For the second year in a row the state of Florida will have two entries in the boys’ race at the 37th Annual Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships.

Seniors Josh Jacques of Lyman and Steven Cross of Merritt Island will be on the starting line of the Balboa Park course in San Diego, California, on Saturday morning, 5 December 2015. Jacques and Cross qualified for the national meet on 28 November 2015 in the Foot Locker South boys’ race at McAlpine Park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jacques was eighth in that race in 15:21, earning his first trip to Foot Locker Nationals. Cross placed tenth in 15:24, becoming a repeat Foot Locker finalist. Jacques is the third Foot Locker finalist from Lyman, following in the fast footsteps of Teddy Mitchell and Nick Radkewich. 74 Floridians have made the Foot Locker Finals since the event was established in 1979 as the Kinney Nationals.

Florida was represented in 1979 at the very first Nationals by Basil Magee. A product of the storied Largo High cross-country program, Magee was seventh in the that race, running 15:30.

No Florida athlete improved on that finish till 1982, when Winter Park’s Brian Jaeger placed sixth in 14:56. That stands as the best finish by a Florida boy at Foot Locker. It was also one of the seven years that the meet was held in Orlando, Florida, instead of San Diego, California. Maybe we should be lobbying to have the Nationals back on Florida soil.


Although no Florida boy has finished higher in the standings than Jaeger, five others have cracked the top ten--Jimmy Clark of Creekside was seventh in 2010, Teddy Mitchell of Lyman was ninth in 1989, Luiz Prestes of Miami Beach was ninth in 1991, Ryan Pickering of John I. Leonard was ninth in 2010, and Matt Mizereck of Leon was tenth in 2009.

Jaeger has done them all one better, though. Placing eighth in 1981, Jaeger is a two-time top ten finisher at Nationals. Lyman's Nick Radkewich also finished Foot Locker twice, in 1987 and 1988. The Florida record in this regard, though, goes to another Lyman athlete, Teddy Mitchell. Mitchell appeared at Foot Locker Nationals three times from 1987 to 1989.


Brian Jaeger wasn’t the only Florida boy at Nationals in 1982; he was joined in the race by Billy Convey of Ransom Everglades and Ken Cheeseman of Lake Howell. It was the first time that Florida qualified more than one athlete for the boys’ race. However, there were two other years that three Florida boys raced in the Championships. In 2009 Leon's Matt Mizereck (10th,15:36), Belen Jesuit's Elliot Clemente (25th, 15:43), and Bishop Kenny's Colin Barker (40th, 16:57) were all at Balboa Park. Their performance as a group was bettered in 2010 by the trio of Florida athletes Jimmy Clark (7th, 15:24) of Creekside, Ryan Pickering (9th, 15:25) of Leonard, and Elliot Clemente (25th, 15:43) of Belen Jesuit. It almost makes up for the ten years when no Florida boy qualified for Foot Locker Nationals. With Josh Jacques and Steven Cross headed for San Diego, 2015 will be the eleventh time that two Florida boys compete at Nationals.


The Florida girls got started at Foot Locker Nationals in 1980 when Orange Park's Sandra Braasch finished 28th in 19:35. Braasch was back the very next year, finishing 29th in 18:49. You should note that back in Florida, Braasch and the rest of the Florida girls were still racing only two miles in cross country.


Braasch's two appearances at Foot Locker were equalled by Lincoln's Kathi Ward (1991, 1992), Ramona Saridakis (1993, 1995), Plant's Caroline Annis (1996, 1997), Gainesville Eastside's Hilary White (1998, 1999), Keswick Christian's Christa Benton (1999, 2000), Jacksonville Episcopal's Kara Scanlin (2000,2001), Oviedo's Jenny Barringer (2003, 2004), Ocala Vanguard's Kelly Parrish (2004, 2005), Wellington's Ashley Brasovan (2007, 2008), Community School of Naples' Kathryn Fluehr (2009, 2010), Community School of Naples' Erika Fluehr (2009, 2010), and Dr. Phillips' Bridget Blake (2011, 2012).

Holy Trinity's Kayla Hale has them all beaten, though, with three trips to Foot Locker National in 2007, 2008, and 2009.


No Florida girl qualified for Foot Locker Nationals in 2015. That's only happened six other times in the 36-year history of the event. In spite of being represented nearly every year, though, it wasn't until 2003 and the 25th annual Foot Locker Nationals that a Florida girl cracked the top ten. Oviedo’s Jenny Barringer did that in a big way, taking third place with a 17:35. Barringer made it into the top ten again the following year, placing tenth in 18:16. Barringer's 2003 Foot Locker finish stood as the best for a Florida girl till 2007 when Wellington's Ashley Brasovan won the National Championship with a 17:20. Brasovan came within three seconds of a repeat win the following year when she finished second to Jordan Hasay, 17:22 to 17:25.

She remains the only Florida girl to ever win Foot Locker Nationals.

Ashley Brasovan signs autographs following her 2007 Foot Locker Nationals victory

The year that Brasovan won the Foot Locker title, 2007, there were four Florida girls in the race, the most ever. In addition to Brasovan, Holy Trinity's Kayla Hale (19th, 18:05), Cypress Bay's Emilie Amaro (25th, 18:31), and Boone's Brittany Koziara (29th, 18:36) were all Foot Locker Finalists. Florida had sent two girls for the first time in 1982 (Spruce Creek's Carmen Gardner and Boca Ciega's Karol Dorsett) and three for the first time in 1992 (Lincoln’s Kathi Ward, South Fork's Aimee Kagel, and Plant's Beth Brooks), but four was unprecedented.


On Saturday Jacques and Cross will be looking to add their own performances to the accomplishments of their Sunshine State predecessors. Best of luck to them on the turf of Balboa Park.

Northwest Florida Correspondent Herb Wills

Herb Wills' running career goes back to the 1971 boys' age-group mile at the Florida Relays. Since losing that race he has won the 1976 Florida High School class 4A cross-country championship, 1979 AAU USA junior titles in cross-country and the 10,000 meters, and the 1989 TAC USA 30K national championship. As a distance runner at Florida State University from 1978 to 1982, he was NCAA All-American three times in track and once in cross country, and won a silver medal in the marathon at the 1981 World University Games. Graduating Florida State with a degree in mathematics, in the following years Wills ran in the USA Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984, 1988, and 1992, and placed tenth in the Boston Marathon in 1989. After more than a few years of duty as a hurdle setter and lane judge at track meets, Wills discovered that the public address announcer not only got to sit down at meets but was also sheltered from the rain. Since that revelation you can hear him with a microphone in his hand at several track and cross-country events in the Tallahassee area. Writing is another activity you can do while sitting down, and Wills has written about running for Racing South magazine and Tallahassee's local newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat.

You can read more running related tidbits in his blog at http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/

Herb Wills NorthWest Florida Reports 2015 ARTICLES / 2014 ARTICLES