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| Angelina Blackmon (right) and Kate Niehaus (left) qualified for Nationals on Dec. 13. |
Sixty-four athletes from four region Footlocker meets qualified for a spot at the 2003 Footlocker Nationals on Dec. 13 this Saturday. South Carolina runners competed at the South Region meet on Nov. 29 at McAlpine Park in Charlotte. The top eight boys and top eight girls from each region qualify for the national finals. The national meet will consist of 64 elite runners from four regionals (Midwest, Northeast, South, West) in San Diego, Calif at Balboa Park. Each runner ran the 5,000-meter course that is run at the Wendy's Invitational.
Seeded Girls
Senior Angelina Blackmon is getting ready to run her last cross-country race of her high school career. Blackmon, a Northwestern Trojan finished with the fastest female time in South Carolina after finishing second overall in the girls seeded event at Footlocker's South Region meet. Blackmon finished first at the 2003 3-4A Region meet after battling with Spring Valley's Kate Niehaus. Blackmon ran a time of 17:42 at the region meet, held at McAlpine Park in Charlotte. Blackmon along with Niehaus (4th, 17:49) move onto the 2003 Footlocker National Meet. During the 2002 Footlocker competitions Niehaus finished fifth overall in the South Region and DNF at Nationals in San Diego. Along with Niehaus earning her second consecutive state title she set a new state meet best of 17:36.81 on Nov. 8 for the second year in a row. This years' state meet took place at Fort Jackson's Hilton Field in Columbia, while the 2002 meet took place at Sandhill's Research Facility in Columbia. Niehaus' surpassed her old state meet best of 17:52.9.
Sunday Ford (58th), Lisa Jennings (100th), Lauren Klas (113th) and Kathleen Wilkerson (132nd) also represented South Carolina in the girls' seeded event on Saturday. 139 runners competed in the seeded event.
Seeded Boys
Reid Wilson led South Carolina in the seeded boys race with a 46th place finishing time of 15:40. Wilson is a junior at Spring Valley. Greenwood's Trevor Beesley ran a 15:48, good for 56th place. Beesley is preparing for the Junior Olympics National Meet on Dec. 13. Beesley captured the Young Men title at the Region III Junior Olympic Meet on Nov. 22. Viking teammate Brian Raymond came in 70th place with a time of 15:56. Raymond is a senior at Spring Valley. Spring Valley captured the boy's 4A team title at the 2003 State Championships on Nov. 8.
Dorman Senior Ryan Jank (100th) ended his cross-country career on Saturday at McAlpine. Hunter Willis (198th), Brad Orr (209th), Patrick McRay (217th), Matt Strick (245th), Jacob Barwick (255th), Steven Craig (263rd) and Brandon Hudgins (269th) also competed in the seeded boys race for South Carolina. 279 runners competed in the seeded boys race.
10-under Boys
Tyler Gibson, a fifth grader from Pacolet Mills, SC finished 16th overall in the 10-under boys 3,000-meter run at the Footlocker South Region on Saturday. Gibson finished with a time of 13:10. Florence native Dalton Royal, a fourth grader, finished 28th overall in 15:38. 32 runners competed in the boys 10-under race.
10-under Girls
In the 10-under girls 3,000 Anja Pullmann of Florence finishing in 10th place in 13:49. Christa Green, a third grader from Union finished in 21st. York native Hannah Brandon finished 26th and Courtney Burnham finished in 32nd. Burnham is in fifth grader and a native of Warrenville. The girls 10-under race consisted of 34 runners.
11-12 Boys
Nick Gladden, a seventh grader finished 6th overall in the 11-12 boys race with a time of 11:21 over the 3000 course. William Inbody a seventh grader finished 27th. Ben Green (7th grade, 31st place), Jim Abraham (5th grade, 32nd place) and Dale Larion (7th grade, 48th) rounded out the South Carolina finishers in the 49 runner field.
11-12 Girls
Alisha Royal, a seventh grader from Florence finished with a time of 11:57 in the 11-12 girls 3,000 race at McAlpine. Also competing for South Carolina was Kristen Brown (5th grader, 22nd place), Kylie McDonald (7th grader, 23rd place), Hannah Woodring (6th grade, 28th place), Samantha Truman (6th grade, 29th place), Brooke McLain (7th grade, 30th place) and Stephanie Tallant (6th grade, 31st place). The girls field consisted of 43 runners.
13-14 Boys
Collins Sarmento, an eighth-grader from Greenville finished in 32nd place with a time of 11:13 on Saturday. Next in for South Carolina was Charleston native Andy Bouton. Bouton was the 35th to cross the line. Matthew Doucette, an eighth-grader from Columbia finished in 59th while Jeromy Rex (8th grader, 63rd place) competed for South Carolina. Coming in 72nd was Curtis Pruett, a sixth grader from Florence. The field consisted of 74 runners.
13-14 Girls
Tiayonna Blackmon, younger sister of Angelina Blackmon (2nd, seeded girls) captured the girls 13-14 title in 11 minutes over the 3,000 distance. Next in for South Carolina was Spartanburg High's Santresa Jamison (8th grader, 17th place). Coming in 18th out of 55 runners was Duncan native Samantha Smith.
