Foot Locker Midwest Notebook: Some tidbits from the 30th Foot Locker Midwest Regional…
Buddy Runs
By virtue of her runner-up finish, Parkway Central junior Emily Sisson advanced to the Foot Locker CC Nationals for the third straight season.
Only this time, she will be joined by teammate Diane Robison (pictured right), who finished 10th to claim the final qualifying spot.
“I'm so excited,” said Sisson, who recorded her third top five finishes at the Midwest Regional in as many tries. “I've been telling her all about it, what we do there.”
Although quite an accomplishment, teammates’ qualifying for Foot Locker Nationals is not as rare of an occurrence as you might think. In fact, it is the seventh consecutive year and 16th time in the last 20 seasons that at least one set of teammates will be making the trip to San Diego together.
Last year there were three sets of teammates – sisters Nadya and Anastacia Bishton, of Mountain Ridge, AZ, Michael Hammond and Jason Witt of Midlothian, VA, and CJ Brown and Colby Lowe of Southlake Carroll, TX.
In 2004, Saratoga Springs sent four members of its squad, represented by Caitlin Lane, Lindsey Ferguson, Hannah Davidson, and Nicole Blood. Lane, Ferguson and Blood returned as a trio in 2005.
West Covina brothers Danny and Diego Mercado were the last pair of teammates to achieve All-American status when they finished eighth and 11th, respectively in 2005.
According to Sisson, it is somewhat of an advantage having a training partner of elite ability.
“She’s definitely helped push me,” said Sisson of Robison. “It always helps having someone there to push you in practice and races.”
Before moving to Missouri this season, Sisson ran for Omaha Marian (NE), where she had Kelli Budd as a teammate and training companion. Budd, who missed out on the finals by a spot after finishing 11th, could take some consolation from the fact that she had already qualified for and is running at the Nike Cross Nationals, having placed fourth at the Nike Heartland Regional several weeks ago.
Double Dipping
By finishing among the top 10 at the Midwest Regional, five athletes qualified for their second postseason national championship race. Earlier this month, Ashlie Decker, Lindsay Flanagan (pictured below), Jakub Zivec, Drew Shields and Steve Sulkin also qualified as individuals for the Nike Cross Nationals, and will be participating in both, starting this weekend in Portland, OR.
Zivec, Decker and Sulkin won Nike Regional individual titles.
The choice to do both was a no-brainer for Zivec, who, due to his status as an exchange student, was relegated to junior varsity races only until the Minnesota state season ended. While Sulkin, of York, obviously, will be running with his team in Portland as they compete for another national title.
For the others, it’s a personal decision.
“I’m really excited that I made it to both,” said Lake Park’s Lindsay Flanagan, who finished fifth and eighth, respectively, at the Nike and Footlocker Regionals. “It’s going to be a good experience. My coaches didn’t really know [if it was a good idea.] They were like, ‘Are you sure you want to do both? That is a lot of racing.’ I wanted to. It’s my senior year, so why not?”
Shields echoed that sentiment.
Family Fun
There was a bit of confusion when the boy’s qualifiers were originally announced. The initial copy of the results that were released listed junior Bahlebi Zeinasellassie as the fifth-place finisher. It seemed a bit strange that Bahlebi, a fine runner in his own right, finished ahead of his brother, the freshman sensation out of North Central (IN), who finished as a the runner-up to Drew Shields at the Indiana State Championships.
Eventually, order was restored, and a revised copy of the results was distributed, with Futsum appearing correctly as the fifth-place finisher in 15:20. Bahlebi placed 103rd in 16:34.
Apparently, the brothers had inadvertently swapped timing chips.
According to one member of the North Central traveling party, the mix-up may have been attributed to their younger brother having a little fun with his older siblings.
Meet Summary | National Qualifiers |
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