The 2023 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships were held on December 9, 2023 at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA. This was the 44th annual championship for this prestigious race.
Okay Carri do you in fist fate as fast as start I think these guys are going to get out there just like Rachel did Rachel took it out and wound up in third and ran a great race so we’re gonna see somebody go out hard all right so we
We’ll be looking it should be great we’re just about ready to start here we go here we go the 2023 Foot Locker boys Nashville championships we don’t have one leader we’ got 10 leaders well it is already different but you know I think that a lot of the guys are looking around at
Each other we’ve we’ve heard that time and time again there’s quite a few guys that are back from last year that are hungry and want to be the one to cross the tape first our top returner Cameron Todd he is up there right now that’s it
So the end the dog park Loop it is a good course let people race five six across but it doesn’t lace 10 or 20 across and everybody’s going to be looking for spots trying to stay out of the the dust there yeah they really are they are running in a different race already
Aren’t they yeah so somebody will be KY here somebody will make a move somewhere if before we get to the hill would be my guess see Morgan Feld in there Caldwell on the outside in there but everybody in it through the first 400 met relatively conservative we’re going to be right
Around 65 seconds for the first 400 that’s mostly a downhill 400 so that is okay they’re going out relatively well at least it’s an honest Pace but we’ll see and looks like berson out of the Northeast pushing that pace cwell on his shoulder you’re right Carri experience matters doesn’t it I think experience
Matters in the early stages of this race they want to make sure that they are out in front are out in a pace that they can handle you know we’ve seen time and time again where people get excited and they don’t end up well but these athletes
Right now have seen the course they’ve talked so many of the athletes have told us Tim that they’ve watched the old races that they’ve talked to the people that have been here they really do their research and B on 15th in this race last year pretty comfortable Pace though
We’re coming up just to give you an idea we talked so much about k great race the Logan race last year so Matias and he led that pack through last year too they were right around 216 at the 800 and it’s spreading out a little bit
Here get a little antsy at times when you’re running you know like I said you’re not used to feeling people around you hearing so many people breathing around you and when you’re coming from being somebody that’s undefeated in your state time and time again it’s hard to
Do that mentally it’s hard to be able to wonder if you’re feeling okay because everyone around you is there maybe not breathing quite as heavy as you hear yourself breathing so we’re looking at eeran right now right up front and 217 that’s actually right around what Maas
Was a little bit faster than Todd and pjac were last year at that gavenas right up in there Caldwell Griffith berson Hillhouse Nance put everybody in it all those boys so we’ve got 17 boys within 2 seconds of each other through that first half so an honest 2 and
Honest face here they come everybody in it eeran from the web School in Tennessee see pay Jack moving up well trying to get in position here so you don’t want to be out of it K you’ve run this course there there’s a lot of turns on that lower part here into that pond
Area you can get left behind if you’re not careful you have to think about the tangents and where you are in a big pack like this you have to kind of think about how do I get out of trouble if I want to how do I get up on ean’s
Shoulder right now when I’m in 15th 20th Place you know some of these athletes do not like to be back in the pack they they get a little antsy you have to be able to calm yourself in order to get the best out of yourself so yeah this is
Strategic this is important for them to keep their eyes up stay calm and figure out where they want to be well if this was his plan or not he is committed to it now uh he is our leader and that’s only about a 5 to 8 meter lead over the
Pack and everybody still in the pack just about to make they’ll make another really good U-turn and we said those turns make a difference if you’re stuck in the middle there if you’re in that middle pack and they start to make that turn leaders are pulling away while
You’re you’re watching your step to get through that turn now it’s a pretty much of a straight shot to the hill and we’ll get a mile time at the hill well that record from Ruben rer has stood since 1985 441 is what he went through the first Mile and it’s always
Fun just to remind you of that Pace his finishing time 14 36.8 what a great race that was a lot of people that Melody fairchild’s race maybe the two best crse races High School Runners have ever ever accomplished you see that lead shorten it up a little bit we’re just about to
