After long months of training, meets and state tournaments, the top individuals from 13 states gathered to run in Kenosha, WI to run the Footlocker Midwest Regional. The top 10 finishers in each seeded race would qualify to San Diego to run at Footlocker Nationals, considered by many to be the highest individual achievement that one could reach in high school cross country. The meet featured multiple state champions in both fields and they did not disappoint, turning in quality performances that left everyone saying, “Wow!”
After the frosh/sophomore boys race kicked off the festivities, the girls race showcased their talent, with a very deep field and only 10 spots that would get to move on. Pre-race favorite Taylor Werner, who is the state meet record holder in Missouri (17:31 5k), managed to follow-up her victory at NXN Midwest with a fourth place finish, earning double qualifier status. After the race she admitted it wasn’t her best race, saying that she never really felt great during the race, but managed to stick it out and grab a spot in San Diego.
Senior Kelcy Welch from Indiana managed to overtake sophomore Stephanie Jenks from Iowa to win the individual title in 17:34. She also earned double qualifier status, combining the win at FLMW with a fourth place finish at NXN Midwest. She was also the Indiana state champ this season, marking a very impressive three-race stretch that should give her a strong chance at All-American status. Jenks took the lead early with a 5:36 first mile and was very happy with her finish. She employed a strategy of taking the race out fast and then hanging on to the front pack through the second half of the race.
There were quite a few that were expected to have a shot to make it to Nationals that finished in the top ten. Along with Welch, Jenks and Werner, Rebekah Topham from Iowa finished third, along with Hannah Long of Missouri, Lauren Brasure of Michigan, Mailin Struck of Illinois and Kirsten Olling of Michigan all landing spots on the squad heading west. There were a couple surprises associated with the race as well. Rachel Nichwitz and Alex Buck of Indiana finished ninth and tenth, respectively, earning the last two qualifying spots to Nationals. Nichwitz had a good season up until this point, winning a couple meets and finishing high in a lot of races, including a fourth place finish behind Welch at her state meet, but she was racing against an elite field. Buck had a similar season, albeit with a couple more wins counteracted by a tough 19th place finish at her state meet. Both ran PRs on Saturday to reach the national field. Nichwitz even seemed surprised with herself, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes as if to make sure she really had qualified and wasn’t in a dream.
What follows when you have surprise qualifiers are some deserving runners who get left out of the National race. Among the notable runners to miss out were Annie Heffernan of Ohio (state champ, 2013 NBON runner-up), Karissa Schweizer (NXN qualifier), Valerie Wierenga (17:55 5k PR), Madeline Perez (Illinois mile champ), Elena Lancioni (third Indiana state meet) and Audrey Belf (Michigan state champ).
Still, a highly competitive and battle-tested team will head out west to represent the Midwest at Footlocker Nationals. Here is one coach and fan that says congratulations and good luck!
After the girls finished it was time for the boys to show what they could do. The race opened up with a tactical pace, as a large group of boys came through the first mile in 4:57. After that the pace picked up a bit, with the boys still bunched but rolling through the two mile mark right around 9:40. In that third mile Grant Fisher of Michigan pulled away to win the boys individual title in 15:02 over Addison Dehaven of South Dakota. Dehaven was going for the rare feat of winning both the NXN and Footlocker qualifiers. Both easily punched their tickets to Nationals, setting up for another showdown in San Diego.
There were a lot of big names that qualified to Nationals as well. Including Dehaven and Fisher, Jesse Reiser and Patrick Perrier of Illinois, Toby Hardwick of Ohio, Jackson Bertoli and David Dalton of Indiana, Noah Kauppila of Missouri, Thomas Pollard of Iowa and Ryan Robinson of Michigan qualified to Nationals. Robinson just edged out Zack Smith of Illinois in a photo finish for that last spot to San Diego. Perrier, the pre-race favorite, ran conservatively after pulling out of the race at NXN Midwest due to ankle tendinitis. He said he would have liked to have had a shot to win the race, but was happy to be back at Nationals with another shot to race against top competition. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the top 10 was Hardwick. He was runner-up at the Ohio state meet and third at Mid East Cross Country Championship, but pulled out a tough and gritty race to finish fourth. He commented afterwards about how it was an honor for him to be able to represent Ohio at the National Meet. There were a couple of bounce-back stories as well, as Noah Kauppila and Jackson Bertoli were able to rebound from tough finishes at NXN Midwest to qualify here. It was especially sweet for Bertoli, as the NXN Midwest course sits about “7 miles from his driveway.”
Like the girls race, there were some notable runners who did not qualify. Among them were Smith, Olin Hacker of Wisconsin (state champ), Mark Hadley from Ohio (state champ), Keenan Rebera from Michigan (state champ), Josh Evans from Iowa (third Iowa state meet, 4:10 mile PR), Nick Hess from Illinois (state runner-up) and Garrett Crichlow from Ohio (Mid-East Champ, 4:11 mile PR).
Even without these runners the Midwest squad boasts some of the top runners in the country. There are multiple runners with a chance to post a very high finish at the national race. Good luck from the rest of us back here in the Midwest!