Hauger Ranked Fifth, Five Other MN HS Runners Earn Honorable Mention in MileSplit Girls HS National Rankings

Maria Hauger(33) finishing at Foot Locker Nationals. Second place finisher Catarina Rocha(in black) just nipped her at the line. Photo courtesy of MileSplit

Shakopee's Maria Hauger was ranked fifth in the final 2012 MileSplit National Rankings for high school girls.  Five other Minnesotans--Wayzata's Anna French, Blake's Clare Flanagan, Alexandria's Megan and Bethany Hasz, and Bemidji's Jenna Truedson--earned Honorable Mentions.

MileSplit video interview with Hauger is HERE, along with race video and complete race coverage.

Wayzata Girls Surprise Themselves with End of Year Run

"We never set out to be a Nationals team," said Wayzata girl's cross country coach Dave Emmans.  On December 1 they finished their season by placing seventh in the NXN cross country meet in Portland and  maintained their seventh place ranking in the US compiled by the Harrier's Marc Bloom.

The NXN performance topped an end-of-season run that resulted in a wins at the MSHSL XC Championships and the NXN Heartland Region, as well as the NXN Nationals result.  Going into the season, the goal was to improve on last year's third place finish in the MSHSL Championships.  That seemed a realistic challenge because the 2011 team was all returning for 2012.

"We knew we could be very good," said Emmans.  "I told the kids: "Hey, you can win this thing(State Meet).  Get enough miles in during the summer.  Be together as a team.'"  The group did what they were told, but, Emmans added: "They didn't go crazy.  They didn't try and do a lot (dramatically increase mileage or training over the summer).  Just added a little more...Most kids have a ceiling, a limit to how much they can do or achieve.  We just happen to have quite a few kids who don't appear to have a ceiling."

A common theory among those who watch the sport is that high school girls peak as freshman and sophomores, said Emmans, but Wayzata girls appear to have not yet reached their "ceilings." That's how they have improved, Emmans noted, one "small step" at a time, and with unity and selflessness as a team.  Perhaps Wayzata's most valuable commodity is their depth, he noted, as next year's team will have four girls who have run sub-15 for 4K and another eight who have broken 16.

Like in Kenya, where extraordinary depth in distance running talent has resulted in stiff competition for national team spots and opportunities to make it internationally, the Wayzata team has internal vying for positions on the team as daunting as the competition they will encounter in races.  While this depth makes Wayzata a force to be reckoned with in 2013, Emmans knows from his 20 year coaching career, that nothing is guaranteed.

This year was different: "The stars aligned," said Emmans.  "No injuries, no sickness.  That never happens." The team also bonded together, not letting individual disappointments become issues.  For example, senior Emily Holscher, who was a member of the 2011 team that finished third at State, did not make the top seven  for this year's State team.  "She didn't make one, big dramatic scene," says Emmans.  She accepted it and supported the team, he added.

Emmans also give his assistant coach, Ady Hallen, much of the credit for keeping the team together and aiding their success.  "We wouldn't be there without her<" said Emmans of Hallen.  "She understands (the team).  She talks me off the ledge."  And helps deal with the benefits and potential problems of having the great depth the Wayzata team possess.  Emmans said one of the year's accomplishments of which he is most proud is that they split the team up early in the year and ran one team at two separate invitational meets and Wayzata won both of them.

A bit of good fortune, call it luck, this year also helped. during 2011 three runners on the team had to deal with illness, cases of Whooping Cough, during the season, along with the other normal interruptions of training and preparation.  They went into the 2011 State meet with less than an ideal attitude, said Emmans.  He remembers hearing them talking before going to the starting line about how tired they felt, in essence talking themselves out of a good performance before the starting gun fired.

This year they were simply on a mission, one they accomplished impressively.  After that the challenge became one of simply fielding a team, rather than how well that team would perform.  Four of the team members go right from cross country running into cross country skiing, another plays on the basketball team.  The skiers, who had gone on a trip to Colorado over Thanksgiving for training at altitude and on snow, the basketball team did wind sprints to get ready for their season.