Freshmen Boys
The future of South Carolina also competed at the South Region meet on Saturday. This group of runners not only competed well at the South Region meet but are making an early impact on the state level. Most noticeable for South Carolina at the South Region is Dreher's Jonathan Chu. Chu finished seventh in the race after crossing the line in 16:49. A phenomenal freshman from the upperstate is Chad Holt. Holt runs for Mauldin High School during the regular season and finished four spots behind Chu in 11th with a time of 16:57. Holt was joined by cousins Erin Bedell (3rd, seeded girls) and Lyndsy Bedell (18th, seeded girls) at the South Region meet. Hilton Head native Marshall Meyers ran a time of 16:58, finishing in 12th.
Joshua Walker (44th), Joshua Mabry (62nd), Jonathan McGinnis (93rd), Jeffrey Janes (96th), Brandon Rex (113th), Chris Hoehner (128th), Spencer Rabon (145th), Kale Fortenberry (150th), David Fahy (152nd), Brad Jones (154th), Matthew Mead (160th), Keath Mead (162nd) and Andrew Shore (168th) also represented South Carolina in the field of 168 runners.
Freshmen/Sophomore Girls
Dreher also led South Carolina on the female side in the freshman/sophomore girls race. Sophomore Sarah Binkley finished third overall in the race with a finishing time of 19:07. Binkley finished second at this years' state championship on Nov. 8. Coming in next in the large field from the Palmetto State was freshman Nicole Maitland. Maitland ran a time of 20:12, good for a 33rd place finish.
Chrystal Haire (56th), Thela Woodring (61st), Kristen Thomas (64th), Sawyer Langston (80th), Olivia Reburn (89th), Tiana Tallant (117th), Elizabeth Evans (138th), Elizabeth Cade (151st), Carley Peace (161st), Hannah Compton (168th), Jennifer Walker (180th), Ginny Dias (205th), Riley Grime (212nd) and Maribeth Henna rounded out South Carolina's finishers in the girls freshmen/sophomore event. 221 runners competed for top spots in the event.
Sophomore Boys
Daniel Knight finished 60th overall with a time of 17:13 to lead South Carolina in the race. Knight runs for Spring Valley during the regular season. J.C. Koziel, a sophomore at Northwestern High School finished 65th overall in the sophomore boys competition in 17:21. Coming in next for South Carolina is Stephen Powell (89th).
William Hunter (94th), Christopher Butler (104th), Andrew Hazel (119th), Jeremy Vangsnes (123rd), Michael Doucette (126th), Thomas Watkins (144th), David Mead (145th), Tyler Gordon (148th), Joel Barnett (166th), Allen Larion (179th), Jesse Watson (189th), Joshua Dufford (198th), Philip Lindler (201st), Eric Nichols (211th), Benjamin Griswold (214th), Michael Dempsey (216th), Alex Keller (217th) and Garrett Stuart (228th) rounded out South Carolina's finishers in the field of 246 runners.
Junior Boys
Junior South Carolina runner Aubrey Darnell led the South Carolina runners in the Junior Boys race on Saturday after finishing 41st with a time of 16:50. Coming in 20 spots behind Darnell was Jeff Heinzl. Heinzl finished with a time of 17:07.
William Jeffries (93rd), Christopher Houck (104th), Robert Meldau (126th), Patrick Beckman (130th), Kenyon Campbell (140th), Jeremy Barnes (156th), Patrick Park (171st) Aaron Watkins (180th) and Jonathan Sledge rounded out South Carolina's finishers in the field of 228 runners.
Senior Boys
AAA State Champion in 2003 Jeff Crane looked to finish out his senior cross-country season with a top finish. Crane is a member of Wade Hampton's 2003 state champion team. Crane finished 26th overall in 16:46. As a team the Generals captured the fifth consecutive state team title following the 2003 state meet. Crane captured the individual state title with a time of 15:56.18 on Nov. 8. Coming in eight spots behind Crane was David Johannesmeyer with a time of 16:55.
Michael Rella (38th), Deeds Kienker (56th), Cory Houck (131st), Brian Ng (144th) and Brandon Lewis (155th) were the other South Carolina seniors ending their high school cross-country career (Note: SC seniors also ran in the seeded race). 177 senior runners competed in the boy's finale.
Junior/Senior Girls
Marlie Strubler finished her career in cross-country after finishing 79th individually in the junior/senior girls race at Footlocker South. Strubler ran a time of 21:11.
Also competing for South Carolina was Sam Hoehner (97th), Heather Koziel (101st), Kayla Evatt (119th), Leslie Thompson (123rd), Ashley McLain (161st), Theresa Giglotti (162nd), Laura Burgess (167th) and Valerie Hammond (186th). 187 total runners competed in the event.
Along with Strubler, Heather Koziel, Thompson, Burgess, and Hammond ended their careers as high school cross-country runners.
Meet Information
This years' National meet at Balboa Park in San Diego, Calif. is the 25th year since its start in 1979. The meet was called the Kinney Cross-Country Championships before changing to Footlocker Championships in 1993.
For other region meet results and more information on nationals and regionals visit the official meet website: www.footlockercc.com.