Virginians Win Foot Locker

Weini Kelati and Drew Hunter Capture First Place Titles at the 37th
Annual Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals

 

San Diego, Calif., Dec. 12, 2015 – Weini Kelati of Leesburg, Va., and
Drew Hunter of Purcellville, Va., captured first place titles at the 37th Annual Foot Locker Cross Country Championships (FLCCC) National
Finals at Morley Field, Balboa Park in San Diego, Calif., today.
Race conditions were good with dry terrain, sunny skies and temperatures
reaching 56 degrees.

 

In the
girls’ race, Kelati won in 17:10, while Hunter took control from the start to
capture the boys’ title in 14:56.

 

Recapping
the girls’ race, Kelati, a two-time FLCCC national qualifier, took an early
lead, cruising to a mile split of 5:13. Maryjeanne Gilbert (Peoria, Ill.)
closed the gap and took a brief lead prior to the race’s midway point. Kelati
reclaimed the lead quickly, while Nevada Mareno (Leesville, N.C.) and Judy
Pendergast (Naperville, Ill.) joined the lead pair.  Kelati and Gilbert
pulled away in the final stretch with Gilbert finishing second (17:11), Mareno
in third (17:18) and Pendergast in fourth (17:20).

 

In the
boys’ race, Hunter went out aggressively and continued to pick up the pace
after a mile split of 4:32. At the halfway mark, Hunter secured a commanding
15-second edge over Phillip Rocha (Azusa, Calif.) and Ben Veatch (Carmel,
Ind.). Hunter never relinquished the lead, but the race for runner-up provided
added excitement down the stretch where Rocha out-sprinted Veatch.  Rocha
placed second in 15:08 and Veatch finished third in 15:10.

 

The Foot
Locker Cross Country Championships is comprised of four regional 5K races,
which took place across the country in the Midwest (Kenosha, Wis.), Northeast
(Bronx, N.Y.), South (Charlotte, N.C.)  and West (Walnut, Calif.),
culminating in the National Finals here today. 

 

BOYS

 

PLACE TIME BIB NAME GRADE REGION SCHOOL CITY STATE

 

 

14:55.7 61 Drew Hunter 12 South Loudoun Valley H.S.
Purcellville VA

15:07.9 82 Phillip Rocha 12 West Arcadia High School Azusa
CA

 

15:09.6 73 Ben Veatch 12 Midwest Carmel H.S. Carmel IN

 

15:14.7 81 Garek Bielaczyc 12 West East High School Salt
Lake City UT

15:15.6 72 Paul Roberts 12 Midwest Lyons H.S. Boulder CO

 

15:16.6 74 Andrew Jordan 12 Midwest Watkins Memorial H.S.
Pataskala OH

15:20.9 53 Conor Lundy 12 Northeast Fordham Preparatory
School Yonkers NY

15:21.0 52 Jake Brophy 12 Northeast Central Bucks H.S. East
New Hope PA

15:27.6 76 Seth Hirsch 11 Midwest Millard West H.S. Omaha NE

 

15:28.6 88 Michael Vernau 11 West Davis Senior High School
Davis CA

15:29.0 78 Finn Gessner 11 Midwest La Follette H.S. Madison
WI

 

15:29.1 84 Dylan Scarsone 12 West Canyon (Anaheim) HS Orange
CA

 

15:32.0 71 Jonathan Davis 12 Midwest Oakwood H.S. Oakwood IL

 

15:32.6 62 Gannon Willcutts 12 South Western Albemarle H.S.
Crozet VA

15:33.0 51 Noah Affolder 11 Northeast Carthage Central H.S.
Fort Drum NY

15:33.9 64 Reed Brown 11 South Carroll Senior H.S. Grapevine
TX

 

15:35.0 63 Jonathan Lomogda 12 South Cox H.S. Virginia Beach
VA

 

15:35.6 55 Eric van der Els 12 Northeast Brien McMahon H.S.
Norwalk CT

15:39.9 59 Gabe Altopp 12 Northeast Ridgefield H.S.
Ridgefield CT

15:40.5 56 Viraj Deokar 12 Northeast Middlesex School Acton
MA

 

15:43.1 75 Brayden Law 12 Midwest Homestead H.S. Fort Wayne
IN

 

15:44.0 90 Jackson Mestler 12 West Sheldon High School
Eugene OR

15:44.6 79 Isaac Harding 12 Midwest Rockford H.S. Grand
Rapids MI

15:44.7 77 Matthew Pereira 11 Midwest Lake Zurich H.S.
Kildeer IL

15:45.2 87 Justin Janke 12 West North Central High School
Spokane WA

15:46.5 54 Joshua Clark 12 Northeast Highland Regional H.S.
Blackwood NJ

15:46.6 86 Jack Van Scoter 12 West Flintridge Prepartory
School Pasadena CA

15:50.0 85 Tibebu Proctor 11 West The Northwest School
Seattle WA

15:51.6 66 Waleed Suliman 11 South Douglas S. Freeman H.S.
Henrico VA

15:55.5 57 Joseph Dragon 12 Northeast High Point Regional
H.S. Sussex NJ

15:55.9 70 Steven Cross 12 South Merritt Island H.S. Merritt
Island FL

15:58.7 68 Joshua Jacques 12 South Lyman H.S. Casselberry FL

 

