SAN DIEGO -- Sean McNamara seeks to make history. Zoe Nelson and Katelyn Kaltenbach seek to repeat it. Andrew Bumbalough, Chris Barnicle, Jeff See, Marie Lawrence and Nicole Blood confidently stand in the way.
          This is the 2004 FootLocker Nationals, an affair where previous female national champions arrive as the underdogs and current male co-favorites seek ultimate triumph for the very first time. Also in the storylines are the team battles, where the Midwest Region boys aim to extend their dominance while a famed girls' quartet from Saratoga Springs continues to achieve the unimagineable.
          If you need more, how about this: no longer are there 64 athletes vying for the top spot. Thanks to a benchmark announcement by FootLocker and retail sponsor Nike, an unprecedented 80 teenage athletes will toe the start line, each ready to achieve personal bests while competing along a storied course and residing at a world-class vacation resort.
          Welcome to San Diego! America's Finest City! Home to the 26th FootLocker Cross-Country Championships!
BOYS PREVIEW
          Will it be the acceleration of Andrew Bumbalough? Perhaps the tenacity of Sean McNamara? Or the closing speed of Chris Barnicle? The strength of Jeff See? Or the resolve of Mark Matusak? The underdog motive held by Kenny Cormier? Or the home-course advantage courted by A.J. Acosta?
          If you're having a hard time narrowing an educated guess for a winner down to one, you're not alone. In perhaps one of the more open-ended FootLockers in quite some time, the list of high-end entrants is lengthy, but none have the slam-dunk credentials to emerge as a clear and heavy favorite. In any case, here's what we see:
          If basing the pre-meet pecking order based on performances over the last calendar year alone, then The South Region's Andrew Bumbalough gets the nod. The "Tennessee Terror" threw down the season's biggest ace with a stunning late-race surge at the FootLocker South Regional to bury Texas phenom Scott MacPherson and slice 13 big seconds off Alan Webb's course record along the southern speedway, North Carolina's own McAlpine Park. Bumbalough reportedly dropped the hammer on the early-leading MacPherson during the last kilometer, revving into overdrive for a huge 16-second victory. Only four Southerners were within half a minute of "Bumbi" at the finish stripe. His uncanny ability to spin those legs like pistons when all others are hurting have been his trademark weapon of victory.
         Bumbalough also courts the leading track credentials from this entire field, shifting into an unmatchable gear over the final two laps to roll past New Mexico's Shadrack Kiptoo and win the 2004 Arcadia Invitational two-mile in 8:49.87, heading the deepest prep two-mile field in national history (11 at sub-8:59.99). Can anyone possibly match him now?
         Enter Sean McNamara, the biggest name from the big-time York HS program. Others have already compared him to the legendary Don Sage, the revered all-time frontrunner heading York's "Long Green Line" of talent. Picture a pit bull with a racing jersey on and you have Sean McNamara. He doesn't run crazy from gun-to-the-stripe, but rather chooses his moment when the race becomes his, locking his jaw on the top spot and refusing to let go.
         McNamara will be aiming to capture "The Triple Crown" this weekend, a dream trifecta which would include the Nike Team Nationals team and individual victories to go along with a FootLocker Individual crown, no doubt a very rare feat for years to come as few former national FootLocker champions have been at the forefront of the nation's very best team in the same year as well. The bad news for FootLocker rivals this weekend is that it truly appeared as if McNamara was well within himself when winning at NTN last weekend over several national-class runners. Repeated up-close shots seemed to reveal McNamara biding his time and saving up for a stab at the FootLocker title this weekend.
          If you're looking for a Matt Withrow type to come around in 2004, it could very well be coming in the form of Chris Barnicle. The "Massachusetts Missile" has been precluded from participating in several key meets in his career due to stringent state association rules, but it appears Barnicle only uses such limitations to burn a fire in his heart that spreads furiously on race day when those few allowable showdowns do take place. The FootLocker Northeast Regional was one of those occasions, with Barnicle wheeling to a nine-second victory over FootLocker Nationals veteran Cory Thorne, despite Barnicle admittedly opting to refrain from using his patented finishing kick -- opting to save it for nationals.
          Remember Jeff See? You should. After all, not many people go around breaking Alan Webb's high school recordsl. See is the Ohio phenom that has been etching his name onto the all-time by-grade lists for a few years now, including a sophomore national outdoor record for the mile that erased The Webbmaster's previous standard. See boasts the type of strength to loom as a factor in any big-time race; his ill-timed closing effort at the Great American Cross-Country Festival two months ago saw him shear off a chunk of deficit in the final minute only to end up a few strides short of eventual winner Robert Bedsole of Alabama. His close call at the Midwest Regional left him a mere second ahead of runner-up placer Levi Fox (also of Ohio) in winning there. If See relies on that strength to force a "long kick", perhaps he will have the muscle to push all others off the top step of the podium.
           Mark Matusak is a man on a mission. Arriving here with lofty Top-10 aspirations a year ago, everything went wrong as his mentor-coach fell to extreme sickness on meet weekend. Matusak never found his groove and struggled to a 22nd-place finish. Despite battling mononucleosis this summer, "The Tuz" has battled back to near-perfection over the last 10 weeks, losing only to California state Division I champion Brandon Bethke at their Mt. SAC Invitational showdown in late October. Since then, Matusak set out on a highly ambitious pursuit to destroy the Mt. SAC course record (14:28) in postseason, plotting well-researched splits in search of a mind-boggiling 14:19 total time. While on pace for his first four target splits, he fell off rhythm from there and settled for a gutty 14:36, a record third time he raced under 14:40 on the fathomed course. Not regarded among the favorites this weekend, his recent fitness tabs him as a dangerous darkhorse.
