With the best high school runners in the nation ready to compete in San Diego 's storied Balboa Park , the weatherman did his part by keeping the temperature reasonable. The warmth of the previous day did not reappear to threaten the runners. The temperature was around 65, although it seemed higher, and was a bit humid so the weather was not the factor that it could have been.

The girls race was billed as a possible barn-burner with the last two National Champions returning along with Regional winners Nicole Blood of the Northeast, Ramsey Kavan of the Midwest, Marie Lawrence of the West, and Jennifer Barringer of the South all capable of running away and hiding. The return of Kaltenbach, Lawrence, and Barringer meant that the top 3 of the previous year were on hand to make the race even more tantalizing for cross country afficionados.

As anticipated Aislinn Ryan of the Northeast went out fast, as she successfully did when she won the Great American in October in North Carolina. Jennifer Barringer of the South was right behind her, which was also expected. They continued to push going down the hill. On the turn shortly before the 800, there was a bunched front four of Kavan, Ryan, Barringer and Lawrence. A large chase pack consisting of Nicole Blood, Zoe Nelson, Katelyn Kaltenbach trailed close behind. The mile was traversed in 5:22 with Ryan and Barringer still pushing the pace. In hot pursuit were Ramsey Kavan, Marie Lawrence, Blood, Nelson, and Kaltenbach.

The Upas Hill usually tends to make things interesting and such was the case today, as Kavan and Ryan charged up the hill to gain a 5 meter gap ahead of Lawrence, who was now the clear 3 rd runner. As they crested the hill both leaders pushed the pace trying to widen the distance between their challengers. Lawrence bravely and the game Zoe Nelson assumed 4 th place while Whitney Anderson and Brittany Tinsley held 5 th and 6 th .

Marie Lawrence is an excellent downhill runner and showed it as she almost careened down the hill and took the lead. Once at the bottom Ryan worked to close the gap. As they worked their way up the slight upgrade back to the start Ryan regained the lead and was clearly followed by Lawrence and Kavan. Brittany Tinsley of Ohio and Whitney Anderson of Colorado worked together to thread their way up and through the pack and assumed 4th and 5th. Racing down the small loop hill Ryan maintained her lead followed closely by Lawrence . Ramsey Kavan was moving well but could not close in on the two leaders.

They negotiated the first 2 miles in 11:18 with Ryan maintaining her lead. The order of those trailing remained the same except for Brie Felnagle of Washington, who moved into 7th place ahead of Barringer. Keara Sammons of Colorado made a move at this point as well. They continued to roll onward in the same order as they reached the bottom of Upas Hill, which would once again come into play. Ryan literally charged up the hill looking quite strong. One would have guessed that she was feeling great in spite of the fact that after the race she admitted she not only did not feel well but was tired. She said she did not want to charge up the hill but she did. Thinking to herself �if I'm going to lose, I wanted to be trying my best' she made her move a forceful one. She opened a gap on Lawrence of 30+ meters. It was a significant gap which Lawrence was unable to cut even after reaching the top. Again she few down the hill but Ryan had too great a lead. Lawrence cut into the lead but not enough to really threaten as she pulled away from Kavan, who was alone in 3rd.

That would be the final placing as Kavan held on to take 3rd ahead of the fast closing Whitney Anderson and Brittany Tinsley, who shared the same time of 17:49. Brie Felnagle came on to take 6th ahead of Elizabeth Yetzer of Minnesota who caught a tired Zoe Nelson at the end. It was an impressive run by the new National Champion who put in an admirable effort. Madeline McKeever of the Midwest placed 9th while Jennifer Barringer, who had challenged for the lead earlier, came home 10th.

For some there would be no story-book ending but there are lessons even in that for others. Former Champ Zoe Nelson, although clearly exhausted at the end, put in a gutsy effort to take 8th while defending champion Katelyn Kaltenbach recovering from a stress fracture, limped home in 15th and had to ice down immediately. Unfortunately, although her bone has healed, she has had tendon problems in her calf theat have posed problems since. She, as Northeastern champion Nicole Blood (21st), were not at their best but offered no excuses.. You do not have to be a champion to be a champion..

