Foot Locker Northeast Regional 2012

Probably the best way to capture the career of Pennsbury senior Sara Sargent is to point out that she has won at least one state championship in her first three years of high school. Got that? Freshman. Sophomore. Junior. Check them off. In 2009, she won the state AAA cross country title. Later that month, she was 8th in the Northeast at the Foot Locker Regional, and then was 21st in nationals, just 10 seconds out of all-American. As a sophomore, she was diagnosed with mono just two weeks after the state XC championships. She bounced back and captured the PTFCA Indoor 3000 meter title. Oh, we missed the 3200 meter PIAA AAA title as a freshman. Then, as a junior, she was the PIAA AAA 1600 meter champ in a PR of 4:51.04. Throw in some all-states, Millrose Games and US Open Miles, and appearances in the Penn Relays Mile and 3000, and other state medals, and you have an awesome career. And just this past November 3rd, she led her team to their 3rd consecutive AAA State XC Title. Sit back and enjoy her senior campaign.  

Photo by Patty Morgan

Cheserek wins 2nd straight title! Rocha back to FL Nats also. McGorty and Chase light up FL South! Manlius, CBA and Pennsbury win. Leingang, Rohrer win Midwest, KY teams, dominate Nike SE. (Photo by Kane Baker)

In a few short years, Catarina Rocha has learned how much the Foot Locker cross country races have meant to her family.

If Edward Cheserek were an automobile, the odds are pretty good that he would be a fiery red convertible. (Photo by Don Rich)

Wrecked, shredded, and dismantled. Call it what you want, it really doesn’t matter. For the third time in two weeks, Peabody’s Catarina Rocha put the hammer down on another deep cross country field. This time it was the Northeast that got a big, bad dose of Rocha. After easy wins in both the Div. 1 EMass and All-State races, Rocha hung around with the leaders for the first half before changing gears at yesterday’s FootLocker Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships. Racing in chilly conditions that included a light snow flurry in the final half mile, Rocha was all smiles as she earned her third consecutive trip to the FootLocker Finals with an easy 17-minute, 49.5-second victory over the challenging 3.1-mile Van Cortlandt Park layout. The finals will take place in Balboa Park in San Diego, CA, on Dec. 8.

Cheserek and Green earn return trips to San Diego!

Rocha wins and earns 2nd berth, 9 newcomers!

Here's a list of Maine's Foot Locker Northeast entries, along with a quick discussion of a few of those entries.

"XC Course is in terrible condition with a dozen major trees down!" says Jan Mitchell, a NY resident.  MileSplit is thinking of all the affected people left in the wake of Sandy, and a speedy recovery to all. (Photo by Jan Mitchell)