Foot Locker Nationals Coverage

Foot Locker Nationals lived up to all its expectations and more once again. Great races by Mike Fout (IN) and Ashley Brasovan (FL) lead to their indivual titles. The Midwest dominated as region in the boys race placing five in the top ten, while the Northeast beat the South on a tiebreaker (first sixth-place finisher) to claim the regional title for girls.

Listen to the race recap.

Race Videos
Boys Girls

Race Results
Boys Girls

MileSplit's Coverage

LetsRun.com predicts both Spence and Seymour to finish top 10

In LetsRun.com Foot Locker Girls' Preview, they pick Neely Spence and Carly Seymour, plus a few other Northeast girls, to finish in the top 10. Once again, they are using Bill Meylan of TullyRunners.com research to guide their predictions using his speed rankings.

LetsRun.com picks Mark Denin to be Top 10

In LetsRun.com Foot Locker Boys' Preview, they pick Mark Denin to finish in the top 10. They use Bill Meylan of TullyRunners.com research to guide their predictions using his speed rankings.

Here is my top 10 for the World Famous LetsRun.com $200,007 Footlocker Prediction Contest.

Boys' Individual Picks
1. Christopher Derrick
2. German Fernandez
3. Donn Cabral
4. Colby Lowe
5. Brian Leung
6. Luke Puskedra
7. Jason Witt
8. Griffith Graves
9. Christopher Aldrich
10. CJ Brown

Girls' Individual Picks
1. Neely Spence
2. Jordan Hasay
3. Claire Durkin
4. Carly Seymour
5. Aurora Scott
6. Kathy Kroeger
7. Katie Flood
8. Emily Jones
9. Kauren Tarver
10. Emily Infeld

Foot Locker Nationals Radio Show and Predictions

Listen to the Foot Locker Nationals Race Preview which was featured on TalkShoe.com.

Girls Top 7
1. Neely Spence (PA)
2. Jordan Hasay (CA)
3. Claire Durkin (OH)
4. Carly Seymour (PA)
5. Aurora Scott (VA)
6. Kathy Kroeger (TN)
7. Katie Flood (IA)

Boys Top 7
1. Chris Derrick (IL)
2. German Fernandez (CA)
3. Donn Cabral (CT)
4. Colby Lowe (TX)
5. Brian Leung (NJ)
6. Luke Puskedra (UT)
7. Jason Witt (VA)

MileSplit Foot Locker National Power Rankings

The latest MileSplit Foot Locker National Power Rankings were released last week. Neely Spence (3rd) and Carly Seymour (5th) still remain in the top five.

MileSpilt National Rankings

The latest MileSplit National Rankings have been released.

Foot Locker National Power Rankings.
Vince McNally (#9), Carly Seymour (#3), and Neely Spence (#4) will race at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional this weekend as they look to qualify to San Diego for the national meet. They have been ranked all season and will look to validate their status over the next two meets.

MileSplit National Team Power Rankings
North Penn (#6) is the only Pennsylvania team to be ranked. They will head to Bowdoin State Park this weekend for the Nike Team Nationals Northeast Regional as they look to follow in the footsteps of Coatesville and make a trip to Portland.

The Trailer

Twelve Days Away

We are twelve days away from the Foot Locker Northeast Regional. With that in mind, we are beginning our exclusive coverage of athletes who are trying to qualify to Foot Locker Nationals, called the Road to San Diego. The coverage, which will lead us up to race day, will be in to addition our normal daily reports.

Our coverage will include articles, videos, talkshoe.com talkcasts, and more. We want to make sure everyone realizes how hard these athletes are working to achieve their goals this season. We will also be providing some bonus coverage of Nike Team Nationals, since there are several PA teams who will be trying to qualify to Portland.

Pennsylvania is loaded this year with talent. But it takes more than talent to be successful. Our goal is to try to reveal what makes up the "more." We will illustrate what happens when one brings together talent, hard work, a strong support system, and quality coaching all into one melting pot.

The Regionals are less than a fortnight away but our coverage begins now. We hope you enjoy. Stay tuned tomorrow as we release the trailer.

"He's Hungry"

On October 22nd, Matt and I traveled to Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster, PA. The purpose of our trip: to spend the afternoon with Vince McNally, Coach Mike Craighead, and the rest of the Conestoga Valley Buckskins. McNally was on a separate schedule from the rest of his teammates. While preparing for the upcoming District 3 meet and a chance to qualify for the state meet, his teammates look on while McNally has his sights firmly planted on the state meet at Hershey; and perhaps further.

McNally's teammates pounded out a hard mile + 4x400 while Vince, with the assistance of a teammate returning from injury, pushed through 5x800. The Buckskins were focused and looked ready for the district meet. Excitement was in the air.

Vince and Coach Craighead said this will be the first time he has been healthy for a full year. His 4:08 mile at Nike Outdoor Nationals being a strong indicator what he was capable of after being healthy for only six to seven months. That begs the question, "What will he be capable of after being healthy for a full year?" The potential answers are all mind-blowing thoughts. Only time will tell what he is capable of, and we should all be happy that we will be able to bear witness to his senior year.

Coach Craighead, a state champion in the 4x800 and 800 himself, knew Vince was a gifted athlete when he saw him run 4:31 as an 8th grader. But he said what separates Vince is his attitude and attention to detail. He does all the little things one needs to do to succeed and personifies that quote, "A little on a little becomes a lot." The progression he has made is staggering in both XC and track. But there are still a few goals he would like to cross off his list before he graduates.

Coach Craighead has a myriad of adjectives to describe Vince: hard-working, humble, relentless, tough, aggressive, and the list goes on, but perhaps the best description he gave was, "He's hungry." It was something that was instilled in his freshman year, as the seniors on the team along with Vince ran 7:40 to win the 4x800 AAA State title. Vince and Coach Craighead both said these past seniors helped to instill an amazing work ethic in Vince and they displayed a ferocious tenacity as they charged after their goal. That work ethic was embedded into Vince's attitude and has morphed into something even greater as he races through his last high school season.

This tenacity roars on as Vince is focused now on the stretch run of the season that includes the state meet, the Foot Locker Northeast Regional, and hopefully a berth to the Foot Locker National Championship. The first of the trifecta is this Saturday, November 3, in Hershey and Vince looks to improve on his previous placings at states (13th-freshman, 4th-sophomore, 5th-junior) and claim the title.

There will be more on Vince leading up to the Foot Locker Regional including his workout video and team interviews. So stay tuned to the Road to San Diego.