Nicole Blood has been running in
the nation's highest ranks so long it is hard
to believe she is just a sophomore. With New York's eligibility
rules allowing capable 7th graders to run on varsity teams, Blood
is in her fourth year on the varsity of the perennial national
leading Saratoga NY cross country squad. Blood led Saratoga to
the US#1 ranking in The
Harrier as a freshman. This year, she
led them back to the top spot with dominant victories in the
Great American and the Manhattan.
Blood's freshman year was brilliant, but with disappointments
at the end. She went undefeated in cross country until
losing to Ari Lambie in the Foot Locker Northeast region and
then placed 9th at Foot Locker national finals in San Diego.
After that, Blood rang up a string of victories
in track including the Millrose Games mile (over Ari Lambie),
the Nike Indoor Championships 2-mile, and the New York State
championships 3000 meters (both indoors and outdoors). But then
a hamstring injury knocked her out of the adidas Outdoor Championships
in June in Raleigh.
This year, Blood is undefeated again, a little
bigger, and in her words, stronger than ever. She followed up
Great American with two even more impressive performances. At
the Manhattan Invitational Oct 11, she won the Girls Eastern
States for the second straight year in 14:17.8 (2.5 miles), sixth
fastest in the 31 years of the Manhattan. Saratoga's team recorded
the first ever sub-15 minute average team time. At the Brown
Invitational Oct 18, Blood's 16:53 was the fastest 5k in the
country this year.
Blood's past performances:
2003 cross country
16:53 5k 1 @ Brown Inv Champ RI 10/18/2003
18:09 5k 1 @ Great Am ROC NC 9/27/2003
17:38 5k 1 @ Warwick Inv NY 9/13/2003
18:23 5k 1 @ Suburban Council NY 9/9/2003
2003 outdoor
G-3000 9:46.18 6/7/2003, State Meet NY, # 1
2003 indoor
G-2Mile 10:27.61 3/16/2003, Nike Indoor Champ. MD, # 1
G-3000 9:50.52 3/8/2003, NYSPHSAA statemeet NY, # 1
G-1500 4:38.69 2/22/2003, Section 2 NY, # 1
G-Mile 4:52 2/8/2003, Millrose Games NY, # 1
G-1000 2:53.6 2/2/2003, TriCounty League NY, # 2
G-Mile 4:54.78 1/25/2003, New Balance Games NY, # 1
G-3000 9:48.35 1/18/2003, Yale Classic CT, # 1
2002 cross country
17:52 5k 9 @ FootLocker nationals CA 12/14/2002
17:48 5k 2 @ FootLocker NE seeded NY 11/30/2002
18:09 5k 1 @ Federation Ch. NY 11/16/2002
16:52 3.05m 1 @ Section 2 NY 11/1/2002
17:04 5k 1 @ Suburban Council NY 10/26/2002
19:03 5k 1 @ Great American ROC NC 9/28/2002
17:54 5k 1 @ Spiked Shoe PA 9/7/2002 |
Victor Gras is a fast improving miler who isn't bad at cross
country either.
Gras hit the national stage in Foot Locker a year
ago, getting the 8th and last Northeast Region qualifier for
Foot Locker nationals at San Diego, where he finished 28th.
Then Gras went to work on his mile times on the
track, with rousing season-ending performances in national meets.
Indoors,
Gras was second in 4:10.18 at the National Scholastic Indoor
Championships in New York, less than a second behind Ryan Deak.
Outdoors, Gras dropped his PR to 4:06.93 in the
acclaimed mile at the adidas Outdoor Championships in Raleigh
in June. Gras shouldered his way in the mix of better known runners
for fifth place in a race that saw seven runners go under 4:10.
He finished ahead of the fastest miler of the year, Steve Magness,
and he was beaten by only one other underclassman, Jeff See 4:06.07,
who broke Alan Webb's sophomore class record.
Gras will go into the 2004 outdoor season as the
third highest ranking returning miler in the country.
In historic terms, Gras posted his best achievement
to date in the Manhattan Invitational Oct 11. His 12:17.1 (2.5
miles) was not only fastest of the day, but it was the fastest
ever in the 31 years of the Manhattan and third fastest ever
of all the runners at venerable Van Cortlandt Park. Gras
eclipsed two acclaimed runners from the past: John Trautman 12:18.7
in 1985 and Alberto Salazar 12:22.5 in 1975.
Gras' past performances:
2003 cross country
15:44 5k 4 @ Great Am Seeded Inv NC 9/27/2003
2003 outdoor
B-Mile 4:06.93 6/14/2003, AOC Raleigh NC, # 5
B-Mile 4:11.08 c 6/7/2003, All State Meet MA, # 1
B-2Mile 9:07.86 c 5/10/2003, Hartford Public CT, # 1
B-Mile 4:12.69 4/26/2003, Penn Relays finals PA, # 3
2003 indoor
B-Mile 4:10.18 3/16/2003, NSIC NY, # 2
B-Mile 4:13.7 MR 2/22/2003, State Meet MA, # 1
B-Mile 4:19.78 2/1/2003, Boston Indoor MA, # 1
2002 cross country
15:56 5k 28 @ FootLocker nationals CA 12/14/2002
15:48 5k 8 @ FootLocker NE seeded NY 11/30/2002
15:53 5k 1 @ All-State Div 1 MA 11/16/2002
15:48 5k 1 @ Eastern Div 2 MA 11/9/2002 |