While State meet triumph was sort of a natural end to the season, Emmans talked to the runners and their ski and basketball coaches, all of whom agreed to give it a try.  After winning the NXN regional meet, things became even looser, Emmans noted.  Their attitude going into NXN, said Emmans, was: "'We made it.  If we take last, it won't be the end of the world.' So they went into it with no expectations.  Not having that pressure (to perform), they were just having a blast." And it was the basketball player, McKenna Evans who stepped up on race day to lift to team to seventh place.

The seventh finisher on the team at Regions, Evans was the fourth team finisher at Nationals.  Without her performance we would have dropped out of the top ten, said Emmans.  It was that kind of season, girls "stepping up" when needed and making a difference.  "The kids got along," said Emmans.  "They respected each other."

Was that "loose" attitude and no pressure that may have been a help at Nationals the key to success?  Emmans says he doesn't know.  The team was loose enough at the Griak Invitational earlier in the year to make their "Call Me Maybe" video, but the results on course did not mirror the triumphs at the end of the season.  "It was probably our worst performance," said Emmans.  No guarantees.  No magic formula that always work.

Things change from year to year, and although Wayzata will no doubt go into 2013 as the team to watch, Emmans knows from experience that the challenge is to accept new goals, put in the necessary work to achieve your them, and having a bit of luck or good fortune is a definite, yet unprogramable, asset for success.

"Time demands on kids is ten times greater now(than in the past)," says Emmans.  "Trying to get kids to commit(to a particular task or goal), that's where you make your money."

Team USA Minnesota Women Win USATF Club XC Team Title

The Team USA Minnesota women’s squad – Meghan Peyton, Ladia Albertson-Junkans, Jamie Cheever, McKenzie Melander and Heather Kampf – won the open women’s 6K team title at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Lexington, KY.  In the open men’s 10K  Jon Peterson finished fifth.

For the women, Peyton was 4th, Albertson-Junkans 5th, Cheever 7th, Melander 11th, and Kampf, who fell in the mud, got up to finish 63rd. Three of the Team USA Minnesota athletes – Peyton, Albertson-Junkans and Peterson – automatically qualified for the BUPA Great Edinburgh International Cross Country Team Challenge by finishing in the top six of their event.  The Challenge will be held in Scotland on January 5, 2013.  Nine women and nine men will be on the US senior teams for the event.

“It was a hilly course, and there had been lots of precipitation the last couple of days, so it was slick and very muddy,” said Peyton.  “Even given the conditions, the race got out fast, and we went through the first mile in 5:11.  I got out quick, but in control, so I would have enough to finish the race.  I was in 10th place in the first mile while my teammate, Jamie, went out with the leaders and was in a top group of four.

“Ladia and I were running together.  We caught up with Jamie in the last mile...It was definitely a strength course.  My legs were really burning toward the end, but I felt strong.  We are all pretty happy with the team win.”

“I wanted to get ahead of most of the crowd, so I got out in the top 30 or so and waited for it to thin out,” said Peterson.  “It was quite muddy and mucky out there, so it was true cross country.

“By the last mile I was in seventh place.  I started making a move with 800 meters to go.  I picked up the pace, made it hurt, and outkicked two runners in the last 400 meters (Sean Quigley and Alan Webb, who finished sixth and seventh, respectively).  I knew I needed enough in me at the end to do a kick knowing who was in the field.

“It’s nice to be out there racing cross country again.  I’m really excited to be a member of the US team that will compete in Edinburgh.  That was my goal.”

The Run N Fun womens' team finished 10th.  The Run N Fun B team was 14th in the men's team race.  Twin Cities Track Club had only two runners(Joe Moore in 9th and Mike Reneau in 13th) finish the men's race and one(Stephanie Price, 12th) the women's.  Full results can be found HERE.

