Florida's Ashley Brasovan winning the girls title
(Photo by John Herzog)
A quick early pace broke up the girls race very early with a group of five chasing pre-race favorite Jordan Hasay. With a mile left to go the top athletes started catching Hasay with the smallest of athletes, 4' 11" Ashley Brasovan making the biggest move to challenge for the win. In the final 600 meters the Florida star proved her toughness to knock out the rest of the field and cruise away to victory.
Foot Locker Coverage: The Florida Mighty Mite Brasovan Wins Girls Race
The forty best girls in the country met at the starting line Saturday morning at Foot Locker Nationals. With nearly a dozen favorites in the field, and a few front runners, the pace promised to be fast. The only question lingering brought up the subject of the wet course, but from the gun it was apparent that the sub-par race course conditions would not be a factor.
As the cannon shot off marking the start of the race, California's Jordan Hasay, the 2005 race champion, shot the lead with fiery passion. On Friday Hasay stated that if the race did not go out hard enough that she would take the lead. Well, it seemed as though she wanted to lead regardless and pulled the pack along behind her. Hitting the first half mile the junior had a two second lead coming through the marker in 2:31.
Jordan Hasay (CA) pushing the pace early
A honest early pace pushed the girls to spread out quickly. With Hasay leading, the chase pack formed a few seconds back and consisted of pre-race favorites Claire Durkin (OH), Neely Spence (PA), Kathy Kroeger (TN), Ashley Brasovan (FL) and Katie Flood (IA). The pack tightly raced together, obviously feeding off one another's energy.
As the mile approached Hasay continued to extend her lead, pushing up the big hill on the back part of the course. Running through the first mile marker, Hasay hit 5:18 at that point and led by twenty meters or so. Behind her Claire Durkin made a push to try and catch Hasay, while the rest of the pack ran close and keeping an eye on the leaders.
Ashley Brasovan (#26) & Kathy Kroeger (#20) lead the chase pack
The athletes maintained places until a little past the mile and a half mark when Kroeger, Brasovan and Durkin pushed forward and started to reel in Hasay. Crossing the two mile mark, Kroeger and Brasovan were on a mission to inch toward the leader stride for stride. Crossing the road and snaking around, it was apparent that Hasay was feeling her early efforts, looking a little hurt.
The final hill came upon the athletes and Brasovan had broken away from Kroeger by a few meters. Charging up the hill, Brasovan made a strong move, catching Hasay and throwing a stone in Hasay's engine. Cresting the top of the hill and swinging around to the harsh downhill, Brasovan opened up her stride and hit the downhill hard. Within one hundred meters Brasovan had put thirty meters on Hasay and looked unstoppable.
Ashley Brasovan (#26) catching race leader Jordan Hasay
(Photo by Don Rich)
Pushing and pushing, showing the world that her sixth place finish at Foot Locker South was merely a passing point to get to this day's competition, Brasovan continued to surge and with 300 meters to go it was apparent that unless she tied up no one was catching her on this day. The crowd roared, the announcers voice trembled and the little mighty mite from Florida crossed the finish line victoriously.
Ashley Brasovan sprinting home to victory
(Photo by John Herzog)
The late race surge broke Hasay, who tried to run with Brasovan but simply didn't have enough left in her legs. Kroeger caught Hasay and pushed forward, inching past her in the final stretch. Brasovan crossed the line victoriously in 17:20, while Kroeger finished second in 17:28 and Hasay third in 17:31. All three athletes were excited and humble after the race, realizing that they had competed in one of the finer girls races ever at Foot Locker Nationals.