High School runners to compete in national meets in California and Oregon

Friday, December 4, 2009

Spokane, WA—This Saturday will be a big day for high school runners from the Spokane area, as the region’s top harriers head south for post-season meets in California and Oregon. Nearly 50 individuals will be competing in the Foot Locker West Regional Cross Country Championships at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) in southern California, racing against their counterparts from eleven other Western States. On the same day boys teams from North Central and Ferris will try to put Spokane in the national spotlight again at Nike Cross Nationals, a meet that North Central won a year ago. Nike Cross Nationals are held at Portland Meadows race track in a meet that features 22 of the nation’s best high school cross country teams, with the winning team crowned the national champion.

 

The Spokane contingent at the West Regional meet—one of four Foot Locker competitions held across the country—is led by Baylee Mires of Mead and Allan Schroeder of Mt. Spokane. The North Central team at Nike Cross Nationals is led by Ben Johnston, winner of the 3A division at the Washington State Cross Country Championships this fall, while the Ferris team is led by Adam Thorne, who finished 3rd in the 4A division at State. In addition to the two boys’ teams at Nike Cross Nationals, freshman Katie Knight of North Central and senior Andrea Nelson of Shadle will be competing as individual runners in the girls’ race.

 

For the seventeenth straight year, over 30 Spokane-area runners had their airline tickets to the Foot Locker meet donated by the Lilac Bloomsday Association. The Bloomsday Association provides airline tickets and ground transportation to runners based on times at regional cross-country meets held in the fall.

 

“This should be a great weekend for Spokane’s top high school runners,” said Lilac Bloomsday Association President Jerry O’Neal. “We’re excited to see how the runners we sponsor to the Foot Locker Meet do, and either North Central or Ferris may be crowned as the top cross country team in the nation at the Portland race.”

 

For runners competing in the Foot Locker West Regional Meet, the top ten boys and girls will advance to the Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals in San Diego on December 12, joining top qualifiers from the Northeast, South and Midwest.

 

More information on the Foot Locker Regionals and Nationals may be obtained by logging on to www.footlockercc.com/west. Information on Nike Team Nationals is available at http://www.runnerspace.com/nxn.

 

Runners sponsored to Foot Locker Meet by the Lilac Bloomsday Association:

 

Girls:

1. Baylee Mires—Mead
2. Kendra Weitz—Shadle Park
3. Katie Morris—Shadle Park
4. Alicia Doohan—Gonzaga Prep
5. Calli VanderWilde—Lewis & Clark
6. Alison Keenan—Lewis & Clark
7. Shayle Dezellem—Shadle Park
8. Danielle Maldonado—Mead
9. Molly Cole—Mt. Spokane
10. Victoria Karschney—Ferris
11. Alex Moore—Central Valley
12. Megan Inman—Shadle Park
13. Kiah Condos—Central Valley
14. Molly Martin—North Central
15. Kara Walther—Ferris
16. Sanne Holland—Cheney

 

Boys:

1. Allan Schroeder—Mt. Spokane
2. Andrew Gardner—Mead
3. Nathan Weitz—Shadle Park
4. Kenji Bierig—Lewis & Clark
5. Hunter Johnson—Mt. Spokane
6. Chris Ennis—Lewis & Clark
7. Jon Smith—University
8. Rudy Spencer—Central Valley
9. Cory Foss—Mead
10. Christian Bucko—University
11. Byron Groh—Gonzaga Prep
12. Collin Overbay—Gonzaga Prep
13. Connor Jones—Mt. Spokane
14. Taylen Howland—Mead
15. Stephen Hafferkamp—Shadle Park
16. Colton Hastings—Colville

 

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