This was the first time that Team USA Minnesota sent a women’s team to compete at Club Cross.  In 2011, the Club Cross men’s race was won by Team USA Minnesota’s Jon Grey.

Hauger Third at Foot Locker; Adam Goucher/Carrie Tollefson Tell Stories

Shakopee's Maria Hauger finished third at the Foot Locker National XC Championships in San Diego Saturday.  Winner Anna Rohrer, a sophomore from Mishawaka High School in  Indiana broke away in the last mile of the 5K race to win in an unofficial time of 17:25.  Runner-up Catarina Rocha, a senior from Peadbody HS in Massachusetts, just nipped Hauger with a finish straight sprint with a time of 17:29,  Hauger finished in 17:30.

Carrie Tollefson was at the meet working.  She did the play- by-play for the race and was among the former Footlocker stars at an interview session where Adam Goucher tells a Kara/Carrie story HERE. Tollefson shares her own memories of her Footlocker experience HERE.

In the boys' race defending champion Edward Cheserek(14:58) of St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey outkicked Sean McGorty(second in 15:03) of Chantilly High School in Virginia and North Dakota's Jake Leingang(15:05) from Bismark HS in the last quarter mile.

Video of girls' race is HERE.

Ben Blankenship is on the Comeback Trail

Photo by Donald Gruener.
Courtesy
of OTC Elite

When Ben Blankenship looks out the window of the "house on the hill" in Eugene, that he shares with Hassan Mead, he sees "the cathedral," Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.  It has become one of the training sites Blankenship will use to launch his comeback into the track world after an extended absence.

Blankenship had a breakout year in 2011 on the US and European track circuit.  He dropped his PR in his main event, the 1,500 meters to 3:37.23, and seemed on the verge of breaking into the upper echelon of the rapidly rising US middle distance corps.  But then he started to slide down the other side of the "roller coaster" that is one's fortunes as a distance runner.  A pain in his hip that he had been ignoring did not go away, so he had to have an operation to "clean out" the joint in September of 2011. It was not a hip replacement, as has been reported elsewhere, but rather an outpatient laparoscopic surgery that repaired the pain-inducing, minor damage to the joint.

In a rush to get back for his final indoor and outdoor seasons of eligibility at the University of Minnesota, he tried to do too much, too soon.  That resulted in stress fractures in his leg and wiped out his remaining track season.  "After that I took a step back," said Blankenship.  Having graduated, but with no athletic outlet, Ben said, he found himself "hanging out, just to hang out."

Moving to Oregon, signing up with the Oregon Track Club elite squad, and continuing his athletic development had "always been part of the plan."  He had contemplated doing it his senior year, but stayed on to finish his final seasons in cross country(2011) and the aborted 2012 indoor and outdoor seasons. The string of physical setbacks caused him to "resort my plans."  He moved to Colorado for awhile to work for his uncle.  He wasn't running regularly, but his body was healing.

He spent some time in Washington, DC and began to run more regularly.  It felt good.  No more aches and pains.  He started doing rehab exercises and running more.  There was some unfinished business in the running world, he concluded, and it was time to see if he could get back to where he was in 2011, back on track for the elite running circuit. The offer from OTC was still available, and Mead was heading there as well, so the pair moved to the house on the hill.

Both had been through physical setbacks.  Mead with an Achilles tendon injury, then a collapsed lung.  Blankenship with his hip injury and stress fractures.  The friendship they had developed at the University made the decision easier.  They both had ridden the injury roller coaster and now were on the way back up. "It's good to have somebody to talk to who understands," said Blankenship.  "Someone to bounce ideas off of."  For both of them the transition has been working.  Mead, says Blankenship, is doing well, looking fit and enjoying the environment.

