legacy As An All-Time Great With A Repeat Victory
By LetsRun.com
Dec. 11, 2010
The favorites came through in dominant fashion at 31st Foot Locker Cross Country Championships on Saturday in San Diego, as Lukas Verzbicas and Aisling Cuffe earned dominant victories.
The girls race was first and Cuffe dominated as she has all season. The senior who this year had already set course records at great American (16:40) and Bowdoin Park (17:17) had a 20-meter lead by halfway and from there it would grow to a ridiculous margin of 34 seconds at the finish as she won with a time of 16:53. Finishing in the runner-up spot was Nike Cross Nationals winner Rachel Johnson.
If you're wondering, "Is 34 seconds the largest margin of victory in history?" The answer is not even close, as when Melody Fairchild set the Balboa course record of 16:39 back in 1990, she won by an even more ridiculous 59 seconds.
The boys were up next and Verzbicas cemented his legacy as one of the greatest high school cross-country runners in US history as he became the third boy ever to repeat at Foot Locker champion, joining Abdirizak Mohamud (1996 and 1997) and Dathan Ritzenhein (1999 and 2000) as the only two-time Foot Locker champions on the boys side. Making Verzbicas' achievement even more impressive was the fact that he also won the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) last weekend (this year, six of the top 10 boys in the Dyestat top 25 ran the NXN race only).
The Lithuanian-born Verzbicas was challenged today by Midwest runner-up and Eritrean born Futsum Zeinasellassie, who made Verzbicas work for his victory. Zeinasellassie, who is a junior and who had finished seventh at Foot Locker as a freshman, stayed with Verzbicas for the first two miles (4:45 and 9:32). At that point, the two had a 15-second gap on the chase pack. Just when some fans were probably wondering if there could possibly be a big upset, Verzbicas instantly dropped Zeinasellassie and cruised to an 11-second victory in 14:59.
But Verzbicas had to work hard for the victory and despite the wide margin at the finish, there were a number of times in the last mile when Verzbicas looked over his shoulder to make sure he had a comfortable lead. And for good reason. At the Midwest regional, Zeinasellassie had closed hard in the final mile to get within 3 seconds of Verzbicas. Once he was certain he had the victory in hand, Verzbicas slowed a great deal over the final 150 as he wanted to enjoy it (he had been on 14:48 pace at 2 miles).
After the race, Verzbicas was thrilled to have repeated.
"It was a tough race. He really pushed me. He pushed me more than I expected. But with 150 to go and I just wanted to celebrate as this is a one in a lifetime chance - well two in a lifetime for me," quipped Verzbicas after the race. "It's such an amazing feeling. I'm so grateful to have won this twice."
Considering how much he closed on Verzbicas in the final mile at the Midwest regional, Zeinasellassie admitted after the race that he thought going into the race that Verzbicas might be vulnerable, as he had to race last weekend at NXN in Portland.
"I thought if I went out with him, I'd beat him, but that guy is amazing," said Zeinasellassie.
Full boys and girls results appear in the table below.
Additional coverage can be found at the Foot Locker site, or at high school-oriented sites MileSplit and ESPN Rise.
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Foot Locker Cross Country National Finals 2010 Girls Results
December 11, 2010 Scoring Teams and Points: 1. Midwest 36 (4 6 7 8 11 12 13)
2. Northeast 55 (1 5 15 16 18 21 27)
3. West 70 (3 9 17 19 22 23 25)
4. South 70 (2 10 14 20 24 26 28)
1 Aisling Cuffe (12) Northeast Cornwall Central H.S. Cornwall-on-Hudson NY 16:53 2 Rachel Johnson (12) South Plano H.S. Plano TX 17:27 3 Julie Nacouzi (12) West Montgomery H.S. Santa Rosa CA 17:29 4 Kelsey Lakowske (12) Midwest Boulder H.S. Boulder CO 17:29 5 Megan Venables (12) Northeast Highland Regional H.S. Lauren Springs NJ 17:35 6 Allison Woodward (12) Midwest Notre Dame Academy De Pere WI 17:37 7 Erin Finn (10) Midwest West Bloomfield H.S. West Bloomfield MI 17:38 8 Shannon Osika (11) Midwest Waterford Mott H.S. Waterford MI 17:46 9 Molly Grabill (12) West Rancho Bernardo H.S. Poway CA 17:46 10 Joanna Thompson (12) South Knoxville Catholic H.S. Knoxville TN 17:46 11 Gabrielle Anzalone (12) Midwest Grand Blanc H.S. Grand Blanc MI 17:46 12 Kayla Beattie (12) Midwest Woodstock H.S. Woodstock IL 17:48 13 Eleanor Fulton (12) Midwest Highlands Ranch H.S. Lone Tree CO 17:50 14 Waverly Neer (12) Midwest Culver Academies Culver IN 17:51 15 Grace Tinkey (10) South