.
1998 Foot Locker Championship
High School Cross Country
Northeast
Ed Grant's Notes from VCP
From: Edward J. Grant [[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 1998 9:09 PM
Subject: t-and-f: Notes from VCP
Netters:
A few sidebars on the Northeast Footlocker trials at Van Cortlandt Park:
Among the proud parents watching the runners come in during the boys' race was formed
Clinton cabinet member Robert Reich. His son, Adam, ran 18th in the race in a creidtable
16:11 and was the 5th member of the Masschusetts team which won the state team title.
Presumably, he will be
entering Harvard next fall.
Cheryl Bauer of Morris Hills, NJ, had mixed feelings as she raced past the fallen
Shalane Flanagan of Marblehead, Mas., to take the 8th and last qualifying slot in the
girls' race. It ws not the usual matter of someone falling in the midst of a pack.
Flanagan had a big lead as she approached the line and Bauer had to run some 40 yards
before she passed the fallen runner.
The Torres twins may be listed in summaries as Jorge and Edgardo, but they prefer to go
by "George" and "Ed," we were told by Colorado coach Mark Wetmore, who
was making a rare visit back east for the meet. Mark also said that Adam Goucher may sign
with Massachusetts-based agent Mark Wetmore, no relation. "That should really shake
up the NCAA," said coach Mark, who used to regularly get letters reminding him there
were rules against coaches acting as agents. Goucher has indoor eligibility left, but will
forego it after his graduation in December and got for the bucks. "He's been poor all
his life," Mark said, "but now all that will change."
The most surprising athletes of the day may have been two NJ lads who didn't run CC
this scholastic season. Rashad Jorden of Willingboro was 52nd in the qualifying race (7th
state finisher) in 16:41.1, but junior Walton Kingsbery of Red Bank topped that as he won
his class race in 16:32, which would have put him 39th in the top race. He reportedly will
quit soccer next year and run CC.
One interesting statistic: there were 245 finishers in the boys' race, only 123 in the
girls. The freshman count was 152-125 and the soph count 236-146, The largest race of the
day was the combined junior-senior girls affair at 324, but the junior boys alone numbered
281 (I didn't say
long enough to get the count on the day's final race for senior boys). So much for gender
equity. I bring this up, because I was told at the meet that Dartmouth has recently been
forced to institute a policy of exact symmetry in numbers on its teams.
Ed Grant