Blankenship's recovery has been progressing well, but he's not sure what the intermediate goals are or what event he will eventually focus upon.  He and Mead are both being coached by Mark Rowland, though Hassan will be focusing on the 5K this year, he said, with a possible step up to 10K.  Blankenship may stick with the 1,500 or move up in distance.  "I really don't know right now," he says."The plan is to get my name back out there.  Get a couple of solid races."  The ultimate goal being the US Outdoor championships and World Championship qualifier races this summer.

"The training has been going well for the last three months," said Blankenship.  "I'm excited to get out there, see where I'm at."

Medtronic TCM Marathon Will Be 2013-14 USATF Championships: Medtronic TC Mile Will Host 2015-16 USATF Championships

The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon will crown the nation’s men’s and women’s marathon champions for the next two years.   The race was awarded the USA Men’s and Women’s Marathon Championships for 2013 and 2014 by USATF, the governing body of the sport in the United States.

Marathon organizer Twin Cities In Motion was also awarded the 2015 and 2016 USA Men’s and Women’s 1- Mile Road Championships which will take place in conjunction with the Medtronic TC 1 Mile contested on Nicollet Mall in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.

The 2013 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon will take place Sunday, October 6.  The Medtronic TC 1 Mile takes place each May.  The 2013 Medtronic TC 1 Mile, set for May 9, along with the 2014 Medtronic TC 1 Mile, will still feature professional fields and prize money in continued support of post-collegiate athletes.

The championship designations were awarded at the USA Track & Field Annual Meeting in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Twin Cities In Motion has a storied history of hosting national championships.  USA Marathon champions have been crowned at Twin Cities on nine occasions, beginning in 1986. 

The USA 1 Mile Road Championships originated with TCM and have been contested Minneapolis for the past four years.  Twin Cities In Motion has also played host to the USA 10 Mile Championships for men and/or women from 2007 until this fall. 

“We’re excited to know that national champions will be crowned at our finish lines for the next four years,” Twin Cities In Motion Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman said.  “We’ve hosted national championship events for the past eight years, because we believe in the sport at all its distances.  We think national champions inspire first-time marathoners and vice-versa.”

A total prize purse of $145,000 will be on offer to USA Marathon Championships participants, including matching $25,000 checks for the men’s and women’s victors. The USA 1 Mile Championships in 2015 and 2016 will feature $25,000 prize purses.

Additionally, the USA Masters Marathon Championships, for athletes 40-years and older, have been held in conjunction with the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon since 1991 – with the event slated to host the championship through 2015.

Twin Cities In Motion will also host two 2013 Minnesota state road racing championships sanctioned by USA Track & Field – Minnesota.  The top Minnesota runners and teams will race for state titles at the Medtronic TC 1 Mile and the Medtronic TC 10 Mile.

USATF Junior and Clubs XC Nationals

The USATF Junior XC Nationals are this weekend, December 8 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Meet info is HERE.  Belated Minnesota USATF Junior XC championship results are HERE.

The USATF Clubs XC Nationals are being held in Lexington, KY on December 8, info is HERE. Run 'N Fun has three men's teams and one women's team.  Team USA Minnesota has a woman's team and some individuals in the men's race.  The women’s team includes Jamie Cheever, Meghan Peyton, Heather Kampf, Ladia Albertson-Junkans and McKenzie Melander.  The men  are Jon Peterson and Chris Rombough.  Entry lists are HERE.

USATF preview of the Junior Meet is HERE.

U of M Profile of Kathryn Ritter, Mixing Academics and Athletics

Photo courtesy of U of M

Some of Kathryn Ritter’s favorite memories of Golden Gopher cross country came at the team’s annual preseason camps in Ely. She enjoyed the team bonding and the chance to run together after a summer apart. One might also suspect that part of the reason she liked those camps was that they came before the start of the school year.

Once the fall semester started, Ritter's calendar began to fill up. The fifth-year senior is a pre-medical student working toward a dual degree in biology, society, and environment and genetics, cell biology, and development.  She has completed the former and will finish the latter this spring.

