| DyeStat Foot Locker Favorites
2007 Individual XC Rankings
By SteveU
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The annual Foot Locker Favorites series are national and regional rankings of cross-country runners based on distance-running accomplishments to date, with an emphasis on XC and 3200/2M track results, rather than a projection of how the Foot Locker Finals will turn out (predictions run later in the season). While the rankings are named as such in acknowledgement of the Foot Locker Finals as the historic individual championship, they are intended more as national and regional individual rankings per se, since some top runners will choose to participate only in NTN Regional and National Events.
Thanks to Rob Monroe for research assistance on this year's rankings.
Oct. 9 Update: Ben Still On Top
The Boys National Rankings
There has been some movement in the top 10, and some shuffling, but those who have earned their stripes are still ahead
There hasn’t been a whole lot of change between the preseason top 10 of the Foot Locker Favorites boys rankings and the current version, several weeks later. California German Hernandez has jumped in at #9 and Coloradoan Kevin Williams is knocking on the door at #11, but otherwise, with some shuffling, the top 10 is pretty similar to what it was at season’s start. That says these guys are living up not only to what they did last fall, as juniors (the top ten are all seniors), but also last spring, which is also part of the basis of these rankings.
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Upwardly mobile ...
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| Chris Derrick IL
| Brandon Jarrett NJ
| German Fernandez CA
| Kevin Williams CO
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And that’s why Albuquerque Academy NM sr Ben Johnson is still atop the National 20-Deep TopList. Not only has he put up strong times against good competition, but he’s also unbeaten. He may not have had the most explosive start to the season, but there’s no reason at this point to knock him off the top of the Favorites list. When you’re the top returnee from Foot Locker Finals AND NTN, you have to be truly knocked off.
Same holds true for Southlake Carroll TX sr Colby Lowe, the #2 returnee from both Foot Locker and NTN. He has not been pushed in Texas, even at the big Nike South meet, and has been consistently fast all year. If he doesn’t get any significant challenge at the Chile Pepper meet, then he will likely sail into the NTN South meet still looking for his first real race.
The most significant challenge to the status of those two has come from Judge Memorial UT sr Luke Puskedra and Neuqua Valley IL sr Chris Derrick. Puskedra, whose big breakout came last spring with his Arcadia victory, has been smashing course records all fall, with his biggest win coming at Firman, where he blasted a 14:49. He hasn’t faced any other top-20 types, and should now cruise through his state series with Foot Locker West on his horizon.
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The Foot Locker Favorites - Boys - TopList - 20 Deep
Athlete
| Pre
Season
| Last Year: Finals/Reg.
| Returning Finals/Region
| Comments
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1. Ben Johnson, 2008
Albuquerque Academy HS, NM
| 1st
| 6th / 2nd(NTN)
| 1st / X | Fast starts by national competition not enough to knock off top FL Finals/NTN returnee, who has himself started well. Highlight: 14:52 win in D1 Liberty Bell, beating Deak's mark (though 2nd overall).
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2. Colby Lowe, 2008
Southlake Carroll HS, TX
| 2nd | 10th / 7th
| 2nd / 4th
| Fast and consistent, but hasn't been pushed by anyone yet as he hasn't faced anyone outside the Lone Star State. That could change at Chile Pepper.
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3. Luke Puskedra, 2008
Judge Memorial HS, UT
| 4th | DNQ / DNC | DNQ / DNC | It could be argued that no one in the country has started faster than Luke Puskedra, with a major highlight his crushing 14:49 CR at Firman. Still has yet to face true heavy hitters, though.
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4. Chris Derrick, 2008
Neuqua Valley HS, IL
| 7th | DNQ / 18th
| DNQ / 5th | Best matchup so far was Derrick vs. Mike Fout IN few weeks ago at Culver IN. Chris not only won, but his 14:47 hammered a Nef Araia course record. The man to beat in the MW.
