Jordan Hasay ended her stunning high school career the same way she started it on Saturday as she took home a win at the Footlocker High School Cross-Country Championships. But for once, she was faced with some competition.
Pre-race, the competition was expected to be from 2006 Champ Kathy Kroeger and 2007 Champ Ashley Brasovan (Hasay was the 2005 champion herself). But for all but the homestretch, Allie McLaughlin of Colorado Springs stole the show. McLaughlin had taken the lead early and went through the 1st mile marker seconds ahead of the next runner. She had only finished 4th in her Regional and had only started running the previous year.
After 2 miles, McLaughlin’s lead had lengthened. Hasay led the chase pack until finally Brasovan couldn’t stand it any longer and began to go after McLaughlin. With 300 meters to go, Brasovan caught up to McLaughlin, who resisted but was futile in her attempts as Brasovan accelerated past her.
Meanwhile, Hasay was chasing from behind. With 150m to go, she dug down for that extra power we all have seen her find before and blew by Brasovan to come home with the win in one of the greatest Footlocker showdowns ever.
Watch the video of the race courtesy of Dyestat California
Filed under: Cross Country, High School Athletics, Running by anngaff
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The Washington Huskies lived up to all the expectations placed upon them as they scored 79 points to win the NCAA Cross-Country Championships by 52 points over #2-ranked Oregon. Washington was lead by 2 freshman, Christine Babcock and Kendra Schaaf, on a cold and windy day in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech won her 3rd national title, the most of any woman in history, and did so with class. She beat 2nd-place Susan Kuijken of Florida State by just 6 seconds; usually her competitors don’t come within 20 seconds. During her post-race interview, could not stop talking about how lucky she was to compete against Kuijken, who she sats “brought out the best in me.” Kipyego sometimes gets up to workout at 6:30am so she can make it to all of her classes in her demanding schedule. And guess what? The men’s Texas Tech team will get up to run those workouts with her because that’s how much respect they have for her as a person and a great runner.
For results and interviews galore, visit Flotrack.com’s 2008 NCAA Cross-Country Coverage Page
Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z by anngaff
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Christine Babcock is the fastest high school miler EVER and is spending her freshman season at the University of Washington helping the #1 team in the nation dominate every single race they enter.
Babcock has consistently been one of the Huskies’ top runners and hopes to help her team win a National title next Monday at the NCAA Cross-Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana.
So just what is the secret to her success? You’ll be surprised at the answer! Check it out:
Video from Flotrack.org
Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z by anngaff
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November 17, 2008 - To qualify for the NCAA Division I Cross-Country Championships, teams competed this weekend at one of nine Regional Championships situated across the country. The top 2 teams in each region automatically qualified for the national meet. How the rest of the teams get in is a complicated process.
There are 13 “wild-card” spots for teams other than the 18 that qualified automatically at regionals. The way a team gets one of these 13 spots is by adding up the number of teams that have been accepted to the national meet which their team has beaten at some point during the season. So if a team was 3rd in their region but had beaten 5 of the 18 automatic-qualifiers during the season, they have a good chance of getting one of the first wildcard spots.
Individual athletes can qualify for the meet alone if their team doesn’t qualify. They can automatically qualify by placing in the top 4 individuals that did NOT already qualify on a team at regionals. There are then just 2 wildcard individuals from the entire country that are allowed in next. They are the ones that had the highest overall place at their respective regional meet; if the place is the same for 2 wildcard candidates, they then determine the qualifier by how close they were to the competitor in front of them.
The moral of the story is, every person you can edge out counts as well as every second faster you can run! When I was a sophomore, I qualified as a wildcard individual because I was 6th place overall at my regional championships AND was just 2 seconds behind 5th place.
To see all of the qualifiers for this year’s NCAA Championships, taking place on November 21 in Terre Haute, Indiana, Click Here.
For more coverage on the Regional Championships and the upcoming NCAA Champs, go to Flotrack.org
Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z by anngaff
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November 13, 2008 - The Nike Team Nationals have been renamed to the Nike Cross Nationals to reflect the fact that an individual championships has been added this year to a meet formerly scored for teams only. But everyone has to qualify at their Regional meet first…except for Californians, who are selected by a committee due to the fact that their State meet is run so late in the season.
The first set of Regionals start this weekend, with the Midwest Region in Terre Haute, IN, the Northwest Region in Boise, ID, and the Heartland Region in Sioux Falls, SD. The rest of the regional meets take place November 22 and 29, with the National meet taking place in Portland, OR, on December 6.
Visit Dyestat.com’s Coverage for Regionals sites, rankings, entries, results and analysis or the Official NXN 2008 Site for more details.
Filed under: Cross Country, Running by anngaff
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The University of Washington’s Katie Follett, Cross-Country All-American, got interviewed by Flotrack as she completed a workout on the school’s Alter-G treadmill.
An Alter-G treadmill allows you to run as if you weigh only a fraction of your actual body weight. This innovative piece of technology has allowed injury-prone runners or runners looking to up their mileage to get in more miles without the pounding and stress on the body. Only a handful of universities in the nation have access to Alter-G’s, as well as a few professional athletes. They are expensive pieces of equipment but have proven to be very worthwhile.
Follett placed 19th at last year’s NCAA DI Cross-Country Championships, making her Washington’s first All-American since 2001. This year, she is running 5th for her team–not because she is having a rough season but because her team has gotten that good.
This weekend, #1-ranked Washington faces #2 Oregon in the West Region Championships. Both teams should easily take the top 2 automatic team spots for the NCAA Championships. The question is, will the Washington Lady Huskies sweep the top 5 spots like they did a couple weeks ago at PAC-10’s?
Listen to what Follett has to say:
Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z, Student-Athlete, Technology, Track & Field by anngaff
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November 3, 2008 - History was made at the PAC-10 Conference Cross-Country Championships on Friday, as University of Washington’s Lady Huskies did the unthinkable as they went one, two, three, four, five, … and six. Not only did they take the team Pac-10 title, they obliterated the field and etched their names into history as the only team to ever win the title with a perfect score.
Washington freshman Kendra Schaaf won the women’s individual title with a course and Pac-10 6K record time of 19 minutes and 24 seconds, while lowering the previous course mark by 33 seconds.
She was followed across the finish line by sophomore Mel Lawrence, freshman Christine Babcock, senior Anita Campbell, junior Katie Follett and senior Amanda Miller. Lawrence and Babcock also finished under the previous course mark of 19:57, and Campbell tied it.
Coming into the race, Washington was ranked #1 nationally and PAC-10 rival Oregon was ranked #2. Those spots were solidified as Washington left no question as to whether or not they were the superior team. Oregon’s #1 runner would not have even been a scorer for Washington.
More interviews, videos and photos at FloTrack.com
Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, General, Running by anngaff
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