I love how a race can be a profound metaphor for life in a broader sense.  And just like a good Biblical parable, it can teach you a lot about yourself, others, and the way to be successful and happy.  I decided to pick out a few anecdotes that some of the girls that I covered this weekend taught me. 

Megan Goethals and Chelsey Sveinsson battle to the line, Lukas Verzbicas dominates front-to-back in the boys race.  Tons of coverage from our on-site team...

  Megan Ferowich enters this weekend's Foot Locker Nationals as one of the top rising stars in the South region as shown by her undefeated season in her homestate of Tennessee prior to a fourth place and 17:12 5K PR finish in the regional qualifier race in Charlotte. Ferowich, a sophomore at Knoxville Catholic, has earned the trip to San Diego despite this fall being her first season of cross country. However, this is not her first national meet experience as she won the freshmen mile last June at Nike Outdoor Nationals. With a 10:26 3200 time trial under her belt from last month, Ferowich is certainly fit and ready to run with the some of best runners in the country on Saturday.

The first of the two national high school cross country championship races were held this past weekend in Portland, Oregon with the Nike Cross Nationals. The boys' race certainly featured many of the nation's best battling it out to the wire, while the girls' race was missing the unofficial "Big 3" in Megan Goethals (MI), Chelsey Sveinsson (TX), and Aisling Cuffe (NY) but stellar depth was found in both races as Foot Locker finalists, All-Americans, and state champions were found deep into the field.