A brisk wind whipped across the course at Forest Park in St. Louis discouraging runners from taking
an early, so all the national races waged on Saturday evidenced formidable packs at the front. In the Junior
girls' race a group of ten runners stayed together well into the race & it was only after the 12 minute mark in
the race that the leaders were whittled down to just six. In the end it was Shannon Osika of Michigan, who
pulled away at the end, to claim a victory in a time of 21:04 for 6K. Just behind her in a bit of a surprise was
West Virginia prep Margaret Drazba, who is only 16 years old. Margaret, who was named her state's
Gatorade Champion last fall, had placed 13th in the Foot Locker South Regional this year but ran a most
impressiverace today with a time of 21:07.
Collegiate runners, as usual dominated the race, and Macy Brooks ran 21;10 to take third. Fourth went
to collegian Gabrielle Anzalone & Courtney Woods was sixtg with 21:35. Emma Abrahamson, who made it
to NXN last fall finished 7th with the California prep clocking 21:37. Sarah McMahon ran 21:40 and Liz
Weiler placed 8th & 9th respectively and Grace Orders came in tenth. Sarah Fakler of Xavier in Arizona came
across the line 11th followed by Vancouver, Washington's Priscilla Timmons who now runs for the
University of Toledo. Wings of America was led by Rolonda Jumbo, who placed 16th (22:13) and Grace
Tinkey, who ran with the leaders most of the race prior to encountering leg problems, finished 18th.
Californian Rebecca Mehra took twentieth.
As happened in the young lady's race the guys stayed together for some time and even after the twenty
minute mark in the race there were still eight or nine runners remaining in the lead pack. The wind was still
remaining brisk, which made taking the lead more problematic than normal and another minute later only
one runner dropped off the pace. Darren Fahy, a high school runner from California gambled despite coming
into the race a bit under the weather and moved into the lead. The collegians, however, would have nothing of
that and the group moved back in front. Fahy's move revitalized the front runners and soon Jace Lowry of
Syracuse moved boldly into the lead at a little dell-like area of the course parallel to the finish area. From
there he went on to victory with a time of 24:54. Adam Zutz placed second just three seconds behind him
and Aaron Bartnick was barely edgedfor third. Fourth went to Mike Brajdic of Ohio, while Jake Kildoo ran 25:05
to take fifth. Adam Braun followed with 25:07 and Darren Fahy claimed prep honors with his 7th place finish of
25:09. Matt Jergenson, Collin Ziebold of Georgetown & Brant Blahnik of Missouri rounded out the top ten.
Robert Domanic & Craig Novak, both high school runners from Texas, who qualified for Foot Locker last
December, ran well placing 13th & 14th respectively.
The women’s race evolved into a duel between Molly Huddle and Sara Hall, who broke away from the rest of the field and waged a private duel. Huddle, who had placed second in the event the previous two years might have been thought to have held the upper hand and Molly did try to pull ahead in the so-called flat are. There was not in truth anything that resembled a real hill but, that issue withstanding Hall remained with Huddle. Hall struck back as they rounded the final two turns and held the lead, when the pair began the final two hundred yard stretch, which led to the finish line. Despite the cold temperatures, which were in the twenties, the course was in a rather strange condition. Part of the course was surprisingly muddy and made the footing slippery, while other areas with a clay surface went from either hard to almost soft an sandy. Unfortunately there was also a few areas, as anticipated given the cold & wind, which were quite hard. It was that area, which ended Melody Fairchild’s race the day before. Melody was in fine condition but a poor step led to foot pain, which forced her to scratch. Still Huddle reeled in Hall, as they raced to the wire, and by the time they reached the finish there was nothing much separating the two harriers. They were credited with essentially the same time but the victory went to Hall. The weather conditions kept fans to a precious minimum & sadly there were far fewer fans on hand to witness this national title than, when she won the Foot Locker National championship in 2000. Liz Costello followed in third and Ruth Metivier claimed fourth.
Bobby Mack pulled away fairly late in the race after remaining with the pack early and scored a convincing victory over Aaron Brown of Arizona. The winning time was 35:41 for the 12K distance. Joe Simpson of West Virginia earned third with a time of 36:03 and Chris Rombaugh took fourth. The top five runners in each race qualify to represent the US in Trinidad against runners from the Americas, although in an Olympic year how many will choose to compete is debatable. Disgraceful as it may be there will be no World Championships this year leaving runner and fans without a fitting climax.