With three of the four Foot Locker regionals taking place next weekend, many of the top individuals around the country used a post-season meet to tune-up for the competition and a few more had their last state series competition. Next week sixty of the eighty Foot Locker Nationals competitors will be named. It's finally time!
MileSplit Foot Locker National Power Rankings: Weekend Wrap-Up
Boys
1. Chris Derrick (Sr., Neuqua Valley, IL) - Idle.
2. Luke Puskedra (Sr., Judge Memorial, UT) - A strong pace helped Puskedra pull away from U.S. #5 Ben Johnson at the NTN Southwest Regional Saturday. Finishing in 14:48, Puskedra's Foot Locker tune-up race showed he is ready to take on all challengers, beating Johnson by eight seconds.
3. German Fernandez (Sr., Riverbank, CA) - Fernandez once again beat a California field by close to two minutes. The Riverbank star ran 15:03 to win his Sac Joaquin Section Final race by 1:55.
4. Colby Lowe (Sr., Southlake Carroll, TX) - Another day, another big win for Colby Lowe. The senior led his team to second place at the NTN South Regional Saturday, earning another trip to NTN in Portland. Lowe dominated the strong field, winning in 15:06, 21 seconds ahead of runner-up teammate C.J. Brown.
5. Ben Johnson (Sr., Albuquerque Academy, NM) - Running a time of 14:56 wasn't good enough to win Saturday at the NTN Southwest Regional in Tempe, Arizona, as Johnson lost to U.S. #2 Luke Puskedra by eight seconds.
6. Kevin Williams (Sr., D'Evelyn, CO) - Idle.
7. Doug Smith (Jr., Gill-St. Bernard's, NJ) - DNF. After running with U.S. #7 Brian Leung for a portion of the New Jersey Meet of Champions, Smith dropped out of the race. Feeling ill the few days prior to the competition, Smith obviously felt the effects of it, hindering his performance.
8. Rob Finnerty (Sr., Burnsville, MN) - Idle.
9. Brian Leung (Sr., WW-PS, NJ) - A big win in 15:33 at the NJ Meet of Champions was Leung's final race before Foot Locker Northeast next weekend. Leung's performances have been rock solid as the senior looks to prove he is Foot Locker ready.
10. Vince McNally (Sr., Conestoga Valley, PA) - Idle.
11. Sean Keveren (Sr., Brentwood, TN) - Idle.
12. Jason Witt (Sr., Blacksburg, VA) - Idle.
Girls
1. Jorday Hasay (Jr., Mission Prep, CA) - Information Forthcoming.
2. Ashley Brasovan (Jr., Wellington, FL) - The dominating junior continued her winning ways at the Florida State Meet Saturday where she beat the competition with a great time of 17:04. Brasovan beat runner-up Emilie Amaro by eight seconds.
3. Carly Seymour (Sr., Central Cambria, PA) - Idle.
4. Neely Spence (Sr., Shippensburg, PA) - Idle.
5. Katie Flood (So., Dowling Catholic, IA) - Idle.
6. Kathy Kroeger (Jr., Independence, TN) - Idle.
7. Georgia Griffin (Sr., Hanover, NH) - Idle.
8. Christine Babcock (Sr., Woodbridge, CA) - At the CIF-Southern Section Final, Babcock steamrolled the competition to easily win her division of the championships. The senior ran the fastest time of the day in 16:38.
9. Aurora Scott (Sr., Home Schooled, VA) - Running one of her only races of the season at the Virginia AAU Meet Saturday, Scott ran 18:37 to easily win her division at the championship. Scott's lack of racing brings into question her fitness heading into next weekend's Foot Locker South Regional.
10. Claire Durkin (Sr., Worthington, OH) - Breaking the course record by eleven seconds at the Mid East Cross Country Championships proves Durkin is really running well right now. Durkin's mark of 17:24 crushed the field, with runner-up Caitlin Comfort (IL) running 44 seconds behind her.
11. Nadya Bishton (Sr., Mountain Ridge, AZ) - The ease with which Bishton has won races this year begs the question, how fast can Bishton run with someone pushing her other than her sister Nastia? Bishton and her sister blitzed the field at the NTN Southwest Regional. Nadya ran 17:38, beating her sister by five seconds and the third place finisher by nearly twenty seconds.
12. Emilie Amaro (Sr. Cypress Bay, FL) - Keeping it close seemed to be the goal for Amaro at the Florida State Meet this past weekend. Facing U.S. #2 Ashley Brasovan, Amaro ran a great race to finish only eight seconds behind Brasovan and earn second place with a time of 17:12.