“When I first came to the U, I knew that I was really interested in science, and I actually started taking some classes in chemistry my freshman year,” Ritter said. “Through further explorations in science classes at the U, I got interested in biology. I declared biology, society, and environment my sophomore year. I really like that major because it allows me to take those biology classes, but then there’s also a lot of freedom taking different types of classes like ethics classes and psychology. I’ve also taken an anthropology class. So that’s one thing that really drew me to that major, that there is a lot of freedom to pick and choose what you’re interested in.”

As a pre-med student, Ritter has also had to mix in volunteer experiences at local hospitals like Abbott Northwestern and Hennepin County Medical Center. Fitting in homework time around volunteering and sports would be a tall order for any student-athlete, but how about for someone who has three separate sport seasons—cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track—each year?

“The great thing about our team is that we definitely stress doing well in academics, too,” Ritter said. “So our coaches are very flexible with making sure that we’re taking the classes that we need to graduate and everything. I actually like having sports year-round because it forces me to stay organized and to work ahead in my class work and to always be on top of things and stay ahead of the game. I think that running helps me stay organized and focused for school, too.”

As a freshman, Ritter had mandatory study times at the athletic department’s McNamara Academic Center, but now she has more freedom to plan when and where she does her school work. Oftentimes, she will do homework on plane or bus rides to and from meets.

Even with her intense academic load and two-plus years of volunteering, Ritter has managed to stay competitive in athletics. She has raced at the Big Ten Championships in track and vied for a spot on the Gophers’ Big Ten cross country roster.

“I think that a big way to be competitive in running is to make sure that you have balance in your life,"
she said. “Our coach talks about the 'zone of discipline' all the time. Yes, you have your time where you’re at practice and you’re competing hard and you’re preparing for competitions, but then you also have your time where you’re studying, and also downtime where you give yourself time to relax and spend time socializing with family and friends.”

Ritter will compete in both indoor and outdoor track during the 2013 season. Next fall, she will begin medical school. She has interviewed with a handful of schools and has already been accepted at the University of Iowa. Emergency medicine is currently her main interest, but she looks forward to gaining new experience in other areas of medicine.

She offers advice to any high school athletes who may be nervous about taking on both athletics and tough academics: 
“I would reassure them that it’s definitely possible and they can do it. That was one of my big concerns when I was thinking about running in college and balancing the type of academic path that I was looking at pursuing, but especially with the coaches we have here, there’s a ton of people here who are willing to help you and support you throughout your collegiate journey through running and academics. I would encourage them to accept the challenge and do it, because it’s definitely been a great experience here at the U for me.”

Keller Demonstrates "What a Country Girl Can Do"

The University of Minnesota Morris women's  2012 XC team.  Linda Keller is fourth
from the left in the top row.  Photo courtesy of University of Minnesota Morris

University of Minnesota Morris senior Linda Keller and her coach, Jeremy Karger-Gatzow, began Keller's final cross country season at the school with lofty goals.  They coined a slogan: "In it to win it."  The it being the NCAA Division III individual title.  The season didn't have a storybook ending as Keller placed 18th at the NCAA meet in Terre Haute, good enough to be selected as an All American for the third straight year, but not her goal of climbing to the top of the podium.

She described the NCAA experience in almost clinical terms.  Starting with the long drive from Minnesota to Indiana with her coaches and culminating with crossing the finish line and collapsing: "everything went black," Keller said.  The next thing she remembers is someone picking her up, holding her upright with something of a "bear hug" that made it difficult to breathe, and getting transported that way to the medical tent.

Laying on the cot, the next thing she remembers is a woman touching her face, tapping her cheeks with her fingers, an action, that in Keller's still disoriented state, "felt like she was slapping my face," Keller said.  When Keller opened her eyes and began to get her bearings, the woman said, "You need to get up and walk around," and helped Keller up and held onto her as they walked around the tent.  Things began to return to normal and Keller looked out the "doorway" of the tent and saw Karger-Gatzow and her family waiting anxiously by the fence separating the spectators from the finish area.