Cross the road this is a little bit of an uphill grade on the grass as we mentioned there are no flat Parts it’s either up or down it’s Rolling Hills or as we get now a big hill looks like about 443 there at the mile it’s going
To be we’ll get the split officially here hopefully in a second but here we go up the hill very steep this first part very steep Cole matis talked about that you know shortening his stride really being choppy up this hill that’s what you have to do it is a long Steep
Hill it’s not short and quick it’s long and steep so you do have to adjust to it you can’t fake it up on this hill you got to conserve energy to grind your arms use them shorten those strides up and get up this hill but right here is
Where you sort of stride out you’re still climbing so lengthen that stride really work this upper part and then let it rip on the way down all right looks like gavenas has led that group up there Westfall the Midwest Regional Champion Hill housee in there Bron up in there
Stewarts Griffith P Jack all very close basically everybody in the race was under 449 at the mile uh so that’s pretty good everybody right in it so the first Hill no one has decided that this is the time so everybody across the top that’s as good a group as we’ve seen in
Years carry across the top a little bit conservative but an honest pace so it’s not like anybody just sitting back and going this is easy I’ll just cruise for a while two of the guys true Griffith Ryan pack from the same state won their individual championships went to Regionals sort of
Flip-flopped how they raced last year and now back in it you know often times you wonder if they are working together in this first lap keeping their eyes on each other because they know they’re solid they know they’re good they can work together and here we go coming down
The hill yeah that Hill first time is a good preview if their second time it’s like Reed Brown did when he came out of Texas that year made up a lot of ground first time and then blew everybody away the second time to win the national champion that looks like Ty Stewarts the
Junior out of West Virginia looked very good on that downhill look at that that’s a considerable amount made up in just a quarter mile there so he is now the the rabbit out front and here comes the pack and it’s a huge pack still they’ll come by there about two 300 me
Before we get to the halfway point well TY Stewart has been up front in Virginia he won six in a row there he’s a two-time state cross country Champion he missed Champs he missed the race here last year and he wanted to get here this year so it’s been on his mind
For the last 365 days now he looks around bit he go now here he goes across the road he’s going to come up to the halfway point Stewart’s in there West ball coming up Cameron Todd talk about experience he’s coming up right there they go go by the
Halfway this is Stewarts Todd and gavenas everybody Nance Griffith pay Jack berson eeran Marshall our Florida South Champion they’re all right in it there so all the regional winners you know they always say that of the 43 times we’ve run it in the past 35 times
It has been a senior R and and it has been a regional champion and our senior Regional Champions are up there so so we got some experienced boys counting their spots right now but Stewarts is our leader here heading down into the dog park Loop let’s hope he doesn’t turn
Around cuz there’s a lot of friends following well Stuart looks good I mean he doesn’t look like he’s pushing he did take that little turn look back when he crossed the road there he he’s obviously running within himself but yes he does have a strong pack behind him and that
Is a little bit nerve-wracking looking in that pack you can see gavenas Todd we see Nance in there Griffith payack berson you can see in there looks like they’re all in that group about 10 boys there no farther back then about 10 m so this is the last good little downhill
Before we go all the way up to the Steep Hill so here we go Stewart’s making the turn here in the dog park Loop he’ll be heading up to the 2 and 1/2 Mile Mark holding on but that lead not growing we’re still just about 10
M well this is that nice part of the course where you know you are over halfway you got to just get ready for that second climb they are working their way through this but they know they’re going to come up to the crowd here so they’re going to get a little boost of
Energy before they have to make that final time up the hill look at that pack that Pack’s thinning out a little bit they’re picking it up they’re going to go into the eucalyptus trees it’ll be cool and shady and then they’ll come out in the bright Sun and head up to the two
Mile Mark but at some point you got to start saying to yourself you can’t let anybody go Tim this is where those turns really start to matter as an athlete you have to work those turns you want to sort of hide get away from people get a
