From: [email protected]

Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 10:18:36 +0000

Subject: t-and-f: N.E. Footlocker Sweep



Greetings netters, 



Now that the XC ledger has been substantially cleared, and both 

Jonathon Riley, Gabe Jennings and Julia Stamps have shown that 

yesterday's high schooler may very well be tomorrow's elite, here is a 

post that's been gathering dust and in need of a new locale.



I have not consulted Pat Hoffman on this, so there's some trepidation 

involved - but not a lot. Unable to make Footlocker, I will be at 

Disney for the marathon a month later and have been betting my weight 

(fairly substantial) in monorail ale that this is how things will 

eventuate:



On Dec. 13th at the Walt Disney World Sports Complex in Buena Vista, 

Florida, there will be-barring unforeseen injury or illness-a New 

England sweep of the 1997 Footlocker National High School Cross 

Country Championships.



The boys and girls champions will be challenged for their respective 

titles but will remain unbeaten on the year. The boys champion will be 

no surprise. The girls champion will be a huge surprise (outside of 

New England), so let's start there.



In June of this year, a rather momentous event occurred at the 

Spaulding High School track in Rochester, New Hampshire. The Meet of 

Champions, the NH state track & field championships, was underway and 

Erica Palmer, a junior from Monadnock Regional, had just run 10:27.06 

for 3200 meters to lower Olympian Cathy O'Brien's long standing state 

record by 3 seconds.



The former Cathy Shiro was in attendance as an asst. coach at Oyster 

River High and offered her sincere congratulations. Palmer is a 1996 

Footlocker finalist. The 1997 girls Footlocker champion will not come 

from the Granite State, however.



The Ocean State will be well represented in Orlando by 1996 Footlocker 

finalist Laura Turner of Portsmouth, but alas, Rhode Island will also 

play second fiddle.



Which brings us to Vermont and another 1996 Footlocker finalist, Tara 

Chaplin of Union-32. All three runners mentioned so far are seniors 

and bonafide contenders...and while the Footlocker champ will hail 

from Vermont, it will be in the person of Mount Mansfield junior Erin 

Sullivan.



Sullivan was unproven until this year and for good reason: she's never 

run cross country before. The previous two seasons, her autumn was 

spent playing soccer. This year a special arrangement was made 

allowing her to compete in both sports. The result has been 

astonishing.



First off, Sullivan is no stranger to running. Both her parents run 

and Sullivan is both the 1997 Vermont state outdoor champion in the 

1500 and New England mile champion (4:58). Still, it's been an 

extraordinary transition from the track to the trails.



In one of her first xc meets ever, Sullivan chopped 10 seconds off 

4-time Connecticut state champ and 1991 Footlocker champion Liz 

Mueller's 3.15-mile course record at the Thetford Invitational, 

running 17:29.



Three weeks later at the Vermont state championships in her 5th meet 

ever, Sullivan took another 5 seconds off her own record to win the 

Div. I title by almost 2 minutes. Chaplin captured the Div. II title 

in the 2nd fastest time of the day, 17:45.



Next up came the New Englands in Smithfield, RI, on Nov. 8. Palmer, 

1996 NE champion Chaplin, and Turner all ran under Emily Grossman's 

(now at Brown U.) course record of 18:18 with NH's Palmer the fastest 

of the three in 17:41. Despite the record setting pace, all three were 

chasing Sullivan who blazed to a runaway clocking of 17:25.



The Footlocker Northeast Regional Qualifier was once again a 

wire-to-wire affair for Sullivan. Chaplin and Palmer placed 2-3 with 

Rhode Island's Turner finishing 6th. While Sullivan ran from the front 

to a 17:31 clocking, Chaplin was but 15 seconds in arrears, the 

closest anyone has come this year.



The case for Boston English senior and defending Footlocker champion 

Abdirizak Mohamud has only been strengthened since last year.



After chasing Jonathon Riley throughout the 1996 season, Mohamud came 

within three seconds at the Northeast Regionals and only then confided 

that he thought he could do well at nationals.



This year, he fully expects to win and with good reason. The national 

indoor 800 champion, Mohamud also ran the fastest prep 600 (1:20.79) 

in the country last year. In actual races, he has run 11 seconds for 

the 100, 22-flat for 200 and a 400 meter relay leg of 48.5.



So much for shorter distance speed. At the B.A.A. Boston Mayor's Cup, 

Mohamud broke Riley's Franklin Park high school 5K record by a 

whopping 30 seconds in 14:42. The conditions were dry and fast. In 

snow and mud at the Mass. All-State Meet, Mohamud again won easily and 

later said, "The weather doesn't matter to me, I run with heart."



After a Northeast Regional win that Mohamud said felt "easy," the 

scene shifts to Orlando, a warmer climate that provides even more of 

an edge that, in truth, isn't needed.

-Bob Fitzgerald