By Leonard COUTIN

Over the weekend, two historic and prestigious cross-country championships took place: the Nike Nationals and the Foot Locker West Regional. Both meets are held in high regard in the athletic community. One is held in the Portland, Oregon area and the other is locally run on the Mt. SAC course with the finals held in Balboa, San Diego the following Saturday.   

For the third year, the Nike Nationals hosted its 5000m races on the Glendoveer Golf Course rather than on the older course, Portland Meadows, that was known for its muddy roads.

CV’s stellar runner, senior Colin FitzGerald, has had a remarkable and challenging season in cross-country, winning the Cool Breeze Invitational, taking second at the CIF finals and capturing second at the CIF state cross-country championships. It was no surprise that with the honors came an invitation to the Nike Nationals. FitzGerald, with his coaches Mark and Rob Evans, flew to Portland.  

In an effort to best prepare for the meet that encompasses so many high caliber runners, FitzGerald sat out the Friday night banquet festivities and rested instead. Waking up on Saturday to the rain and the brisk cold were challenges that were not easy for the Southern California runner.

“For me, being from California, it felt extremely cold and since it was raining I was pretty much frozen solid the whole race,” FitzGerald said.

Representing California, FitzGerald stood at the start line with 195 runners.

“Our team was composed of the top five overall finishers at state. We were not scored as a team,” said FitzGerald. “The course was pretty soggy and I pretty much sunk into the ground with every step.”

The amount of mud flying in the air off the shoes of the runners ahead of him was something that FitzGerald was ill-prepared for, but he attempted to follow his tried-and-true strategy.

“I managed to move up by just sprinting when I felt myself back off,” he said.  

The top three runners – Brodey Hasty (southeast), Liam Anderson (California) and James Mwaura (northwest) – managed to drive ahead of the pack midway in the course. As they approached the last mile, Aidan Troutner (southwest) closed the gap. Hasty thought he had clinched the race until Troutner made his final move to blast his way past the opposing three runners. Troutner ended up winning in a time of 15:03.09, with Hasty following (15:05.9), then Anderson (15:07.6) and Mwaura 15:12.6).

Finishing 40th, FitzGerald said he was unhappy with his performance (15:50.8).

“It was a great atmosphere to be with all those other runners, but I feel like I was so excited to be there I didn’t put the proper amount of focus into the race,” he said.

Changes were found on the course of the Foot Locker West Regional, held in Walnut on the Mt. SAC cross-country course. Part of the course was altered due to renovation of the Hilmer Lodge Stadium. But the changes didn’t seem to faze 2016 Foot Locker West Regional champion Claudia Lane of Malibu who ended up far ahead of the pack to win with a time of 16:59.6. Katie Thronson of Spokane, Washington followed with a time of 18:11.8. Camille Winterton of Salt Lake City, Utah placed third (18:16.3) followed by Alize Hartke of Roseville, California (18:17.8) and Alyssa Bautista of San Clemente (18:8.0).

The boys’ race was much closer. Coming strong into the finish, Kashon Harrison of Red Valley, Arizona took the win with a time of 15:38.4. Meika Beaudoin Rousseau of Sunnyvale, California placed second (15:41.4) followed by Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos of San Diego (15:43.4), Zach Winter of Farr West, Utah (15:44.7) and Roberto Porras of Draper, Utah (15:45.1). The top 10 finishers in both the girls and boys races will run at the Foot Locker Nationals at Balboa Park in San Diego on

  Leonard Coutin