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5. Sean Keveren, 2008
Brentwood HS, TN
| 3rd
| DNQ / 20th | DNQ / 10th | Keveren has started well, including McCallie and Memphis wins, but for an 8:55y guy, has been a bit under the radar. That should change October 13, with a trip to Great American. |
6. Brandon Jarrett, 2008
St. Benedict's Acad., NJ
| 10th
| 12th / 8th | 3rd / 3rd
| Jarrett had the latest start of any elite runner, but his 15:03 at Cougar, almost beating Craig Forys' CR, showed he's ready to rock. Expect a telling performance Oct. 13 at Manhattan vs. Doug Smith. |
7. Donn Cabral, 2008
Glastonbury HS, CT
| 6th
| 21st / 6th
| 5th / 2nd
| Used a strong finishing kick to top Willie Ahearn at Hartford meet, which has been only major test. New Englands might be biggest meet the rest of the year.
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8. Sintayehu Taye, 2008
Cushing Academy, MA
| 8th
| 16th / 2nd | 4th / 1st
| Cushing's prep school schedule has few real tests for Taye, but his 15:48 at Andover 9/29 was 14 sec. better than last year. He's still the 2-time FL NE runner-up.
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9. German Fernandez, 2008, Riverbank HS, CA
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| DNQ / DNC | DNQ / DNC | As German's considerable talent is revealed, the doubters are drifting away. The latest evidence to back up the sensational results of 2005 (state title): 14:42 victory at Stanford Invite.
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10. Rob Finnerty, 2008
Burnsville HS, MN
| 11th
| DNQ / 16th
| DNQ / 4th | Finnerty seems to really be fulfilling the potential he's shown since 2004. He rolled through his early schedule with a 15:05 to his credit and won Griak easily on an "off" day.
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11. Kevin Williams, 2008
D'Evelyn HS, CO
| 17th
| DNQ / 37th
| DNQ / 9th
| Williams has picked up where he left off in the spring, unbeaten against strong CO competition and winning D2 race at Liberty Bell a tick faster than Ben Johnson's D1 win.
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12. Mike Fout, 2008
LaPorte HS, IN
| 13th
| DNQ / DNC
| DNQ / DNC
| Suffered 18-second loss in Culver Invite to Chris Derrick IL, but still looking like the runner his sub-9 last spring indicated he would be. Now his focus will turn to state and Foot Locker.
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13. Doug Smith, 2009
Gill St. Bernards HS, NJ
| 19th
| DNQ / 72nd
| DNQ / 27th | Smith's CR 15:10 at Paul Short (beating Craig Forys' record), showed the junior is up for building on track success and erasing FL NE 06 disappointment. Next: showdown with Jarrett at Manhattan.
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14. Peter Dorrell, 2008
Blacksburg HS, VA
| 18th
| DNQ / 17th | DNQ / 9th | Dorrell has showed that his string of good 3200/2M races last spring were no fluke. At the huge Maymont meet, he beat VA's other big dogs and other top SE runners in 15:31 victory.
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15. Griff Graves, 2008
Abingdon HS, VA
| 16th
| 28th / 3rd
| 8th / 2nd | Griff scored big wins at Peoria ND over Kevin Havel and at Wendy's over Ryan Hill ... but was a disappointing 5th at Maymont. Certainly has talent to be FL South top 3 or better.
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16. Ryan Hill, 2008
HIckory HS, NC
| 9th
| 26th / 1st
| 7th / 1st | Hill was able to give nice confirmation of the talents he displayed as a junior with wins over region rivals Taylor Gilland and Luke Lovelace to start season, but was beaten by Griff Graves at Wendy's.
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17. Mac Fleet, 2009
University City HS, CA
| ---
| DNQ / 138th
| DNQ / 56th
| Fleet built a huge buzz with his 14:17 Woodbridge triumph and subsequent win at Pepperdine, but loss at Nike Pre-Nats showed he may have overdone it. Still, at least a clear title contender at FLW.