At that point, she said, "it hit me.  This was my last college cross country race."  The tears started to come, so she turned away so that those outside couldn't see her.  She collected herself and left the medical tent to greet her coach and family.  Her sister was the first person she went to and they hugged. Keller held onto her  whispered in her ear: "You can't move.  I don't want people to see me crying."

The tears were not for her performance, but rather because this was another ending.  Endings are emotional for her, said Keller, noting that during her senior year of high school, "I cried at the end of every (season ending) meet."  In all likelihood, even if she had won, Keller would still have had the tears flowing because this was the end of something she valued, enjoyed.  The team.  The coaches. The comaraderie of the group.

Sports are a selfish endeavor when it comes to training, racing, and performance, but they also have a strong social component, which is what Keller values over the individual pursuits, the goal setting, the planning, the execution.  She and her coaches had prepared for the race like all the others.  When they got to Terre Haute, they ran over the course, checking out things like the start, the terrain, anything that might factor into the race.

As planned when the gun went off at the start of the race, Keller went to the front.  Her starting position in box 44 allowed her a pretty straight shot to the first turn and she arrived there "in first or second," she said, all going according to plan.  She goes to the front in races because she doesn't like pack running, the jostling, physical contact that is common in a group.  It is a mental thing that can often push her to go out too fast or use up energy too early in a race just to avoid  the pack more than any for any strategic value.

In her first NCAA championship race in 2009, there was a narrow bridge about 800 meters from the start where the entire field had to crunch onto the bridge, pushing, and jostling to get through the wave of bodies trying to navigate the tiny space.  She didn't cope well with it then, panicking a bit and finishing 86th.  Karger-Gatzow recognized Keller's trouble adapting to top level pack running, and to allow Keller to get used to those conditions, he had her train with the men's team.  Had them intentionally jostle her during training.  The practice helped, but didn't totally eliminate Keller's pack phobia.

From her subsequent NCAA races, Keller got more accustomed to being in a lead pack, so she expected that to be the conditions this year as the race progressed.  All was well until 3K of the 6K race, Keller said, when her legs "started burning.  I tried to pick up my knees," but she began to lose contact with the leaders.  She says she still doesn't know why she couldn't go when she had to, whether it was the fast early pace, loss of energy from pre-race nerves, but she couldn't hold on and kept drifting back.  "I tried to push toward the finish, but it seemed to take forever," Keller said.  " I started seeing little red dots."  Finally the finish came, the spent blackness of the collapse.

It was a more extreme replay of the NCAA regional meet at St. Olaf, where she had used the last bits of her energy to sprint to victory and fell into the arms of two finish chute workers, who had to keep her upright as she walked off the fatigue, all the time apologizing to her companions for having to use them as human crutches.  It is part of Keller's DNA to have more concern for others than herself, to be aware of their feelings as much as her own.

She had encountered her family, who had traveled separately to Indiana to watch the meet prior to the race. Keller was by herself near the start area, when she heard a familiar voice: "Hey lady, mind if we join you," her sister said.  "How did you know where to find me?"  Keller asked.  "We knew to look for the poor lost girl by herself,"  her sister joked.  As Keller was finishing her warm up run, she bumped into members of the men's and women's team who also made the journey to Indiana to see their captain(Keller was team captain for both the men's and women's team this year).

They survived a flat tire and not remembering that there was a time zone change to arrive five minutes before the start.  Her sister also hadn't had an easy journey, as she had to arrange child care for her daughter and didn't get much sleep the night before, so she was operating on "three hours of sleep and a lot of caffeine," in order to make the long drive to the race on time, said Keller.  After the race, the awards ceremony was delayed for over an hour because of a protest of the results in one of the races and one of the team members said: "Linda, you'll still love us if we have to leave right after the awards ceremony, won't you?"

