Niwot's Ares Reading booked his second ticket to a national meet.
The beauty of having two high school national championships is that you've got two shots to qualify - that's one perspective at least.
Niwot's Ares Reading and Cherry Creek's Riley Stewart booked their ticket to the Footlocker National Championships in San Diego at today's Midwest regional championships in Kenosha, W.I. by nabbing top-10 finishes.
Reading finished fifth in the boy's seeded race in 16:14, while Stewart finished ninth in the girl's race in 18:49.
Reading qualified for next week's Nike Cross National meet in Portland last week at NXR-Southwest, and with his fifth place finish at Footlocker Midwest, he'll have his pick on which national meet he competes in - if not both.
That would mean a weekend in Portland followed by a weekend in San Diego. Spending back-to-back weekends on the west coast is not a bad way to enjoy the first two weeks of December.
Stewart's ninth-place finish at Footlocker Midwest is redemption of sorts. Last week she finished just outside an automatic qualifier for NXN. With her performance today she'll get to head to the warmer sun rays of southern California.
Footlocker Nationals is set for Dec. 8.
In The Mix
Colorado sent a few more east, but they were just outside qualifying spots. Niwot's Cruz Culpepper finished 25th in 16:50 in the boy's race, while the Palmer Ridge duo of Logan Bocovich and Brandon Hippe nabbed top-50 finishes, running 17:00, and 17:13.
In the girl's race Tiya Chamberlin finished 26th in 19:25, just ahead of Lanie Szuch, who finished 31st in 19:47. Katie Flaherty and Isabella Prosceno were just a few seconds back, finishing 35th and 37th, in 19:50, and 19:55.