A foggy but warm day met the athletes at the Oak Trail Golf Course, the site of the 1999 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.

mw_girls_pre.jpg (111541 bytes) laurel_burdick_ne.jpg (62197 bytes) The Midwest girls went over team stategy while Laurel Burdick from the Northeast prepared for the race.

girls_start.jpg (116517 bytes)  Alejandra Barrientos from the West took the early lead, but it was Katie Hartmann who pushed the pace early on.  The girls crossed the mile mark at 5:19 with Hartmann in the lead. Teammates Michelle de la Vina, Beth Hoge and Amanda Pape joined Hartmann in the fast first mile along with the West's Victoria Chang and Felicia Guliford.

 girls_1plusmi.jpg (134401 bytes)Hartmann remained in the lead for the next half mile, but Midwest teammate Victoria Jackson (#31) took over and lead for the next mile with Chang and Guliford in tow.  The Midwest pack of Hartmann, Hoge and Pape kept contact along with Alicia Craig from the West.victoria_jackson_2mi.jpg (119838 bytes)

Felicia Guliford took the lead with a half mile to go, but fell with 100m to go to allow Victoria Chang changwins.jpg (123581 bytes) to win the race with a course record 17:06. Victoria Jackson v_jackson_finishes.jpg (54065 bytes)was second (17:15). Alicia Craig (17:19), Anita Siraki (17:24) and Guliford (17:30) rounded out First Team All American.

 The West Girls Team won the team competition edging out the Midwest Team.

boys_start.jpg (127866 bytes) In the boys race, Ian Dobson of the West took an early lead and held the lead until deep into the race.  The highly competitive lead pack which included Dobson, Don Sage (Midwest), Tim Keller (Midwest), Dathan Ritzenhein (Midwest) and Alan Webb (South) went through the mile mark at 4:37.boys_1mi.jpg (136650 bytes)  Dobson opened a lead. by the 1.5 mile mark and was followed closely by Webb and a pack from the eventual team champion Midwest.boys_1plusmi.jpg (114556 bytes)  The pack tightened by the two mile mark with Dobson still in the lead. boys2mi.jpg (126407 bytes) With  600m to go, Ritzenhein made a move and took the lead. dathanwins.jpg (49174 bytes) The junior from Rockford, MI won in a course record 14:30.  Sage (14:34) took second by a lean over Dobson (14:34). Josh Rohatinsky (14:36) and Matthew Tegenkamp (14:47) rounded out First Team All-American.  The top 16 racers all beat the old course record.  The Midwest Team set a record for the lowest team score.

don_sage_tired.jpg (114816 bytes) Sage was hot and tired after the race.

dathan_tired.jpg (115540 bytes) Ritzenhein was flat out exhausted.

ian_dobson_interview.jpg (119164 bytes) Ian Dobson gets interviewed.