"After the race you can just kind of joke about (things like that)," Keller said, somewhat overwhelmed by the show of support from her family and team.  It is there because Keller has fufiled her desire to "lead by example."  She notes that as overall team captain this year she has seen a closer bond forming between the combined team as instead of doing activities in gender groups, they do them together.  Bringing the teams together is as valuable to Keller as anything she has accomplished as an individual.

Asked what she had learned from her athletic experience thus far, she replied; "patience."  A skill/virtue that has served her well in her field, education, as she says her professors have taken note that she has applied that to her classroom student teaching, not rushing, but rather taking time to help her students understand things better, helping them develop patience as well, that everything doesn't have to happen right away.

In the end, she's following the "motivational speech" her coach started giving her in her sophomore year.  "You're just a country girl from Hawick,"  Karger-Gatzow said.  "Show all these people what a country girl can do."

Wayzata 7th, Eagan 19th in Girls' NXN Race; Three Area Boys in Top 10

Wayzata's girls' team led by Jean French(20:10, 19th) placed 7th in the NXN meet in Portland, OR on Saturday. Eagan's girls, led by Danielle Anderson(21:02, 66th ) were 19th.  Top individual girls' finisher from Minnesota was Maria Hauger(20:01, 14th) on the muddy 5K course.  Alexandria's Bethany Hasz was 37th in 20:31 and Blake's Clare Flanagan was 56th in 20:54.  In the boys' race Wayzata's Connor Olson finished 6th in 17:23, Hudson, WI's Ryan Kromer was in 9th in 17:25, Richfield's Obsa Ali was 10th in 17:30, and Stillwater's Eric Colvin was 116th in 18:34.

Full results are HERE. Boys' video is HERE. Girls' video is HERE.  Added video recorded at the Griak Invitational of the Wayzata girls vamping the Carly Rae Jepson song, Call Me Maybe is HERE. Another Wayzata girls video, of the State Meet win, is HERE.

Online Registration for Winter Running Events Opens December 1

Photo by Competitive Image,
courtesy of Twin Cities In Motion

For those of you who plan ahead, registration opens tomorrow morning, December 1, at 8 AM for three local races.  The Medtronic TC Kids Fieldhouse Fun Run(February 2), the Valentine's Day 5K Run/Walk(February 9), and the 100% Irish for a Day TC 5K and TC 10 Mile(March 9). The last two events are presented by Marathon Sports.

To register go to tcmevents.org and follow the links to the events you want.  And if you didn't get a chance to wear that Halloween costume you designed, you can always improvise at the Valentine's or Irish run.  Don't know if they have a best costume category, but maybe they should think about it.

High School Stories

Chaska Herald article on Chaska sophomore Joey Duerr and his sixth place finish at the State Meet is HERE.

Chanhassan Villager article on the Holy Family Catholic team's experience at the State Meet is HERE.

Wayzata Sun Sailor articles on the Wayzata girls team from earlier are HERE and HERE.

Sun Thisweek article on Tom Sharp, who adds to his cross country coaching duties by becoming Eastview boys track coach, and brief mention of Eagan's girls team heading out to Portland for NXN is HERE. Story on the Eagan girls runner-up finish at State is HERE and HERE.

Sun Thisweek story on Lakeville North's Taylor Perkins is HERE. Story on the Lakeville South girls at State is HERE. Photos from the State Meet girls race are HERE, boys HERE.

Hassan Mead back on the West Coast

Gopher alum Hassan Mead is back on the West Coast in Eugene, Oregon, training under former UK steepler(1988 Olympic bronze medalist), now coach, Mark Rowland.  Mead is settling in and getting used to his new routine.  Plans are to run the World Cross Country Trials early next year.  An article on Mead is HERE.