           Kenny Cormier is the latest name to pop onto the national radar, with his out-of-nowhere blitz to win the FootLocker West Region crown last weekend making others stand up and take notice. It was Michael Poe that burst onto the scene by winning the very same meet two years ago, but the Arizonan Cormier aims to carry his peak a week further than Poe, who struggled at nationals. Cormier, seeded 12th among FootLocker West entrants heading into that meet, made a strong move along the final mile to beat Californian Yosef Ghebray to the finish line.
           Looking for a storybook entrant? How about A.J. Acosta of El Camino Oceansoide High School? attending classes less than a half hour from Balboa Park's Morley Field, no qualifying athlete knows this course better than him. It was back in September that Acosta had this scribe's eyeballs bursting out of their sockets when he galloped acros the hills of the 2.9-mile version of this course in an invitational setting, conjuring up images of when the famed California legends Louie Quintana and Bryan Dameworth used to tear across meet-day layouts. Only a junior, Acosta quietly has the weapons at his disposal to be considered a very dangerous threat that 90% of the field is unaware of.
           There are many others harboring dreams of victory -- some armed with legs of steel, and others with a heart to match. Once the gun goes off, it will be interesting to see who can chase down history.

GIRLS PREVIEW

           Two former national champions, the Great American Cross-Country Festival champion, the Nike Team Nationals champion, and a three-time FootLocker Nationals qualifier grace the star-studded entry field. None are favored to win here.
          Meet Marie Lawrence, a Nevada-based running phenom who last year on this very same course almost did the unthinkable -- come within an eyelash of getting her first varsity victory ever... and it would have made her national champion! Lawrence, whose innocent smile belies her gritty racing style, arrives as the favorite here after a sensational runner-up placing to Colorado's Katelyn Kaltenbach a year ago. Kaltenbach is still rebounding from an injury layoff, Montana's Zoe Nelson is gaining steam down the stretch, and Nicole Blood is fresh off the emotional high of sparking her teammates to victory at the Nike Team Nationals.
         Even if all run the race of their lives, they still might fall short of Lawrence. Although still a budding talent with her trademark gum-chewing-during-the-race routine in order to keep her calm, Lawrence showcases excellent stamina for a teen runner and has ably pulled away from most competitors well before it comes down to a kick. A year stronger, a season hungrier, and a bit more focused, "Mel" will look to hold off the furious Kaltenbach kick that reeled her in last year just when it seemed she was on her way to finishing ahead of older sister Collier (since graduated) -- not to mention the entire nation -- for the first time.
         Katelyn Kaltenbach suffered an acute stress fracture at season's outset, but had been cross-training religiously since then, maintaining excellent strength and cardio-fitness while abandoning overland running during her rehabilitation. Taking a cautious approach, Kater-Tot did not return to action until the Midwest Regionals, which she and teammate Keara Sammons earned berths here. Kaltenbach then flashed another positive sign with a fourth-place showing at the Nike Team Nationals last weekend, trailing only Ramsey Kavan, Brie Felnagle, and Nicole Blood -- all considered FootLocker Nationals contenders. Katelyn might have another trick up her sleeve and another lethal kick in those calves, making for a fun final mile on Saturday!
          Zoe Nelson won it all as a sophomore, then had the weight of expectation as a junior. Now being refreshed, relaxed, and refocused, "Zoe The Zephyr" is a senior sensation seeking to pull an upset on a   hilly course which plays to her strengths. Dominating the action in her home state with a pair of course records this fall, the popular young star has committed to attend the University of Oregon amd would enjoy nothing better than to close out her prep hill-and-dale career on a national championship-winning note.
          New York's Aislynn Ryan (pronounced Ash-Lynn) put forth among the strongest efforts of the season at the blockbuster Great American Cross-Country Festival affair in early October, hitching her focus onto the pace of the lead "Gator" vehicle and never easing up. Matching the vehicle's tempo with every stride, Ryan pulled away from her rivals on the downhill portion of the course late in the middle mile, then showed superb strength in keeping her form and focus to the finish. If Ryan is once again able to find "the zone," she could pull a major upset here!
          On the topic of strength runners, South Dakota's Ramsey Kavan sent a clear message to her rivals at the Nike Team Nationals last weekend: "Catch me if you can!" Kavan took the lead at NTN early in the second mile, then pulled away from a superb field despite very slow course conditions in Portland, capping her victory with a final-stretch surge after being challenged late. Onlookers felt the wear-and-tear of the NTN course might leave those qualifiers at a slight disadvantage here, but time will tell.
          A collection of other challengers are assembled here, but two of the strongest are New York's Nicole Blood and Washington's Brie Felnagle. Blood, a three-time nationals qualifer, placed third at NTN last weekend after being passed in the race's final minute by Felnagle, but the national sophomore-class mile record holder has tons of experience to draw from in entering this challenge here. Felnagle, unbeaten this season until her narrow setback to Kavan last weekend, has blazing 2:08 leg speed for 800 meters in track and will be among the key challengers here. Felnagle handed Zoe Nelson her only regular season loss in October at the Sunfair Invitational in Yakima WA by sprinting away in the final 800 meters. If allowed to be within striking distance late in the game, the race could be hers. Stay tuned.