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18. Evan Appel, 2009
Dakota Ridge HS, CO
| 15th
| 29th / 5th
| 9th / 1st
| Another one of the top juniors and a 2006 FL Finals qualifier, Appel had a few big wins to start year, but then lost at John Martin and his win at Dave Sanders was slower than Williams' in another division.
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19. Tom Achtien, 2008
York HS, IL
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| DNQ / DNC
| DNQ / DNC
| With big victories at the Palatine and Peoria meets, Achtien has established himself as one of the best in the Midwest, and could battle Derrick for IL state honors.
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20. Jason Witt, 2008
Midlothian HS, VA
| ---
| DNQ / 15th
| DNQ / 8th
| Has made the most of his biggest races and become one of best in region, winning at Great Meadow and a close 2nd to Dorrell at Maymont Festival.
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Honorable Mention - Joseph Manilafasha CO, Joey Bywater WA, Thomas Porter VA, Kevin Havel IL, Johns Ross VA, Willie Ahearn CT, Charles White CO, Nick Holmes IL, Trevor Dunbar AK, Riley Sullivan CA, Luke Lovelace SC, Maverick Darling MI, Ryan Prentice WA, Scott Blair CA, Vince McNally PA, CJ Brown TX, Lee Berube NY, Daniel Manco FL, Graham Bazell MD, Max Kaulbach PA, Matt Paulson NH, Yon Yilma WA, Matt Terry CT, Alex McGrath NH, Bobby Aprill MI, Bobby Nichols CO, Joe Miller OH, Taylor Gilland NC, Cody Hughes TX, Mohamed Abdalla CA, Kelly Lynch WA, Miles Unterrainer WA, Diego Estrada CA, Jeremy Acosta CA, Chris Schwartz CA, Tito Medrano IN
(continued from above chart)
Derrick has backed up his credentials – an 8:54 3200 last spring – by ripping through the fall unbeaten with fast times. Most significant was his decisive victory over LaPorte IN sr Mike Fout, another sub-9 runner, at the Culver IN Invite. By beating the venerable Nef Araia’s course record to boot, he clearly established national title aspirations.
Speaking of sub-9 runners, Brentwood TN sr Sean Keveren was the best in that department last spring at 8:55y. He has been untested, but has gradually worked into form, with his 15:13 win at Memphis Twilight last weekend his best run to date. It appears he will be the top entry at the Great American race this weekend.
The next three make up the trio of returning FL Finalists from the Northeast Region – St. Benedict’s NJ sr Brandon Jarrett, Glastonbury CT sr Donn Cabral, and Cushing Academy MA sr Sintayehu Taye. Taye is the 2-time NE runner-up (to his own brother Ayalew in 05, and Craig Forys in 06), but Jarrett had the best race in San Diego among the three at 12th. Cabral, on the other hand, made the most progress last spring in track, running 9:02 while Jarrett hit 9:08 and Taye missed nearly the entire season due to injury.
Cabral made the first statement of the three with his win in the new Hartford meet, outkicking Willie Ahearn, but once Jarrett got rolling, he ran a blazing 15:03 at the Cougar Invite, just 5 seconds off a fine Forys course record. That propelled him into the U.S. #6 spot over Cabral.
Meanwhile, Taye is working his way back on course, but in his prep school schedule at Cushing will face no major challenges. In the past, the Tayes have sometimes run big open meets, like the Boston Mayor’s Cup, to get a test. In any case, Taye’s time is coming down and if he stays healthy, he should again push for the FL NE title. Jarrett will not get to compete at the NJ state meet since his school is not an association member, but he is slated to race Gill St. Bernard’s jr Doug Smith, #13 on the new list, at Manhattan this weekend. It will be one of the top remaining clashes on the schedule.
Rounding out the top ten is Burnsville MN sr Rob Finnerty, who has dominated his state all season so far and won the big Griak meet on Sept. 29.