More NXN Preview

Wayzata and Eagan's girls teams will be running  in this weekend's NXN in Portland.  Individual qualifiers include: Richfield's Obsa Ali, Wayzata's Connor Olson, Stillwater's Eric Colvin, as well as Hudson, WI's Ryan Kromer for the boys; Shakopee's Maria Hauger, Blake's Clare Flanagan, and Alexandria's Bethany Hasz for the girls.  Complete listing of team and individual qualifiers is HERE.

Marc Bloom's "Super 25" rankings for boys is HERE, girls HERE.

Another interesting development with the end of year meets is an Ohio high school ruling on "amateur" status and accepting travel expenses for national meets.  Nike pays expenses for those who qualify, but a new interpretation of a high school league rule in Ohio makes that against the rules.  The story is HERE.

North Face 50 Endurance Challenge Championships

Chris Lundstrom is listed among the contenders at this Saturday's North Face 50 Endurance Challenge Championships.  More info HERE.

Minnesota Track & Field Coaches Clinic set for February 2013

The Minnesota Track& Field  Coaches Clinic set for February 1-2 in Bloomington.  Olympians Jeff Hartwig and Amanda Smock among the speakers.  Information on the meeting is HERE.

News Bits

Belated results from USATF Minnesota XC Championships held on November 10 are HERE.

Preview article for this weekend's Nike Cross Nationals(NXN) is HERE. Shakopee's Maria Hauger and Blake's Clare Flanagan get mentions.

Stillwater Gazette article on Stillwater grads, Tom Linner and Josh Kaul, who helped U of Wisconsin-LaCrosse take fourth in the NCAA Division III Nationals is HERE.

Duluth News Tribune story on St. Scholastica junior Chelsea Johnson is HERE.

Peyton Fifth, Peterson 13th in Turkey Trot 5K

Team USA Minnesota's Meghan Peyton finished fifth in the women's race and Jonathan Peterson was 13th in the men's race at the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving in San Jose, California  Peyton ran 16:19 in the race won by Kim Conley in 15:40.  Peterson was timed in 14:19 in the men's race won by Stephen Sambu in 13:28.

The race was the Pacific Association USATF 5K championship. Men's results are HERE.  Women's are HERE.

Trials Marathoner Gacek Designing Jewelry

Olympic Marathon Trials competitor Melissa Gacek is striving for excellence in a new field these days -- she's designing and selling jewelry marketed for runners.

The University of St. Thomas alumnus has partnered with women's running apparel company Oiselle -- also her running sponsor -- to sell a limited edition line of precious metal jewelry for runners.

Gacek and Oiselle are featuring two designs -- the "Fly" Necklace (pictured) and the "Wings Out" PR Necklace.  Both designs come in silver and bronze.

Gacek wore the original version of the "Wings Out" necklace,  designed by her late sister-in-law Alyn Shannon, at the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials where she ran a PR 2:44:10. 

Proceeds from jewelry sales will benefit the non-profit Healing Haiti, which Shannon founded.

Learn more about Gacek's designs HERE.

Hauger Books Footlocker Finals Return

Shakopee High School's Maria Hauger booked a return trip to the finals of the Footlocker Cross Country Championships in San Diego, Calif. next month with a 3rd-place finish at Saturday's Footlocker Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisc.

Hauger (pictured, in orange), who finished 5th at the Midwest Regional a year ago, clocked 17:07 over the challenging 5K course at the University of Wisconsin - Parkside.  Anna Rohrer of Indiana won the race in 16:54; Missouri's Taylor Werner was runner-up, a second ahead of Hauger.

Hauger was the lone Minnesota qualifier for Footlocker Finals.  Cretin-Derham Hall's Kevin Docherty finished 12th in the boys race, running 15:18 for the 5K distance.  The top ten runners in each of four seeded regionls advance to Footlocker Finals on December 8.

Find complete Footlocker Midwest Regional results HERE (girls) and HERE (boys).

Find the Footlocker Cross Country Championships homepage HERE.

Photo courtesy of the Footlocker Cross Country Championships.