First Presbyterian Day School Macon GA 17:53 16 Abbey Leonardi (11) Northeast Kennebunk H.S. Kennebunkport ME 17:57 17 Ariel Beauregard Breton (12) Northeast Deerfield Academy Deerfield MA 17:59 18 Brook Handler (12) Midwest Rochester H.S. Rochester Hills MI 18:02 19 Carrie Verdon (11) West Campolindo H.S. Moraga CA 18:05 20 Colleen Quigley (12) Midwest Nerinx Hall H.S. St. Louis MO 18:07 21 Lauren Mullins (11) Northeast Johnson City H.S. Binghamton NY 18:13 22 Susannah Hurst (12) West East H.S. Salt Lake City UT 18:14 23 Kathryn Fluehr (12) South Community School of Naples Naples FL 18:16 24 Megan Lacy (11) Northeast Cherokee H.S. Marlton NJ 18:17 25 Catrina McAlister (12) West Arcadia H.S. Arcadia CA 18:18 26 Maddie Meyers (11) West The Northwest School Seattle WA 18:19 27 Erika Fluehr (12) South Community School of Naples Naples FL 18:26 28 Anna Maxwell (9) West San Lorenzo Valley H.S. Felton CA 18:27 29 Mattie Webb (12) South Western Albemarle H.S. Crozet VA 18:28 30 Clare Carroll (9) West Granite Bay H.S. Granite Bay CA 18:32 31 Catarina Rocha (10) Northeast Peabody Veterans Memorial H.S. Peabody MA 18:34 32 Angel Piccirillo (11) Northeast Homer City H.S. Homer City PA 18:34 33 Shelby Davidson (11) South Cocoa Beach Jr/Sr H.S. Melbourne FL 18:34 34 Julia Foster (12) West Albuquerque Academy Albuquerque NM 18:37 35 Jackie Nicholas (12) Northeast Nonnewaug H.S. Woodbury CT 18:38 36 Kendra Weitz (10) West The Oaks Spokane WA 18:38 37 Caroline Kellner (11) Northeast West Windsor-Plainsboro H.S. West Windsor NJ 18:39 38 Sophie Chase (10) South Lake Braddock Secondary Burke VA 18:53 39 Wesley Frazier (10) South Ravenscroft H.S. Raleigh NC 18:56 40 Emma Brink (12) South Sacred Heart Academy Louisville KY 20:08 |
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Foot Locker Cross Country National Finals
December 11, 2010
1. Midwest 22 (1 2 3 5 11 12 13)
2. South 64 (7 9 14 15 19 20 25)
3. Northeast 73 (8 10 16 18 21 23 24)
4. West 75 (4 6 17 22 26 27 28)
1 Lukas Verzbicas (12) Midwest Carl Sandburg H.S. Orland Hills IL 14:59 2 Futsum Zeinasellassie (11) Midwest North Central H.S. Indianapolis IN 15:10 3 Tony Smoragiewicz (11) Midwest Rapid City Central H.S. Rapid City SD 15:16 4 Andrew Gardner (10) West Mead H.S. Spokane WA 15:18 5 Chris Walden (12) Midwest Carmel H.S. Carmel IN 15:22 6 Billy Orman (12) West Tuba City H.S. Tuba City AZ 15:23 7 Jimmy Clark (12) South Creekside H.S. Jacksonville FL 15:24 8 Eddie Owens (12) Northeast Packer Collegiate Institute Brooklyn NY 15:25 9 Ryan Pickering (12) South John I Leonard H.S. West Palm Beach FL 15:25 10 Chad Noelle (12) Northeast Greene H.S. Greene NY 15:25 11 William Kincaid (12) Midwest Columbine H.S. Littleton CO 15:27 12 James Martin (12) Midwest Carroll H.S. Fort Wayne IN 15:27 13 Jack Driggs (12) Midwest York Community H.S. Elmhurst IL 15:29 14 Ahmed Bile (11) South Annandale H.S. Annandale VA 15:33 15 Blake Williams (12) South Northern Durham H.S. Durham NC 15:35 16 John McGowan (12) Northeast Sidwell Friends School Washington DC 15:37 17 Matt Carpowich (12) West Torrey Pines H.S. San Diego CA 15:38 18 Zach Hebda (12) Northeast North Hills H.S. Pittsburgh PA 15:38 19 Scott Morgan (12) South Calvary Baptist Day School Clemmons NC 15:38 20 Thomas Graham (11) South Cary Academy Cary NC 15:39 21 John Murray (12) Northeast Shrewsbury H.S. Shrewsbury MA 15:40 22 Jantzen Oshier (12) West Trabuco Hills H.S. Trabuco Canyon CA 15:40 23 Matt McDonald (12) Northeast North Hunterdon H.S. Annandale NJ 15:40 24 Patrick Rono (12) Northeast Lyndhurst H.S. Lyndhurst NJ 15:42 25 Elliot Clemente (11) South Belen Jesuit Preparatory Miami FL 15:43 26 Michael Brajdic (12) Midwest Bay H.S. Bay Village OH 15:45 27 Morgan Pearson (12) Northeast Delbarton H.S. New Vernon NJ 15:48 28 Sergey Sushchikh (12) West Dos Pueblos H.S. Goleta CA 15:49 29 Jeff LaCoste (12) Northeast Bishop Guertin H.S. Amherst NH 15:51 30 Darren Fahy (11) West La Costa Canyon H.S. Carlsbad CA 15:51 31 Nathan Weitz (11) West The Oaks Spokane WA 15:52 32 Dallin Taylor (12) West Hunter H.S. West Valley UT 15:54 33 Silas Frantz (12) South Douglas S. Freeman H.S. Richmond VA 15:54 34 Zach Wills (12) Midwest Mason H.S. Mason OH 15:55 35 Caleb Rhynard (12) Midwest Shepherd H.S. Shepherd MI 15:59 36 Cody Pelliccioni (12) South Morgantown H.S. Morgantown WV 16:00 37 Daniel Milechman (12) West Tamalpais H.S. Mill Valley CA 16:00 38 Christopher Kigar (12) West El Camino H.S. Citrus Heights CA 16:01 39 Chris Campbell (12) Northeast Council Rock H.S. North Newtown PA 16:01 40 Donovan Torres (12) South Coronado H.S. Lubbock TX 16:02 |
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