Pitting some of the best southeastern and southern talent against each other at the McApline Greenway course in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, the Foot Locker South Regional turned yet again into a who's who of finishes.
Check below for details on our qualifiers for Foot Locker Nationals on Dec. 9 in San Diego, California.
Boys Race
Call him the Pride of North Carolina in 2017, because RJ Reynolds (NC) High senior John Tatter, a University of Michigan signee, earned a touchstone victory on Saturday in the Foot Locker South Regional, besting the entire field in 14:55.0.
The win was Tatter's nine on the season and comes just a few weeks after his Class 4A state win on Nov. 4. This will be his first entry into Foot Locker Nationals.
And it came after he out kicked Florida's large class state winner, Chiles senior Michael Phillips, who pocked a runner-up finish in 14:59. Phillips finished 18th at the same regional a year ago, but is coming off his second straight state victory in Class 4A.
The qualifying pool for Foot Locker Nationals got a whole lot faster after that. Five runners crossed the line between 15:05-15:06, while three more battled it out for the eighth-through-10th positions between 15:10-15:11.
Two Texans rounded into the next slots at third and fourth, with Aledo sophomore Graydon Morris earning his second straight trip to nationals after finishing 34th last year. The winner of last week's NXN South Regional, Fort Worth Christian junior Carter Cheeseman, earned another bid to Foot Locker in fourth in 15:06.
Tennessee star Titus Winders, who won his first state championship on Nov. 4, earned his first national bid in fifth in 15:06, while Kyle Harkabus, a standout from East Coweta in Georgia, was sixth in 15:06.
Jake Renfree, a junior from Knoxville (TN) Catholic, was eighth in 15:10. Class 3A runner-up in North Carolina, David Melville was ninth in 15:10 and Class 7A Arkansas state champion Camren Fischer grabbed the last qualifier with a 10th-place outing in 15:11.
Girls Race
Coming off an amazing performance on the track at the Hoka One One Postal Nationals -- she ran 9:59.90 on Nov. 17 -- Christian Academy of Knoxville and Stanford signee Rebecca Story earned a big win at Foot Locker South Regionals in 17:24.0.
The victory came after a sixth-place regional finish in 2016, though Story did go on to finish third at nationals just a few weeks later. Story ultimately had to out leg Ripley (WV) High's Victoria Starcher, who was second in 17:28, and Chiles (FL) senior Ana Wallace, who crossed in 17:28.0.
It was both Starcher's and Wallace's first bids to Foot Locker Nationals. Mariah Howlett was fourth overall in 17:29.
Five girls followed in 17:30, while the final qualifier was firmly in control in 17:31, locking up the final bid.
Newsome (FL) High senior and Indiana signee Bailey Hertenstein was fifth in 17:30, while Texan Halena Rahmaan was sixth in 17:30, George C. Marshall (VA) High and NC State recruit Heather Holt was seventh (17:30), Riverview (FL) High's Alyssa Hendrix was eighth (17:30), Adoette Vaughan was ninth (17:30), Hiedi Nielson was 10th (17:31).
- Cory Mull