As for the team results, the Midwest girls won with 28 points followed by the West with 46, the Northeast with 72, and the South with 91.

Boys

Going into the boys race it appeared to be wide open with no one being a clear cut favorite, and from the start it was quite apparent that was the case. Jeff See of Ohio appeared to get away first as they ran up the starting hill but very quickly thereafter Mike Eaton of Kentucky , Mohamed Ige, a junior from Colorado , Diego Mercado of California , and Andy Biladeau of Florida had moved ahead.

Racing down the hill and rounding the turn to head back up were Eaton and Ige, who maintained a 5 meter lead, while a huge chase pack hovered just behind. They reached the 800 meters in a rather stunning 2:18 yet no one was laboring. By the time they had crested the moderate hill and were by the tennis courts Levi Fox of Ohio had replaced Eaton and joined Ige. As they raced past the starting line the race was still living up to its billing as all of the Regional winners, See of the Midwest , Barnicle of the Northeast, Cormier of the West and Bumbalough of the South were poised to strike along with the other pre-race favorites.

The leaders pressed the pace as they ran down the hill and crossed the street, which finally began to stretch the chase pack. Ige led the crew up the hill still looking surprisingly fluid. He opened up a gap, which Fox was able to close once they went back down. Meanwhile a little further back Scott McPherson of Texas, Andrew Bumbalough, Kenneth Cormier, and Robbie Barany of Washington moved into contention taking the 4th through 7th place positions.

By the time they had reached the half way point the pace was taking its toll on Ige, who could be seen trying to relax his arms. Bumbalough and McPherson caught him just before they started the slight downgrade. The junior battled back to retake the lead briefly from Bumbalough while Barnicle, Fox, and Sandy Roberts of the South closed in on the leader. At this point, there were still as many as 25 runners, who were in a position to win.

Coming back up the hill to the tennis courts, it was Bumbalough and McGuire on top, with Ige slipping to third and Barany and Cormier moving into contention and MacPherson starting to fade. They reached the 2 mile mark in 9:50 with Bumbalough, Ige, Barany, and McGuire leading the way.

Soon it was the Tennessean and McGuire in the lead followed by Barany, Cormier, and Barnicle. As they approached the hill Bumbalough and McGuire continued to fight for the lead and they persisted in doing so as they fought it out just before Upas Hill. The junior Ige finally fell off the pace (but he will surely get stronger due to his effort today). McGuire briefly took the lead as meanwhile Cormier put in a great spurt going up the hill to close in a bit on the leaders. He was still well behind but trying to bridge the gap.

It seemed to be a poor position for Cormier who ran alone, while Bumbalough and McGuire battled each other for the lead. In a stirring battle first one would have the lead and then the other, while the Arizona runner was forced to play catch up with no aid.

The Southern winner finally pulled away form McGuire on the downhill, taking a 10 meter lead as the huskier McGuire had trouble with his footing on the steep slope. Cormier was making a big move of his own and claimed 2nd. He looked great but there were only 400 meters to go. The question was: �would there be enough time.' Gliding along with powerful strides he continued to close in and caught the leader just before they turned for home near the start. He caught him and then passed but Bumbalough to his credit fought back to again close in but it was not to be. Cormier had a fair amount left and strode away to claim the victory.

Bumbalough held on for second while the late charging Mark Matusak of California overtook the valiant McGuire to garner 3rd. Chris Rombough of Wisconsin caught Barnicle to claim 5th.

As always the Footlocker people put on an excellent race and provided the qualifiers with a never-to-be-forgotten experience. It has been an on-going effort to foster support for the sport of cross country. As evidenced by the large crowd that showed up to cheer on local favorite A J Acosta, the effort is bearing fruit. There was a large crowd on hand to witness this excellent event with large contingents from all over including Saratoga.holding positions on the roples.

In the team race it was the West boys that managed honors ahead of defending champs Midwest while the Northeast and South trailed. For a race that had not been given top billing it was quite a showing. It offered everything that a true fan of the sport could want with many individuals fighting valiantly to achieve victory. In the end there was no doubt that Ken Cormier was a deserving winner: an undefeated one at that. But he did not achieve it without one heck of a battle and that's the way it's supposed to be.