December 13,1997.

The girls race was won going away, by Erin Sullivan in 17:22.O and a nice

battle fro 2-4 with Mariel Ettinger, Rebecca Mitchell and Christin Wurth. Full

results on www.american-trackandfield.com/atf under news and results. Girls

had torrential rain during entire race. Real cross country races.



After the buckets of rain dumped during the girls race, the rain actually

stopped for a few minutes and the boys were off. There were three call backs

to the line, due to the runners not knowing which line was actually the start.

The course had turned into a steeplechase, with six to ten inches of water in

some spots.



A light rain started with Abdirizak Mohamud from Boston English taking  the

early lead. Shock of shocks, he did have some serious competition. Jorge

Torres, a junior from Wheeling, Illinois, who had made the World junior XC

team last weekend, made a charge at the mile and Isaiah Festa and Torres took

the lead. But Abdirizak was there, ready to cover anyones' moves.  Festa fell

back, but Torres continued to challenge Mohamud through two miles, to two and

a half miles.



But Mohamud was to have his day. Abdirizak ran lightly and beautifully in very

tough conditions. He finished in 15:22.7, well within himself. Jorge Torres

was second (his twin brother, Edwardo, took seventh). The biggest surprise in

the boys side has to be  number eight, Michael Altieri, who was the number two

runner at his high school two weeks ago. Michael hails from Jesuit High in

Sacramento, CA.



Jorge Torres complemented Abdirizak, " I tried to make a move at one and a

half miles, but I guess i just got tired, and Abdirizak was excellent."



An Excellent day for Abdirizak Mohamud was a rainy day for every one else and

a great boys race at the nineteenth Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.



Midwest boys won team by five point over Northeast, 36 to 41 points; West

followed with 44, and South finished up with 118 points.  Northeast girls won

over Midwest girls by four points. 



Congratulations should be noted for meet director Max Mayo and the four

regional meet directors. But we should also note that Jeanine LaVin and her

team from FootLocker made this a super race and the only legitimate high

school championship in this country.



One final point--as a non-golfer, i believe that all golf courses should be

rained on for weeks and then opened for cross country races. This was true

cross country--hill, dale, water, mud, alligators (just kidding).  More

thoughts and interviews to come.          





The Foot Locker XC was sponsored by adidas America with American Track & Field

magazine as the media sponsor. If you would like a copy of the official

program just email us at [email protected].