Kevin Williams, the D’Evelyn CO sr who is one of the fastest rising starts in the country, heads up the 2nd ten. He has established himself as his state’s title favorite with a string of victories topped by his 14:51 course record at Libery Bell, a tick faster than Ben Johnson ran in another race. The aforementioned Fout is next, followed by the aforementioned Smith, whose best race to date was his 15:10 at Paul Short, in this case beating a Forys course record.
Two Virginians, Peter Dorrell and Griff Graves, are next. Dorrell, a Blacksburg sr, beat the top Virginians and some other solid SE runners at the big Maymont meet, where Graves was just 5th. But Graves, an Abingdon sr, also owns victories at Wendy’s in NC, where he topped defending FL South champ Ryan Hill, and at Peoria IL, where he beat Kevin Havel. A third Virginian, Midlothian sr Jason Witt, is 20th on the list after getting 2nd to Dorrell at Maymont and winning Great Meadow.
Hill, a sr at Hickory NC in 16th, saw his first defeat at Wendy’s. He previously had strong wins over another returning FL Finalist, Luke Lovelace SC, and Taylor Gilland NC in September invites. Similarly, Dakota Ridge CO jr Evan Appel also made San Diego last fall and had a fast start to 2007, but suffered a recent loss. He is 18th.
Newcomers in 17th and 19th are University City CA jr Mac Fleet and York IL sr Tom Achtien. Fleet has built off a soph season that saw him run a 4:08 1600, winning the big Woodbridge meet where he set a junior class mark, but also had a loss in his 3rd straight week of hard racing at the Nike Pre-National meet in Portland. Achtien, with two major wins, has established himself as one of the top three in Illinois.
Having fallen off of the original pre-season top 20 are 2006 FL Finalists Joseph Manilafasha CO and Thomas Porter VA, as well as Kevin Havel IL and Joey Bywater WA. All have suffered losses, but certainly remain in contention for national honors.
So the next big question is who is going to actually run Foot Locker and who is not? With the presence of NTN Regional meets, most runners who are on elite teams will either be skipping Foot Locker Region meets because of same day conflicts, or deciding whether to have four straight hard races in four or five weeks if they try and do both. Let’s break it down by region.
West – Foot Locker has not announced it will allow qualifiers to San Diego from NTN, so there’s no guarantee that a runner like Ben Johnson could do both, as he did last year. Johnson is thus an unlikely bet in San Diego given that his team is #1 in the SW and certainly wouldn’t be at Mt. SAC for FL West unless they don’t qualify for Portland.
What is shaping up at Mt. SAC is a likely battle starring Luke Puskedra, German Fernandez, and Mac Fleet, which would be pretty appealing stuff.
Midwest – Chris Derrick’s team, MW#1, will almost certainly run in the Nov. 10 NTN Midwest, but Derrick could still opt for the Foot Locker series. You can pencil in Rob Finnerty for Kenosha, though, and one would imagine Mike Fout (his team is ranked on the bubble) and Kevin Williams to be there, too. Although York IL isn’t ranked as high this year, they would likely run NTN MW, so Achtien would be in a similar situation to Derrick, though he’d be less likely running in Portland.
South – The FL South and NTN SE meets are on the same day, though the NTN South meet, which includes runners in the FL South region, is a week earlier. That means Colby Lowe, whose Southlake Carroll squad was in Portland last year, could try and do all the races, but that would be a brutal stretch.
Sean Keveren, on the other hand, looks like a FL South definite, as would defending region champ Ryan Hill and Virginians Pete Dorrell and Griff Graves. Jason Witt, on the other hand, would likely run NTN SE.
Northeast – Again, a same-day conflict with FL NE and NTN NE. Look for Brandon Jarrett, Sintayehu Taye, and Doug Smith to all be at Vanny for Foot Locker. Donn Cabral’s Glastonbury team would be a like NTN NE participant, although their chances of making it aren’t looking strong.
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