Great American 'weather forecast' improves
After the third Great American Cross Country Festival in Charlotte in September, we wrote a story painting a cloudy picture for the future of the popular and innovative meet. Meet founder Rick Hill said continuation of the meet hinged on development of enhanced sponsor revenues and an improved administrative structure. We asked Hill this week if the situation had changed, and he replied, "The forecast for Great American is less cloudy and with a prediction of sunny skies within a few weeks." We say hurrah for that. [John Dye]

THIS WEEK on DyeStat results, photos, highlights from around the country.

Massachusetts MIAA Class Meets Abdulgani Abdi Natasha Roetter photos by Cheryl Treworgy Eastern: Lexington sr Natasha Roetter won Division 1 by 42 seconds in 17:27 (5k), leading her team the title with 66 points. Fastest boy of the section was Brockton sr Abdulgani Abdi 15:47. Abdi came to the US 4 years ago via Egypt, Kenya, and Somalia. Always a soccer player, he took up cross country a year ago and improved on his time by a minute this year. St. John's Prep, Danvers won division 1 with 61 points. Sara Powell (Andy Powell's sister) was Div 2 winner in 18:40.4. Eastern detail Western: Amherst Pelham boys won with only 17 points, pouring in the first four runners (Owen Washburn 16:41, Matt Lacey 16:42). Fastest boy of the day, however, was Southwick Tolland jr Andy Pitts 15:57 in division 2. Taconic sr Allison Johnson 19:22. Western detail Central: Wachusetts sweeps Division 1. Ari Lambie's 16:57 (2.9m) is fastest girls time of day and leads Bromfield 27 to Div 2 title. Fastest boy is also in Div 2: Adam Tenerowicz, Blackstone-Mill 14:44. Central detail

Border Clash III Washington sweeps Oregon 2nd straight year; Chris Lukezic, Jessie McLaughlin lead the way Results: Boys - Girls - Pix Pages: Boys - Girls - Erik Palmer photos: Boys - Girls Donna on the Side: eve of the meet - BorderClash day Nike athletes Regina Jacobs (left) and Bernard Lagat (right) presented special awards to race winners Jessie McLaughlin and Chris Lukezic; The Mile 1 markers were autographed by the four elite athletes who attended the event: Jacobs, Lagat, Bob Kennedy, and Alberto Salazar.

67th New England Championships Union-32 VT sr Mint Henk 15:12 (5k) and Killingly CT jr Meghan Owen 17:37 win individual titles.. US#21 Bishop Hendricken RI 68 wins boys team title. Liz Gesel, 2nd to Owen by 1 second, leads Manchester Central girls over N. Kingstown RI 121-145.

Texas State Meet Kingwood sweeps 5A, but US#1 boys struggle to down Marcus, 62-73. Brian McKinstry, Pasadena Dobie 15:18.3 (5k) is 18 seconds faster than anyone else. Texas 800-meter champion Mindy Sullivan, Lubbock Coronado senior, stretches her distance to 2 miles and outkicks field that includes Valerie Lauver, Brooke Stewart, and Monique Ortega. Sullivan 10:46 was 2 seconds better than Kingwood's Angela Marvin.

Virginia State Meet Handley Winchester sr Bobby Lockhart 15:10 (5k) is fastest of the day and second fastest boy ever on hilly Great Meadows course (Alan Webb ran 15:03 and 15:08). Next were Fleet Hower 15:25 and Dan Kane 15:33). All of these times were in AA, which makes South #10 Jamestown's AA title more impressive. Oakton sr Kiera Carlstrom 18:19 is 14 second winner in AAA in girls fastest time. Shannon and Kristen Saunders lead US#7 Jefferson Forest girls to AA title.

83rd New Jersey Group Championships US#4 Haddonfield falls when Skip Stiles falls - Marc Pelerin and Jesse Mizzone win big. Details and pix.

Louisiana State Meet Bishop Sullivan sweeps 4A, with Grace Ann Nathanson 11:09 breaking her own course record by 7 seconds. Episcopal boys win 2A for 6th straight year and 14 out of 16.

Alabama State Meet photos by Joey Warner Scott Fuqua (left) and Tyler Stanfield continue their season-long duel, with Fuqua taking control in the last mile to win by 26 seconds in 15:54 (5k, but observors said it was about 20 seconds long). Scottsboro girls and Oak Mountain boys win 4A-5A titles.

Maryland State Meet River Hill sr Shane Stroup sets state meet record 16:02 3m at very hilly and very tough Hereford HS course. Quince Orchard sr Karen Pulliam 19:27 is fastest girl of the day. C. M. Wright boys, Dulaney girls bring down top team honors. Details

Arkansas - Oklahoma All Stars Oklahoma sweeps neighborhood rivalry at U. of Arkansas. Individual honors go to Jessie Gordon, Plainview OK 14:25 (2nd straight year) and Arkanss 5A champ Chase Feltner, Russellville 15:44 5k.

