It was a great year for Florida girls! Four Floridians qualified for this year's prestigious Foot Locker Nationals race in San Diego: Kayla Hale, Emilie Amaro, Brittany Koziara, and Ashley Brasovan. This is the most historic and significant cross country race for a high school individual and an experience that will no doubt forever be a highlight in these ladies' lives. The girls and their crews have already arrived on the West Coast for tomorrow's race. I will be joining my our MileSplit coverage team out there on Friday night, bringing our total to six. We will be bringing you a flood of thousands of photos, hours of video interviews and race footage, and plenty of articles, race summaries, and analysis throughout the weekend. There is also a live webcast and will be live updates posted during the race on the forum and our national portal. Look for results within the hour after the race. Click Here for More on Our MileSplit Us National Portal...
Articles
Kathy Kroeger (TN) leads the Girls Seeded race at FL SouthThe strength of the South region this season lies in it's depth. The South girls have at least six athletes who have a shot to finish in the top eight, led by five Foot Locker returnees. The South boys return numerous individuals from last year's squad and are looking to harness that experience for a big performance this year.
Recap of the Seeded Races from Foot Locker South held Saturday, November 24, 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Foot Locker South results, photos, videos, articles, and elite performances are posted. There are over 3,500 photos from across the Milesplit network. Check out all of the coverage, if there is a photo you want tagged to a runner, let me know.Congratulations to Ryan Beabout (15:25) of Wheeling Park and Levi Grandt of Doddridge County (15:26) for finishing 19th and 20th respectfully.Ryan Beabout (L) and Levi Grandt (R)
Mike Fout (IN) wins the FL Midwest boys raceThe best of the best congregated at the Foot Locker Midwest, Northeast and South Regional courses Saturday to prove just who belongs in San Diego in two weeks time for nationals. Each region showed talent, and a few surprises took place. Check out our full coverage inside of each region. TONS of videos and pictures of FL South and FL Northeast.Race WinnersMidwest: Mike Fout (IN) & Claire Durkin (OH)Northeast: Donn Cabral (CT) & Neely Spence (PA)South: Colby Lowe (TX) & Kathy Kroeger (TN)
Chapin senior Luke Lovelace improved on his 2006 ninth place Foot Locker South finish Saturday at the 2007 meet in Charlotte, placing fifth in 15 minutes, 4 seconds.
Photo: Courtesy of Ken Charnock. Ryan Hill of Hickory is heading to San Diego for the 2nd time after finishing 2nd today to Colby Lowe of Texas. Joining him will be his 3A conterpart, Patrick Campbell of Moorseville. Patrick's season has been unbelievable as he has improved a great deal. This is a great way for both boys to finish off XC in high school. In the girl's race, NC almost ended its draught, as Adrianne Soo of Durham Academy placed 11th and Kimberly Spano of North Meck was 13th. Both ladies return next year so it could be a trip to San Diego for one or both! Much more on North Carolina at Foot Locker South inside.Photo Albums:Ben Hovis' | Paisley Gallery | John Olson'sVideos:Boys Seeded | Girls Seeded | Fr./So. Girls | Jr./Sr. Girls | Fr. Boys | So. Boys | Jr. Boys | Sr. Boys | Open
Florida placed four girls in the top ten at Foot Locker South in North Carolina. The top ten qualifying spots earn a trip to Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego. Kathy Kroeger (the defending national champion from Tennessee) finished first. Kroeger just beat Kayla Hale to the line, both crossing in 16:56--it was so close many watching did not know who the victor was until much later. Emilie Amaro, Brittany Koziara, and Ashley Brasovan also qualified and finished all in the top six. For the boys, Kyle Cooke was the top finisher, but no Florida boys made the top ten cut.MileSplit had a team on site taking photos, video, interviews, and race summaries.
Kentucky entries for Footlocker South race to be held Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Group AA alone has a returning Foot Locker finalist in Griff Graves, a strong favorite to qualify in Peter Dorrell, and a borderline top 10 finisher in Andrew Colley. Oh and by the way, I hear that Thomas Porter is a returning Foot Locker finalist, Jason Witt is a national champion in the 5K, and Johns Ross broke 16 minutes at Woodberry Forest. Yeah....be very, very scared South region. Virginia boys are not going to play nice this weekend in Charlotte. We are coming to dominate. (Photo by Ted Plunkett)The Virginia boys will be on a mission of domination this weekend. The state will be looking to send a message to the rest of the South region as well as the country by qualifying as many individuals as possible for Foot Locker Nationals in the regional meet this Saturday in Charlotte. Virginia has two returning Foot Locker finalists in Griff Graves and Thomas Porter, yet neither won state titles at Great Meadow two weeks ago thanks to two national caliber runners in Peter Dorrell and Jason Witt winning state titles respectively. The depth in Virginia goes further than the big four as private school state champion Johns Ross leads another handful of runners capable of being a fifth qualifier from the state among 10 possible spots. The last time the state had five qualifiers was in 1995. It has also been six years since the Foot Locker South boys' champion reigned from Virginia with Bobby Lockhart's 2001 win at McAlpine Greenway Park. Graves, Dorrell, and Witt all have shots at becoming Virginia's 7th boys' champion in the 28 year history of Foot Locker South.
Ashley Brasovan and Emilie Amaro represent Florida this weekendMileSplit US National Editor Scott Bush gives his takes on who are the top-rated contenders for those top ten positions that will qualify for Footlocker Nationals in San Diego. The South has one of the most competitive fields in a long time. In the group includes the national champion and runner-up from last year on the girls side. Ironically, the South is so deep this year they are not even favored to go 1-2!Ashley Brasovan, Emilie Amaro, and Kayla Hale are the only Floridians Bush is picking to be San Diego bound. Brittany Koziara, Joseph Franklin, Eric Larson, and Matt Mizereck are given as having an outside shot. Check out the list to see who to look out for!
