Foot Locker Northeast Race Recap

Foot Locker Northeast Regional
Lex Mercado

Race recaps by Lex Mercado from the championship races at the 2014 Foot Locker Northeast Regional.

Boys - Girls

 

Boys

The boys seeded race was the Alex Ostberg show up front, and a whole bunch of chaos behind him.

As expected, Ostberg, the Darien (CT) senior, New England and Connecticut state champion, stormed to the front of the race and looked comfortably on his way to taking home the Northeast Regional title in 15:17.8. His performance looked like many of his other races in his perfect 2014 season despite recovering from some nagging injuries earlier this month.

Meanwhile behind him, the rest of the qualifying spots were not sealed until the rest of the field escaped from the woods. 12 seconds separated the silver medalist, Luke Petela of Haddon Township (NJ), and the lucky man who earned the last qualifying spot for San Diego, Shawn Hutchinson of Bishop Eustace (NJ). Petela has finished 1st or 2nd in each of his last five races, while Hutchinson earned his lowest finish of the year, but it was enough to go through.

Bronze went to Ari Klau of William Hall (CT), who improved from a 77th finish last season, and made it eight top three finishes from 8 races this season. Casey Comber of Hatboro Horsham (PA) came away as PA’s top finisher, earning 4th place and PA’s highest finish at the Northeast Regional since 2009. Big rival and PA AAA division state champion Jake Brophy of Central Bucks East (PA) finished 5th, failing to win a race for the first time in two months.

Also escaping through the crowded madness was Benito Muniz of Carmel (NY), who earned the honor of qualifying or both NXN and Foot Locker Finals in a high school career, earning a Foot Locker Finals berth in his first attempt with a 6th place finish. Eli Moskowitz of Souhegan (NH) missed the top five for the first time all season, but 7th place and his 2nd fastest time of the season was enough to see him through. Jeriqho Gadway of Plattsburgh (NY) rebounded very nicely from a tough performance at the New York Federations Championships two weeks ago to record his 2nd best finish of the season (8th) and qualify after earning 3rd team all Northeast in 2013. Jack Jibb of Monroe Woodbury (NY) had the biggest rebound of them all. After having his worst finishes at both New York states and New York Feds, Jibb put it all together just in time to advance to San Diego, a wonderful reward after a torrid postseason.

New York narrowly maintained their title of best Northeast state, edging out Pennsylvania 52-54, with three runners representing the state in San Diego in two weeks. PA improved from 1 qualifier last year to 2. Connecticut finished 3rd, but had two of the top three finishers in the race. New Jersey also had two qualifiers for the December 13 finals.

Girls

The highly anticipated matchup between Shaler Area’s (PA) Brianna Schwartz and Staples (CT) Hannah Delbasi did not disappoint. Delbasi was looking to take her place on top of the region before she made her second appearance at the San Diego finals. Schwartz was trying to keep the Northeast title in the state of PA.

Both runners led entering the woods at a comfortable 5:26 pace through one mile. Schwartz later put on some strong moves through the back wooded hills and would pull away from the favorite Delbasi and maintain her 100 percent record in 2014! Schwartz’s time of 17:35.2 was 15 seconds better than Delbasi, who earned a top three finish for the 2nd year running. Schwartz earned the biggest win of her cross country career, and both runners will look to earn their 2nd All American cross country certificates in two weeks.

Three time Rhode Island state champion Emma McMillan of Barrington (RI) will be making her 2nd straight national finals appearance after qualifying for the NXN finals in 2013. Her 3rd place time of 17:51.2 is her 2nd best time this season behind her Rhode Island state title performance on November 2. Madeleine Davison of North Allegheny (PA) will be making her first trip to Foot Locker Finals after a 4th place finish. She has finished in the top four in all of her 2014 races.

Erin Dietz of Bedford (MA) failed to stay unbeaten for 2014, but the reigning Massachusetts state champion made a huge improvement from her 36th place finish last season to earn a top five finish and her first national finals appearance. Anna Flynn of Ursuline School (NY) missed the top five for the 1st time this season, but avenged the disappointment of being 3 places away from qualifying in 2013 to make her first trip in 2014 with a 6th place finish. Marissa Sheva of Pennridge (PA) made it to a Foot Locker Northeast race healthy and in good form after a huge 2014 and showed her ability by making her first Foot Locker Finals appearance after finishing 7th and the last sub 18 minute performer.

Kelsey Potts of Mount Lebanon (PA) gave her state a 4th qualifier on the day with an 8th place finish and joining her fellow PA runners whom she never earned a victory against in 2014. Her time of 18:01.2 was her fastest time of the entire season. Gabrielle Richichi of New Fairfield (CT) improved from 3rd team to 2nd team and from 23rd to 9th place to make her first national finals appearance with a season best 18:10. The final spot in San Diego went to Eve Glasergreen of North Hunterdon (NJ), who earned a deserved trip with a 10th place finish after starting the season with a 5 meet winning streak and a 3rd place Jersey Meet of Champs performance.

Pennsylvania came away victorious with the title of best Northeast state in girls cross country running, earning four Foot Locker Finalists and a 5th runner in 13th to score 29 points and claim the crown. Massachusetts finished 2nd with two qualifiers and 52 points.

Results: Seeded Boys - Seeded Girls