16:00.2 80 Christian Noble 12 Midwest Mt. Vernon H.S. Greenfield
IN

16:03.6 89 Connor Arnell 12 West Lehi High School Saratoga
Springs UT

16:06.8 58 Matt Grossman 11 Northeast Millburn H.S. Millburn
NJ

 

16:17.1 60 Marcelo Rocha 11 Northeast Peabody Veterans
Memorial H.S. Peabody MA

16:20.2 83 Talon Hull 11 West Weber High School Ogden UT

 

16:25.6 67 Cole Dowdy 12 South South Oldham H.S. Crestwood
KY

 

16:42.9 69 Micah Pratt 11 South Homeschool Lynchburg VA

 

 

GIRLS

 

PLACE TIME BIB NAME GRADE REGION SCHOOL CITY STATE

 

 

17:09.7 21 Weini Kelati 11 South Heritage H.S. Leesburg VA

 

17:10.6 33 Maryjeanne Gilbert 12 Midwest Peoria Notre Dame
H.S. Peoria IL

17:17.6 22 Nevada Mareno 11 South Leesville Road H.S.
Leesville NC

17:20.0 32 Judy Pendergast 12 Midwest Naperville North H.S. Naperville
IL

17:29.8 31 Taylor Werner 12 Midwest Ste. Genevieve H.S.
Bloomsdale MO

17:37.3 23 Libby Davidson 11 South E.C. Glass H.S. Lynchburg
VA

 

17:41.2 36 Madison Troy 10 Midwest Grandville H.S.
Grandville MI

17:41.7 35 Sarah Leinheiser 11 Midwest Carmel H.S. Carmel IN

 

17:47.7 29 Logan Morris 12 South Spartanburg Christian
Academy Inman SC

17:47.8 19 Sage Hurta 12 Northeast Hamilton Central School
Hamilton NY

17:49.3 12 Jessica Lawson 11 Northeast Corning Painted Post
H.S. Addison NY

17:49.8 14 Hannah DeBalsi 12 Northeast Staples H.S. Westport
CT

 

17:52.3 37 Aubrey Roberts 12 Midwest Eau Claire Memorial
H.S. Eau Claire WI

17:56.6 18 Eleanor Lawler 10 Northeast South Kingstown H.S.
Wakefield RI

17:59.2 27 Emma Grace Hurley 12 South Fellowship Christian
School Roswell GA

18:04.8 39 Stephanie Jenks 12 Midwest Linn_Mar H.S. Aurora
IA

 

18:09.2 49 McKenna Lee 10 West Weber High School Pleasant
View UT

18:09.8 26 Abby Gray 12 South Alamo Heights H.S. San Antonio
TX

 

18:11.3 24 Lindsay Billings 12 South Northview H.S. John’s
Creek GA

18:12.3 50 Jordan Oakes 11 West Holy Names Academy Seattle
WA

 

18:15.9 46 Glennis Murphy 11 West Redwood High School
Larkspur CA

18:18.9 41 Annie Hill 10 West Glacier High School Kalispell
MT

 

18:20.5 16 Alyssa Aldridge 10 Northeast Mainland Regional
H.S. Linwood NJ

18:21.1 43 Olivia Hoj 12 West Olympus High School Salt Lake
City UT

18:21.9 47 Nikki Zielinski 12 West Canyon (Anaheim) HS
Anaheim Hills CA

18:22.4 44 Stefani Gaskell 12 West Sultana High School
Hesperia CA

18:22.6 13 Maria Coffin 11 Northeast Annapolis H.S.
Annapolis MD

18:24.2 11 Madeleine Davison 12 Northeast Homeschool Wexford
PA

 

18:25.5 15 Briana Gess 11 Northeast Haddonfield Memorial
H.S. Haddonfield NJ

18:28.2 17 Ariel Keklak 12 Northeast Lincoln_Sudbury
Regional H.S. Sudbury MA

18:28.5 42 Kate Hunter 11 West Provo High School Provo UT

 

18:29.9 45 Kristen Garcia 10 West Sedro_Woolley High School
Sedro_Woolley WA

18:31.4 40 Kayla Young 11 Midwest Denver North H.S.
Westminster CO

18:32.2 30 Anna Vess 12 South A.C. Reynolds H.S. Fairview NC

 

18:32.8 38 Emma Wilson 12 Midwest Romeo H.S. Washington MI

 

18:36.9 25 Julia Heymach 11 South M.B. Lamar H.S. Houston TX

 

18:44.5 20 Kathryn Munks 12 Northeast Monroe Woodbury H.S.
Chester NY

18:51.7 48 Emily Virtue 10 West John Burroughs High School
Burbank CA

18:59.8 28 Savannah Carnahan 12 South South Forsyth H.S.
Suwanee GA

19:12.2 34 Lauren Johnson 12 Midwest West Lafayette H.S.
West Lafayette IN