TWO SPOKANE STARS TO RACE IN FOOT LOCKER NATIONALS SATURDAY

Thursday, December 7, 2017

December 7, 2017—For the eighth year in a row, a top high school runner from Spokane will be competing at the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships, to be held Saturday at Balboa Park in San Diego. In fact, this year two Spokane area runners—Katie Thronson of Lewis & Clark and Turlan Morlan of Gonzaga Prep—will be competing at the National Meet, as both finished in the top ten at the Foot Locker West Regional Cross Country Championships last Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) in southern California.

 

Turlan Morlan and Katie Thronson (see results below)

This will be the first trip to Foot Locker Nationals for Morlan, but the second for Thronson. Thronson finished second in the Girls Seeded Race at last weekend’s West Regional Meet, and Morlan was eighth in the Boys Seeded Race. No Spokane runner has ever won the Foot Locker Nationals, which have been held annually since 1979, but John Dressel of Mt. Spokane finished second in 2013. That finish tied the top finish by any Washington runner by Andrew Maris of White River High School (Buckley), who was runnerup in 1989. The best finish by a Spokane girl has been fourth on two occasions—in 1989 by Sarah Schwald of Mead, and in 2005 by Megan O’Reilly of Mt. Spokane. Last year Katie Thronson finished 33^rd at the National Meet.

 

The West Regional meet where the runners qualified last weekend was one of four Foot Locker competitions held across the country. The top ten runners from each of four regional meets advance to the National Championships.

 

Spokane area runners who have competed in the Foot Locker National Meet are listed below. More information on the Foot Locker Regionals and Nationals may be obtained by logging on to www.footlockercc.com.

 

Spokane Foot Locker National Competitors:

 

1982: Annette Hand, Central Valley H.S.—19^th place, 17:58

1983: Christine Slentz, Lewis & Clark H.S.—16^th place, 18:08

1987: Chris Lewis, Mead H.S.—12^th place, 15:22

1988: Lisa Dressel, Rogers H.S.—25^th place, 18:43

1989: Stuart Burnham, Ferris H.S.—7^th place, 15:15

          Greg Kuntz, Mead H.S.—16^th place, 15:31

          Sarah Schwald, Mead H.S.—4^th place, 17:35

          Carrie Moller, Rogers H.S.—14^th place, 18:14

1992: Matt Davis, Mead H.S.—31^st place, 16:51

          Jessica Fry, Rogers H.S.—25^th place, 18:58

1993: Matt Davis, Mead H.S.—3^rd place, 15:08

          Michah Davis, Mead H.S.—10^th place, 15:24

1994: Skiy Detray, Mead H.S.—30^th place, 16:08

1995: Isaac Hawkins, Ferris H.S.—12^th place, 15:33

1996: Isaac Hawkins, Ferris H.S.—26^th place, 16:29

2000: Michael Kiter, Shadle Park H.S.—23^rd place, 15:41

2001: Jesse Fayant, Mead H.S.—10^th place, 15:07

2002: Jamie Geissler, Mead H.S.—11^th place, 17:53

2003: Evan Garber, Mead H.S.—15^th place, 15:31

2005: Taylor Nepon, Mead H.S.—36^th place, 16:14

          Megan O’Reilly, Mt. Spokane H.S.—4^th place, 17:36

2010: Andrew Gardner, Mead H.S.—4^th place, 15:18

          Nathan Weitz, Shadle Park H.S.—31^st place, 15:52

          Kendra Weitz, Shadle Park H.S.—36^th place, 18:38

2011: Nathan Weitz, Shadle Park H.S.—3^rd place, 15:21

          Andrew Gardner, Mead H.S.—6^th place, 15:24

2012: Andrew Gardner, Mead H.S.—11^th place, 15:34

          John Dressel, Mt. Spokane H.S.—14^th place, 15:37

2013: John Dressel, Mt. Spokane H.S.—2^nd place, 15:10

2014: John Dressel, Mt. Spokane H.S.—6^th place, 15:18

2015: Justin Janke, North Central H.S—25^th place, 15:45

2016: Amir Ado, Ferris H.S.—16^th place, 15:31.4

          Kearan Nelson, Central Valley H.S.—6^th place, 17:48.5

          Katie Thronson, Lewis & Clark H.S.—33^rd place, 18:22.2

2017: Katie Thronson, Lewis & Clark H.S.—19^th place, 18:26.9

          Turlan Morlan, Gonzaga Prep—37^th place, 16:38.8

 

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