MileSplit national editor Scott Bush previews this weekend's Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ten national qualifying spots are on the line as many Virginians are considered strong contenders to earn their way to San Diego for Foot Locker Nationals. The Virginian delegation in the seeded boys' race will be one of the strongest ever with two returning finalists in Griff Graves and Thomas Porter as well as two favorites to qualify in Jason Witt and Peter Dorrell. It will much tougher for the top Virginian girls to move into the top 10 with a six returning finalists in the region as well as two national caliber runners in Ashley Brasovan of Florida and Emily Reese of Georgia who failed to advance onto San Diego last year. Returning champ and course record holder Aurora Scott has remained under the radar this fall not only due to her homeschool situation, but also taking a different approach with her races treating them as workouts including banditing two races in one meet with back to back 18 minute 5K's. Kathleen Lautzenheiser of Midlothian and Lia DiValentin of Chantilly battled down all the way to the very end at the state meet's 3A girls race two Saturdays ago. Both appear to be Virginia's best hopes after Scott of sneaking into those final top 10 spots. Road to San Diego: Foot Locker South Preview
Ashley Brasovan and Emilie Amaro represent Florida this weekendWhile other regions are dealing with the early winter weather that rocks the states above the Mason-Dixon Line, McAlpine XC Course in North Carolina usually hosts a strong field of competition on its lightning fast course. As the contestants line up Saturday, the best of the best will emerge and represent the South at Foot Locker Nationals.
Saturday runners from the South travel to McAlpine Park in Charlotte for Foot Locker South Region meet. Scrunners.com and MileSplit.us staff will be onsite covering the meet.
The Virginia girls will look to improve upon only sending one representative last year to San Diego with Foot Locker South champion and Foot Locker National runner-up Aurora Scott, but that is not even a guarantee with the great female runners within the South region as well as the uncertainty of what kind of shape the returning Foot Locker South champion is in. With six returning Foot Locker National finalists as well as some national caliber runners back who failed to make it in the top 10 last year with the likes of Nike Indoor Nationals 2 mile champion Ashley Brasovan from Florida and 4:47 1600 meter best Emily Reese from Georgia. and 4:47 1600 meter best Emily Reese from Georgia, the seeded race will be ultra competitive. The two best bets outside of Scott to finish in the top ten will be the top two finishers from the AAA state race two weeks ago in Kathleen Lautzenheiser (pictured left by John Herzog) of Midlothian and Lia DiValentin of Chantilly.
Photo: Ryan Hill winning last year's FLS meet. This weekend are two very large meets: the Foot Locker South Regional and the NTN Southeast Regional. One is right here in NC, and the other is in Hoover, Alabama. Two NC teams decided to race at the first ever NTN Regional in Hoover. Green Hope and Broughton are headed down south in the hopes to shock other SE teams and qualify for NTN Nationals. Should one or both of the teams qualify, they will keep the NC streak alive, as Chapel Hill has attended the National meet the last 2 years. Ryan Hill of Hickory looks to lead a very large NC contingent at this year's Foot Locker meet. He won the Regional last year and has hopes of repeating his victory.
By: Jason Byrne, flrunners.com webmaster There is no greater feather in the cap of a high school cross country runner than to put "Footlocker Nationals qualifier" on the resume. Have that there and write your ticket to any college and go down in the books with the all-time greats. But it's such a status symbol for a reason--it's not easy!So with thousands headed to North Carolina from around the South, many with hopes of qualifying... who can Florida expect to see on the list of qualifiers? Here is my outlook and predictions. This is a completley editorial piece and admitedly only one man's poteitially biased and uninformed opinion! But hopefully it is informational or at least entertaining! Predictions are fun!
Now it's just Campbell and Hill, the two 3A athletes left of the 4 horsemen. **10/16/07 News: Taylor Gilland won't be running at FLS. The minor injury has turned out to be a bit more than originally expected. Coach Olsen just sent me an email filling me in. "Taylor hip flexor problem altered his stride pattern and has caused a stress fracture in /on his shin. He'll spend the next 6-8 weeks aqua-jogging."**10/17/07 News: Nick Graw is most likely done as well. Word from Coach Olsen is that Graw has also decided to shut his season down. Not sure on the details.
https://sc.milesplit.com is considering placing a second order for Team S.C. singlets. Prior to placing the order (deadline extended to Nov. 12 at 10 a.m.), please e-mail interests to john@scrunners.com. The singlets are a fundraiser for the site to help with travel costs and other expenses and can be used in meets after the high school league season - along with road races and open events.
Unlike most other regions, matchups between Foot Locker contenders in the South Region come about frequently. In the first two weeks, nearly all the boys on the MileSplit FL Power Rankings top twelve met another contender, while half the girls seemed to as well. With a couple of very close races, the rankings jumped around a bit, although few newcomers arrived on this weeks' rankings.
The South will not only be strong on the boys side this year, but on the girls side, on paper, they look to be the strongest region up top. Foot Locker defending champion Kathy Kroeger is back and running strong, while runner-up Aurora Scott has one last year to earn a national championship. With those two leading the way, the South will be very tough to beat, especially since they return six of their top ten from 2006.
Youth is served as the South boys line it up again for another fall. Last year, the South Region had six boys that were non-seniors, the most out of any region. With those six all returning (no transfers), and a lot of other distancemen stepping it up during the spring, this year's Foot Locker South Regional should be might competitive.
Nothing is more prestigious for a distance runner than qualifying for the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. The best of the best have annually competed in this event, making it the showcase of post-season competition. This year, MileSplit.us will be ranking the top individuals in each region!