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Foot Locker boys race 'wide open' with no clear-cut favorite

Published by
DyeStat.com   Dec 9th 2017, 3:22am
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Even top contenders call boys race 'wide open'

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

SAN DIEGO -- The boys race Saturday morning at the Foot Locker Cross County Championships could go a lot of different ways. 

Who can hit the hill with a lot of energy the second time through? Who can spin their wheels the fastest coming down Upas Street? Who is having a good day?

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"This race could go to anyone," said Danny Kilrea, the Foot Locker Midwest regional champion. "Those are races that are always the most exciting and the best races (to watch). I'm excited to see what I can do (in the final)."

All of the Foot Locker finalists had a chance to jog the course Friday morning at Balboa Park and get used to the terrain. The prolonged dryness that enabled wildfires to explode throughout Southern California in early December is evident. There are patches of brown grass and bare earth, and they are a little bit more pronouced than in years past. 

There are also lush sections of Morley Field with green grass that is soft and bouncy. 

But the factors that have produced champions in recent years on the boys side are no secret. 

Four of the past five boys champions at Foot Locker were runners who graduated high school with a sub-four mile under their belt. Lukas Verzbicas (2009 and 2010), Grant Fisher (2013 and 2014), Drew Hunter (2015) and Reed Brown (2016) all proved to have sub-four speed. Edward Cheserek (2011 and 2012) probably had that speed, too. He was an otherworldly high school talent who never really sought a sub-four attempt during indoor or outdoor track. 

Even aside from that trend, the coronation of Brown as Foot Locker champion in 2016 changed some things. 

Brown, a senior last year at Southlake Carroll TX, was not a regional champion. He was not a dominant figure coming to San Diego, having finished sixth the week prior at Nike Cross Nationals.

This week there are a handful, at least, of contenders in Saturday's race who hope to be this year's Brown -- a guy who you figure to be near the front but has a great day and pulls off the win. 

Out of the 12 runners eligible to return from the 2016 final, only five made it back. Dylan Jacobs, Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, Dalton Hengst, Graydon Morris and Drew Thompson have all made it back and have a memory of what this race is like. 

"On the plane ride here I was trying to get my confidence up, because confidence is a big part of it," said Hengst, from York, Pa. "If you believe something can happen, it is more likely to happen. Belief is the first step of anything."

Hengst, who finished 21st last year, has studied and game-planned for his return to Foot Locker since summer. 

Not many others have. Most of the entrants in the boys race are coming for the first time. They are happy to be here but also dangerous because they have nothing to lose.

Foot Locker South champion John Tatter of Winston-Salem, N.C. is a candidate to watch. He ran 14:55 to win the South title, but the nine guys who followed him into qualifying spots all finished within 16 seconds. 

Foot Locker West champion Kashon Harrison of Kirtland Central was undefeated in New Mexico this season but finished eighth at NXR Southwest. Last winter he placed 11th in the USATF Junior Men's Cross Country Championships on snow and ice in Bend, Ore.

Foot Locker Northeast champion Tristan Shelgren of Boxford, Mass. was unbeaten in Massachusetts this fall. 

Those three -- Tatter, Harrison and Shelgren -- all finished between 10-20 at their respective Foot Locker regional meets in 2016. 

Kilrea, of LaGrange Park, Ill., succeeded Jacobs as the Foot Locker Midwest winner. He was fifth last weekend at Nike Cross Nationals in Portland and is among a handful of runners making appearances in both national events.

"My body's fine," Kilrea said. "Right after I finished (NXN) and before I left Portland my mind was already on Foot Locker mode. I knew that's how I had to deal with it. It takes a lot of energy, mental and physical preparation, and I knew I still had a week to go."

The top returner in the field is Jacobs, who was 11th in last year's race. Jacobs was 13th last weekend at NXN. 

The next-best returner is Beaudoin-Rousseau of Sunnyvale, Calif., who was 19th last year. He was fifth two weeks ago in the CIF Division 1 state final and then placed second at Foot Locker West last weekend.

Morris of Aledo, Texas was a rare freshman qualifier in 2016 and has come back as a sophomore. For the second straight year he's among the youngest in the race. The only other sophomore who made it is Kyle Harkabus of Senoia, Ga.

Thompson, who was one spot behind Morris at the 2016 final (34th and 35th), has had an impressive fall in Connecticut. He won the New England High School Cross Country Championship by 32 seconds. 

Those runners, and still others, can all go into Saturday's final feeling like they can hang in there and give it a shot.

"It's wide open," Hengst said.



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