Photo Credit: Raymond Tran/MileSplit California
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Last weekend 80 athletes toed the line in the final race of the high school cross country season, the 2024 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Both 40-person fields were absolutely loaded with talented and experienced runners, but there were a few underclassmen who used this national championship race as a springboard into their future.
Six days ago in sunny San Diego, a quartet of first-time qualifiers made their Foot Locker debut and went go toe-to-toe with the best of the best.
ROWAN CARR
Penncrest (Penn.)
Class of 2027
As a freshman, Carr put together a solid campaign that ended with an 18th place finish at Foot Locker Northeast, coming up short of punching his ticket to California. This time around, Carr ran about 25 seconds faster and finished ninth, comfortably securing his place on the starting line this weekend. Compared to a year ago, the sophomore is on an entirely different level, having run 15:04.4 in October and finished in the top-10 in all but one of his nine races. Carr wrapped up his sophomore year with a 34th place finish, crossing in 16:26.9.
RUBY IHMELS
Century (N.D.)
Class of 2027
The North Dakota-based sophomore has had a busy second-year campaign, finally bringing her season to a close after starting it over three-and-a-half months ago. Ihmels is one of the few in this year's field who is coming off of a race, as the sophomore finished 37th in her first trip to Nike Cross Nationals last weekend. However, the two-time state champion is familiar with the challenge that Balboa Park is after finishing 23rd at this meet year ago. Just over a month ago, Ihmels shattered the state record of 17:13.2, running 16:34.6 at NXR Heartland in her runner-up finish. One of just four underclassmen in the field, Ihmels more than held her own with her 4th place finish, where she clocked 17:50.5.
YOHANES VAN MEERTEN
Flagstaff (Ariz.)
Class of 2027
Up until last weekend, Flagstaff's (Ariz.) Yohanes Van Meerten had only ran one 5k this season, and it was a 14:53.87 effort at the Arizona High School 5k Open Championships. Granted, that speedy time was ran on a track, but the effort was obviously there as he followed it up with a strong showing in Walnut, California. Van Meerten opened up his cross country season at the Foot Locker West meet, making his way through the new Mt. Sac course in 15:35, the third-fastest time of his life. Van Meerten was the quickest sophomore on the day, finishing 11th in 15:47.3.
TATUM FLACH
Park City (Utah)
Class of 2028
Since 2019, only five freshman girls have qualified for the Foot Locker Championships, but the freshman from Park City is adding herself to the short list. During her first high school season, Flach adjusted to the high school landscape rather quickly, finishing third at Utah State Championships, as well as notching a 17:54.9 PB at the NXR Southwest Regional, which makes her the third-fastest Utah freshman in history, and just the fifth to ever break 18:00 in their debut season. Flach wrapped up her debut season with a 32nd place finish, running 18:57.8.