New York State PHSAA Saratoga sweeps Class A, with 8th grader Nicole Blood 18:10 leading US#1 girls to 24 point score with fastest girls time of the day (Tracey Brauksieck 18:23, Molly Huddle 18:25). Orchard Park sr Peter Meindl 15:39 is fastest boy (Brian Dalpiaz 15:55)

Hawaii State Meet Course records for Todd Iacovelli 15:45 (3m), left,and Christal Cuadra 12:03 (2m). Ioalani girls 52 and Kamehameha boys 63 (Punahou 68) win team titles

California Sections US#2 ranked Canyon boys had the fastest time of the day in the Southern Section prelims at Mt. SAC. Photos

MA Phillips Andover sr Melissa Donais wins the NEPSTA Div 1 XC championship for the 3rd year in a row, in a course record of 18:00 5k. NJ Top 15 List - Conrad's convinced now; Haddonfield is No. 1. Rankings PA Philadelphia Catholic League - Cardinal O'Hara swept the guys led by Steve Hallinan in 16:13, just 4 seconds up on St. Joseph's Prep soph Tim O'Neill. Their total of 36 points (1-4-5-10-16) was accomplished with a 58 second spread. In the girls' race, O'Hara's 41 points (4-7-8-10-12) meant it was the first time in 4 years a team other than Archbishop Prendergast has won. Their spread was 1:08. Individually, Amy Kelly goes sub-19:00 again, his time by a second, to take the individual crown the year after her older sister accomplished the same feat. (from PennTrackXC)

Penny Sparks, mother and coach, reflects
on the Nevada State Meet results when her daughter does less than expected

"Getting to the top is fun, exciting and challenging. Staying at the top is stressful, challenging, and not always a whole lot of fun. . . . Everyone feels bad for the hard working, less gifted athlete who gets no recognition, but we forget about the pressure the successful young elite runner has to deal with.

"Entering into womanhood is a wonderful thing unless you are an endurance runner."
The eating disorder trap for young girls, and how they can get around it.

2,300 times in XC Leader List!
State meet action pumped in 1,000 more performances,
making 2,300 times listed now from 490 meets
in the DyeStat XC Leader List as of November 9.
Includes 3 mile times better than 15:35/18:35 and 5k better than 16:05/19:05.
XC Leader List explained - Nov 9 Leader List - How to get listed

Julia Pudlin out for season, in for life - injured Pennsylvania star, 8th at Foot Locker finals a year ago, loses season but rediscovers the simple joy of running. Don Rich interview

Keith Conning interviews two of California's fastest runners:
Brett Gotcher - Surfer, intellectual runner, quiet leader, determined, San Francisco Giants fan, photographer, likes to run in earthquake country
Amber Trotter - Environmentalist, social activist, hiker, gardener, dancer, tenacious, poet, goat milker

Nike Indoor Classic adds Youth Events
Seven new events for younger runners have been added to the Nike Indoor Classic March 9-10, 2002 at the PG County sports complex, Landover MD. The new events are Freshman Mile and 4x200 and 4x400 relays for Bantam, Midget and Youth age groups. Meet preparations are well underway, and meet managers expect the 4th running of NIC to be the best yet. Details

Elites are lining up for Lincoln
LINCOLN NE 10/31/01 - The inaugural running of the Midwest Indoor Track Classic is still over 3 months away, but an impressive number of elite athletes -- both prep and Olympic level -- have already committed to come to Lincoln in February. A half dozen events for Olympic/world class athletes will be run along with a full slate of high school events. Details on early entries

HARRIER RANKINGS 10/29
Kingwood TX boys, Saratoga Springs NY girls still #1. Canyon CA boys, Esperanza CA girls, Haddonfield NJ boys make biggest moves. DyeStat scores rankings by region and finds West and Midwest are strongest.
Harrier Magazine Rankings 10/29 - Next rankings: November 19.

Checking in with the Distance Gods - DyeStat's most prolific TrackTalker steveu finds them at NCAA Pre-Nationals - Dathan Ritzenhein, Eric Logsdon, Sara Bei, Alicia Craig, Anita Siraki, Shalane Flanagan, Erin Donohue, Ale Barrientos, Matt Tegenkamp - read how former HS stars are adjusting to college life.

It will be starry in Orlando for the Foot Locker national finals in December. Nike, the new presenting sponsor of the meet, is bringing a sensational lineup of elite athletes to meet the 64 prep runners who qualify out of the four Foot Locker regionals. They are eight elite runners and two superstars: Suzy Favor-Hamilton, Regina Jacobs, Kara (Wheeler) Goucher, Sarah Schwald, Bob Kennedy, Pascal Dobert, Abdi Abdirahman, Meb Keflezighi, Michael Johnson, and Stacy Dragila.

Now you can buy Marc Bloom's great writing online at shopDyeStat

The Harrier

Run with the Champions A new book by Marc Bloom, Senior Writer, Runner's World Magazine, profiling the 50 all-time greatest distance runners in the US. Steveu's Review says: "Bloom's 'Champions' Takes the First Gold of the New Millennium" Read the review and buy the book

Foot Locker Favorites
Here are the runners DyeStat picks as most likely to succeed in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship regionals, where only the top 8 win a coveted ticket to Disney World for the national finals in December. The list is updated for information received as of October 5.
Foot Locker Favorites as of 10/5

Amber Trotter talks about her past, present and future. How she lost and found the joy of running. Interview

DONNA ON THE SIDE
Hundreds of pictures of athletes, coaches, parents, and fans at the big meets.

• SAN FRANCISCO
• HILLIARD OH
• CHARLOTTE
• MANHATTAN
• MT. SAC

This is the fifth "Performance Stretch of the Week" provided by StretchRite, Inc. The series is designed by exercise physiologist Scott Powers, inventor of the StretchRite stretch trainer. "The focus of stretching now is to run faster and jump higher, not just prevent injuries. We see so many athletes neglect their flexibility program which translates into tight muscles. A tight muscle will have a limited range of motion and definitely slows the runner," Powers says.

More Information - Order StretchRite Now