Little bit of distance every time you make a turn and that’s what’s going to happen here on this part of the course there he is coming out of the eucalyptus trees heading up to the two mile Stewart still our leader Stewart and also moving up in
That group you can see there’s a lot of boys in there looks like proano up in there also now gabain is still hanging tough right in there but it’s a big group they come by the two mile now right at 947 at 2 miles 947 that’s a pretty healthy Pace there
We’re running pretty well that’s right what Cameron Todd was last year and he had that great Last Mile so you got Stewarts s gavenas Marshall in there berser griffa Todd Nance pck all within a couple seconds of each other uh Anderson now Benji Anderson of the Midwest he moved up five spots there
Between mile one and the should be the halfway point in the two while Ean still in the top 10 in there all within a couple seconds here they come stewards by and here comes the group 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 13 boys essentially still in [Applause]
It well Bren Marshall was here last year 23rd in 2022 he knows this course he knows what he’s been dreaming about going past right here all of you in the crowd Let’s Hear It Make Some Noise oh I think the hill is going to
Live up to its name as a major player in this race ganus moving looks like Marshall moving well too now all of the threshold workouts the thousands the mile repeats the hill repeats all of it is so important right now Marshall and berson gavenas in there
Still got a good group look at that 2 4 6 Seven 8 little bit of Separation there that’s the top nine with Stuart’s out front and eight guys in that group chasing him and we’re heading to the hill for the second time here they go they’re starting to
Close in just a little bit and this is the time they need to start using that energy right now it’s hard to make moves on that Hill I think just a little bit more separation there he’s if anything he’s taken the sting out of that pack
That’s for sure so St that lead may not have grown much but the pack continues to thin out behind them they are now almost single file that’s an indication of how fast things are moving and here we go across the road and we start heading up the hill here we go is this
Where we’ll find out who our 2023 Foot Locker National Champion will be who can run this hill Stewarts up there Here Comes Marshall ganus Nance Griffith berson Todd that’s our group there heading up the hill P Jack right there behind Todd Anderson and that’s the top 10 oh here we go
Big moves happening right here Tim here we go they’re going to make another U-turn still got about another 120 meters till they get to the actual top of this long hill but Stewart can he hold it that’ll be the key remember he did it by taking the downhill could he
Come back on the downhill again Stuart came back to them on that Hill he needs to get his rhythm back and it is a big move here to see that four guys have gone around him can he regroup All right here we go Drew greffi now moving on the downhill and Pa n now moving up excuse me Berkeley Nance moving up Berkeley Nance right there Griffith and Nance that’s R2 now coming off the hill it’s not over yet it could be somebody else but Griffith and Nance
Have decided this is the time they’re going to go all out here this is just about 500 M to go into the race can they hold it can somebody else come back on [Applause] it grip it now and griffith now making the turn Griffith he came here last year he was eighth he wanted to come back and be better than that he said he needed to maintain his position to work up the uphill well he didn’t maintain he definitely went into the lead and he
Came down this hill with a Vengeance here we go everybody here he comes on his way Drew gri is payack trying to close payack is made up a lot of room Drew Griffith though over the top can see the Finish pay Jack closing Drew Griffith though that move on the uphill
Taking the lead he is going to be the Foot Locker National Champion Drew Griffith great finish from Ryan payack oh my what a finish over that last half mile there for payack 1506 is that winning time pay Jack second gavenas in it the whole way get it’s third Nance holds on to Fourth
Marshall [Applause] fifth here they come across the way let’s bring all these boys home outstanding race here today our winner though Drew Griffith 1506 pay Jack closes second Gus Dan Marshall Stewarts hang in there he got six Veron in seven Northeast one two three well they
Said they were going to do it didn’t they my goodness I got to go get some interviews yay all right great race on the boys side all our boys continue to finish here Drew Griffith official winning time 1506 pay Jack second at 1512 ganus third at 1516 Nance fourth at
1517 Braden Marshall in fifth at 1518 Stewarts sixth at 1521 berser run 7th 1525 Cameron Todd 8th 1530 Benji Anderson Ninth at 1532 ju Gonzalez at 1532 in 10th then leebert in 11th eeran in 12th Bloomer 13th provano 14th 15th here and right now now you got to wait
