FootLocker South
Up until last year, the Nike Regional and the FootLocker Regional would take place on the same weekend. The Nike originated as more of a team oriented event and the FootLocker Regional was and still is individual based. Now, they take place on separate weekends providing an opportunity for runners to qualify for both national events. Last year, Webb's Colin Eckerman became the first Tennessean to take advantage of the new schedule and on Saturday, three more joined him as six in total punched their ticket to San Diego.
Results | Photos
Three Girls
Last week, Webb's (Knoxville) Carolina Areheart and Webb's (Bell Buckle) Abby Faith Cheeseman placed second and third at the Nike Southeast Regional grabbing auto-qualifying individual spots and a trip to Portland. These were the first individual female qualifiers for the event since Sasha Neglia in 2018. Areheart's teammate Jazzlyn Garmer was on the outside looking in as she placed just outside of consideration for an At-Large individual spot. On Saturday, all three girls finished in the Top 10 with Areheart and Garmer placing in succession at 6th and 7th and Cheeseman placing 10th. This is Cheeseman 4th time qualifying for FootLocker and Areheart and Garmer's first. This number matches the number of girls we sent last year when Halterman, Stegall, and Cheeseman all qualified.
Webb School of Knoxville will have representation at both national events but unfortunately it will only be individually based. NXN announced their At-Large team qualifiers Saturday evening which the Spartans were in consideration for but weren't selected.
The next best Tennessee finishers from Saturday were Calysta Garmer (23rd), Sienna Anderson (24th), and Katie Hetzel (26th).
Three Boys
The most male qualifiers Tennessee has ever had in a singular season for FootLocker was in 2018 when Jake Renfree, David Ahlmeyer, Cole Bullock, and Silas Winders all placed in the Top 10. On Saturday we came close to matching that. Knoxville Catholic's Keegan Smith won the championship race after a record setting performance at NXR with McCallie's Jack Bowen right behind. The two were the only runners under 15:00 crossing in 14:58 and 14:59. Not far behind them was Independence's Asher Oates who placed 5th in 15:02. This will be a return to trip to San Diego for Smith who qualified as a freshman and the first national qualifying event for Bowen and Oates.
The next highest Tennessee finishers was Cleveland's Owen Clemons who placed 12th.
Nike Cross Country Nationals will take place in Portland next Saturday while FootLocker will take place the weekend after.
If you're still looking for a race to cap off your season don't forget to sign up for RUNNINGLANE. The weather outlook is GREAT this year compared to year's past with little to no rain expected between now and next Saturday.