1999 Foot Locker South
Virginia Well Represented

by Pearl Watts, who covers Northern Virginia for the Gazette newspapers

11/26/99 - While the recent state meets signify the end of the school-represented cross country season, there is still a run for personal achievement with the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. 

The Foot Locker National Championships will be held December 11 in Orlando, Florida but it is no small task to get there.  Runners must finish among the top eight individuals in the boys and girls seeded races at the four Foot Locker Regional sites. The West Regional will not be held until December 4 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Ca. with the other three regional races this Saturday. The Northeast Regional site is at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, NY; the MidWest Regional is at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, WI; and many of Virginia's top runners will be at the South Regional held at McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte, NC. 

The South Regional on Saturday, Nov. 27 will feature nine races beginning at 9:30 a.m. with the featured races, the Seeded Girls at 11:00 a.m. and the Seeded Boys at 11:30 a.m. The Seeded Boys race will have junior Alan Webb of South Lakes as one of the favorites to win the event and ultimately qualify for Nationals in Orlando. Webb has enjoyed a tremendous season thus far and has responded quite well to the added pressure ensuing after breaking Jim Ryun's 36 year old sophomore class record in the mile with his 4:06.94 clocking in Raleigh last June. Webb is undefeated this season and owns victories at the Great American Festival held on the 5,000 meter (3.1 miles) McAlpine Greenway course in late September at 15:04, at Van Cortlandt Park last month where he ran one of the fastest times in the last ten years, the Northern Region title at Burke Lake where he became the number four performer all time and the state meet at Great Meadow where he set a course and meet record. 

Webb certainly has a shot at the meet record in Charlotte of 14:57 which is co-held by Brian Jaeger, Teddy Mitchell and West Springfield's Sharif Karie but that is not what is utmost in Webb's mind according to coach Scott Raczko of South Lakes. Raczko said, "Alan feels a fast time would be nice and he certainly looks to be in shape to get the record but the most important thing for him is to win the race. He goes into each race not looking for a time but wanting to win. Even at the National Scholastics when he broke Jim Ryun's record he was happy about that milestone but was very disappointed because he came in second in the race." 

Webb is the top boys returnee at the South Regional this year, having finished tenth last year in 15:32 as a sophomore with nine seniors claiming the spots ahead of him. Webb's main competition could come from senior Ricky Brookshire of Wautauga High in Boone, North Carolina who broke away with Webb from the lead pack at the Great American Festival after two miles and then went shoulder to shoulder with Webb for the last mile before the webmaster won by less than a second in a stirring stretch duel. 

Other top runners to watch from the South Regional which consists of states competing from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia and West Virginia include: Chris Emme of The Woodlands in Spring, Texas who finished just behind Webb in eleventh place last year at 15:35, a trio of top runners from Florida in Moise Joseph of Miami Central and twins Sean Jefferson and John Jefferson of Delray Beach, Stephen Haas of North Mecklenburg, N.C., David Adams of Hilton Head, S.C., Bobby Lockhart of Handley High in Virginia, the state AA champ who was the top freshman finisher last year (25th; 15:56) along with Derrick Wyatt of Liberty, S.C., Austin Smith of Midlothian, Va. and among other Virginia runners the top hopefuls are Matt Maline of Oakton, David Silver of Jefferson and Robinson's L.A. Snead.

The girls race will also feature a 1999 Northern Region champion as one of the favorites to qualify for the all-expense paid trip to Orlando in Lake Braddock's Erin Swain. The Bruin senior dominated the local running scene this season and did not finish behind a runner from the state the entire year with victories at the Monroe Parker, William and Mary, Glory Days Grill and Georgetown Prep Invitationals in addition to sweeping the Patriot District, Northern Region and Va. AAA titles. Swain was just 83rd last year at the South Region in 20:21 but but finished sixth against some of the top runners in the country at the Great American Festival at McAlpine Greenway in September with an excellent time of 17:57. Swain's primary objective will be to qualify among the top eight but she also has a chance to join Jefferson's Jackie Kerr, Centreville's Laura Heiner and Robinson's Liz Awtrey as winners from the Northern Region in the last five years. 

Swain should have plenty of company in the lead pack from runners who have been there before with Hilary White of Gainesville, FL.(3rd; 18:02), Sara Graybill of Owensboro, KY (4th; 18:04), and Carre Joyce from Summerville, SC (7th; 18:11) returning from the top eight region finishers from last year with valuable National Finals experience. Others to watch include West Potomac's Meghan Hoffman, the state runnerup to Swain this year and third fastest among freshmen last year in 21st at 18:48, George Mason's Colleen Winzeler, the Va. A champ who is a fast starter which usually helps on the relatively flat McAlpine course, Kerin Lanyi of Richmond's Thomas Jefferson who was tenth last year (18:27), Casey McGraw from North Carolina's Freedom High, Amanda Bradford of Arab, AL and the Kentucky duo of Alli Sauer and Rachel Sanford. 

Virginia Northern Region runners to watch who will be shooting for at least a top twenty four finish to merit All South Region awards include Lauren Chaikin of Marshall, Christina Burleson from Mount Vernon, Marjorie Censer of W.T. Woodson and Chantilly's Laurie Yarger and Carin Miller.

Two former Northern Virginia stars, Laura Heiner of Centreville and Sharif Karie from West Springfield, were members of national championship squads at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Bloomington, Indiana on Monday. Heiner, a sophomore now competing for Brigham Young was the number five runner for the Cougars as they scored a mild upset in scoring 72 points to win the women's title over pre-meet favorites Arkansas (2nd; 125) and Stanford (3rd; 127). BYU placed their five scoring runners from eleventh to twenty sixth overall and eighth to twentieth in the team scoring with Heiner an individual All American for the second straight year in 26th at 17:17.7 for the 5,000 meter course. Erica Palmer of Wisconsin was the winner in 16:39.5 followed by Amy Yoder of Arkansas (2nd; 16:44.1). Villanova finished 21st in the team scoring and had Liz Awtrey (Robinson) conclude a fine freshman season as the Wildcats number two runner in 55th overall (41st, team scoring). Virginia coach Buz Male (Langley) had his first All American ever with Jennifer Owens (Albemarle High) right behind Laura Heiner in 27th place overall. The All American rating is for the first twenty five non-foreign finishers.

In the men's race, Arkansas was its usual dominating self in winning with a mere 58 points with Wisconsin second at 185 and N.C. State scoring 201 for third. Arkansas placed their top five runners in the top twenty four overall with Sharif Karie finishing as just their number seven runner with a time of 31:49.2 for the 10,000 meter course (73rd overall; 55th team). So dominating was the Razorbacks win was that if the number six and seven runners were added to Arkansas' scoring they still would have won by over forty points. David Kimani of South Alabama was the winner in 30:06.6 with Michael Power of Arkansas the runnerup in 30:09.6 while Matt Lane of William and Mary was fifth in 30:27.8. Justin McCarthy (Robinson) of 11th place Georgetown (354 points) was slightly ahead of Karie in 70th place at 31:46.6. For 13th place William and Mary (371 points), Gene Manner (West Potomac) was 92nd (32:00.4) and Mike Hoglund (Oakton) 140th (32:36.1). James Madison was 27th (544) with Eric Post (Chantilly) in 133rd at 32:32.1 and Princeton was 19th with 458 points with Chris Banks (West Springfield) in 151st at 32:44.3. Buz Male of Virginia got his second All American of the day with Bob Thiele of the Cavs running 31:05.6 for 26th overall.