Foot Locker Northeast Regional Championships
The boys top returners include two Foot Locker finalist in Ryan Gil, PA, who was 8th last year and John Murray, MA, who was 10th last year. So most of the athletes in the race will be fighting for their first berth in the big show, while Gil and Murray know what it takes to get through the race intact and up front. Ryan Gil is coming off of a month of cross-training due to injury, but looks as good as ever as he captured his first PA state title with a time of 15:52. HIs legs are fresh and he is used to the hills that populate the Sunken Meadow course. John Murray won the MA state championships with a time of 14:04 for 2.9 miles, improving on his 13th place showing at the state meet last year, so he should be ready to go.
The other big story of the meet is the rise this season of Packer Collegiate NY star Eddie Owens, who won the NY Federation Champs with a time of 15:43.9, the 4th fastest on the course ever. Owens was 21st last year but he is the 6th returner, so he stands a good shot at making it to San Diego given his success this season. Another challenger to rise to the top was Cranston West RI star Robert Allen. Allen won the Rhode Island state champs with a time of 15:30.86 for #2 all-time behind only Andrew Springer's 15:14.05. Springer was a FL Finalist in 2008.
Jacob Kildoo, PA, Paul Szulewski, NJ, and Mike O'Dowd, NJ, round out the other top returners. Kildoo was 12th last year after running 45th at the PA state meet. This year he was 5th with a 1:03 improvement off last year and looks ready to stick his nose in the thick of the racing again. Szulewski was 13th last year and improved his placing at the NJ MOC from 10th to 5th this year. O'Dowd also improved from last year, going from 16:09 to 16:02 on a tough course.
The biggest story of the day on the girls side will be whether Aisling Cuffe, NY, will be able to win her 2nd consecutive Northeast title and lower her Sunken Meadow course record time of 17:45.9. Cuffe has been ranked US#1 since the beginning of the season, setting record and winning wherever she ran, so it would seem that she is on her way to winning, but not like last year, where she won by 46 seconds.
This year she will have company, big time...
Megan Venables, NJ, who was 16th last year, has been on a tear this year, winning her state title and the NJ MOC title. She set two huge records this year that just might put her on par to run with Cuffe. The first came at the beginning of the season at the Briarwood Invite in PA, where she ran 17:39.40 to shave a startling 47 seconds off of the previous record. The next came at her NJ State Group Championship where she ran solo to a time of 17:28 (she won by 1:40), a time that hasn't been seen or imagined possible since 1983 when Janet Smith ran 17:35.5 on the Holmdel Park layout.
By the way, Janet Smith won a national title that year, running 16:43 on the Balboa Park layout, tying for the 3rd fastest Foot Locker winning time in San Diego.
In addition to this battle at the front 5 other national qualifiers will be toeing the line again this year. Abbey Leonardi, ME, was 2nd last year and will look to qualify for nationals again this year. Abbey won her Class A state title with the fastest time of the day, 17:49.01. Colleen Schmidt, NY, was 4th last year, and struggled a bit at the Fed meet Emily Durgin, ME, was 2nd to Leonardi at states, and looks fit enough to run well again on the hills of Long Island. Sara Sargent, PA, was 8th last year. She has been struggling late this year, finishing 6th at her state meet, but she knows how to run this course, and that should help. Lauren Mullins, NY, was 9th last year. She improved by 15 seconds at Feds and will look to qualify again this year.
Also in the hunt will by Kelsey Smith, NH, who was 13th last year, but as the 7th returner she stands a good shot to make it to nationals. Caroline Kellner, NJ, was 18th last year and placed an impressive 3rd this year at the NJ MOC, showing she is in great shape. Jackie Nicholas, CT, won her state meet and then finished 3rd at New England's behind Lindsay Crevoiserat and Emily Durgin. Megan Lacy, NJ, has been running well this year and might be able to snag a spot to nationals. And from PA, Angel Piccirillo has been improving all season long, running only a few seconds behind the large school girls champ while winning the small school race by a large margin. Angel won the Penn Relays mile last year, so she is used to high pressure situations and could be a big surprise here.