As the state series meets fall upon us, many of the top harriers in the land ran easy this past weekend, if at all. The one state champion crowned, US #2 Luke Puskedra, ran away to a meet record at the Utah State Cross Country Championships. While Puskedra kicked it to another gear, many others did as well.
MileSplit Foot Locker Power Rankings - National - Weekend Wrap-Up
Boys
1. German Fernandez (Sr., Riverbank, CA) - More Information Forthcoming.
2. Luke Puskedra (Sr., Judge Memorial, UT) - Won the Utah State CC Championships in record time. Puskedra ran 14:54, beating the old course record by 13 seconds, held by Josh Rohatinsky, who won NCAA DI CC Nationals last fall.
3. Chris Derrick (Sr., Neuqua Valley, IL) - Won the Minooka Regional, helping his team to an easy win in their regional. Next up is sectionals, where Derrick should once again win easily.
4. Colby Lowe (Sr., Southlake Carroll, TX) - Idle.
5. Ben Johnson (Sr., Albuquerque Academy, NM) - Johnson easiliy won the Rio Rancho Jamboree. Pushing through a hard week in training, Johnson won the 5k race in 15:21, winning by 22 seconds.
6. Vince McNally (Sr., Conestoga Valley, PA) - During the week, McNally put up a huge mark of 15:02 at the Lebanon-Lancaster League Meet. His team beat the old course record, held by Craig Miller, by 17 seconds.
7. Kevin Williams (Sr., D'Evelyn, CO) - Williams easily won his regional. State is up next.
8. Doug Smith (Jr., Gill-St. Bernard's, NJ) - Idle. No major weekend competition to report.
9. Rob Finnerty (Sr., Burnsville, MN) - Idle. Sectionals ahead.
10. Brandon Jarrett (Sr., St. Benedict's, NJ) - Idle. No major weekend competition to report.
Girls
1. Ashley Brasovan (Jr., Wellington, FL) - Idle.
2. Jordan Hasay (Jr., Mission Prep, CA) - Hasay set a personal best at the Mt. SAC Invitational Saturday. Hasay's time of 16:42 beat the incredibly strong field by a wide margin.
3. Neely Spence (Sr., Shippensburg, PA) - Spence set the tone at her conference meet, beating one of Pennsylvania's best in Kara Millhouse (Boiling Springs) 18:37-19:29.
4. Carly Seymour (Sr., Central Cambria, PA) - Winning the conference championships, both as an individual and team, helped Seymour stamp her legacy in the conference. Her winning time of 17:07 over the three mile course helped guide her team to a conference title.
5. Katie Flood (So., Dowling Catholic, IA) - As the state meet springs upon her, Flood won her regional in 13:45 over the 4k spread. Flood's first place finish led her team to a dominating finish of 17 points for the team title. Dowling Catholic enters the state meet as the big-time favorite.
6. Christine Babcock (Sr., Woodridge, CA) - Babcock ran away from the rest of the field very early on, winning the Jaguar Invitational in 15:22. The course measured out to 2.6 miles.
7. Aurora Scott (Sr., Home Schooled, VA) - No information to report.
8. Emily Infeld (Sr., Cleveland Heights Beaumont, OH) - Running 18:09 at her district meet, Infeld won the race by 21 seconds, as the state meet is just around the corner.
9. Georgia Griffin (Sr., Hanover, NH) - More information forthcoming.
10. Kathy Kroeger (Jr., Independence, TN) - Easily won the Metro Championships, beating the runner-up by over a minute, running 19:03.