For everybody to finish we’ll have to see what the sixth place tiebreaker is looks like the South and the Northeast both at 38 points so we’ll start looking for who that officially is the sixth place finisher for the South it looks to be will be their sixth man today at
15th Place and the Northeast it looks like now this is my unofficial count I got the South winning on the sixthman tiebreaker there but we are not the officials yet so we will wait to see so Billy Griffin that was a a a a pretty good effort there pretty well timed
Effort there pay Jack just looked like he been not stayed a little closer he might have had a shot at it but you got to give it up for Griffin what a great race huh yeah it was awesome and uh he he’s been here before he knew how to sit
Not go out after it you got to respect Ty Stewarts though all right well let’s hear it from the man himself Carrie all right Drew pretty exciting day y I’m just super pumped to be able to come through and pull off a race like that it’s just a
Blessing talk about your race a little bit because we really saw you make that huge move on the hill yeah I mean I knew coming into this race that uh I was Stronger on the Hills than a lot of these guys and I just stuck to that and
Leading up to this race just told myself if I can win this and uh just even through the race I said just stay in there and you can do it eighth last year what have you been thinking about for the last year I mean mainly it’s just
This meet uh got through the regional pretty smoothly and came here and just wanted to show up what was it what was it like having your future teammate and also a guy you’ve run against so often being in second there yeah it’s it’s amazing I mean I’m
Going to go hang out with them for the rest of the night and it’s going to be a blast congratulations our national champion Drew Griffith that’s interesting you know that race last week in that Regional so P Jack pulled away at the end so Griffin
Knew he was going to be coming there uh but he got himself such a lead that it was not enough for fajack to make up so pretty good race yeah and I was actually just talking to his girlfriend who just ran the girls race Logan St John clitter
And she said it was actually nice that he didn’t win CU he didn’t have the pressure sometimes when you’re the regional champ you have pressure on you to succeed and to be the best and to win and you know he kind of sluck in yes he’s been here before but he didn’t have
That pressure of being the top dog this year from his conference like the perfect combination H I got the experience kind of hanging back there but that was an inter Carrie looks like we’re ready for uh our number two all right Carrie all right Ryan we are on so
Pretty awesome day out there yeah it was uh it was really fun just so many groups of guys I mean I haven’t been that through all the uh the year but uh it was a good race we were wondering if you and Drew were thinking about each other
Out there were you working off each other oh yeah we were definitely working on each other the first like one and a half then he got uh a little bit up towards the Second Mile and then how important is it do you think that you were able to see this course last year
Run it so well and come back and do such great things today oh yeah it’s definitely the experience from last year is a big uh big help to my advantage and uh I just want to mimic what I did last year so that was good well congratulations good job thank you back
To you guys all right well we’ll get a interview with our third place finisher in just a second but we certainly want to invite all you folks here at Morley Field and what a great day spend a little more time with us we’re going to have our award ceremony where all of our
80 athletes will be honored they’ll get their All-American patches and then we’ll have our All-American first team second team and third team and our Champions Crown that’ll be right there in the middle of the field right there as the crest goes over so uh please stay
With us and join us uh Billy if you had to pick a day and you said all right let me have it like this this has been pretty good oh it’s been perfect it’s been perfect for me I’m coming from Erie Pennsylvania so I’m a Northeast guy we
Have snow you know some of the guys are like it’s a little hot right now but for me this is perfect weather for running ripping a good race sun’s out family’s here can’t be a better day all right we got the junior the the the pre 2024
Favorite right now we’re putting it on the line Carrie tamy great today talk about your race yeah 44 is my lucky number so I came out here I ran my best um and I dedicate this run to coach Mark barno and Coach Riley Co coach Richie
And my mom what does it mean to be a part of this Foot Locker family it feels amazing I came as a sophomore and it wasn’t my best race but but yet again I’m I’m I was a sophomore last year so um and I came here and I was I aimed to
Win and my coach and my mom was were like I believe in you so I’m here so now what so you starting to think ready for next year yeah uh I’m a junior so I High Hopes uh at senior year I’m going to give it all all right Tam
Congratulations way to go thank you
