Mass. runners soak in the scene
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While Massachusetts continued to recover from Friday's severe ice storm, four of the state's high school runners were enjoying blue skies and 60-degree weather yesterday while competing in the Foot Locker
The Bromfield School's Emily Jones, who won the Northeast Regional qualifier Nov. 29, placed 13th by finishing the 5 kilometers in 18 minutes 40 seconds, while North Andover's Kirsten Kasper took 31st in 18:40. Jordan Hasay of Arroyo Grande, Calif., won in 17:22.
For the boys, Michael Moverman of Oliver Ames placed 19th in 15:54, while Medford's Phil Galebach took 32d in 16:11. Solomon Haile of Silver Spring, Md., crossed in 15:15.
The race was a glimpse into the future for Jones and Kasper, who will continue to compete together when they join the Georgetown University cross-country squad next year.
"We've been seeing each other for a while now, and this year we've started to get to know each other," said Jones, who finished 11th last year. "It's just been such a great experience. . . . It's really neat to be able to be around so many great runners."
Kasper said while she had hoped to crack the top 20, she enjoyed her time on the West Coast.
"It's been really fun to get to know these girls here," she said. "These are the girls that I'm probably going to be competing against in college."
Moverman, competing in the event for the first time, reached his top-20 goal by hanging back in the opening strides and passing about eight runners after a tough hill.
"I was pretty confident," said the Duke-bound senior. "A lot of the guys liked to go out pretty fast, so I knew I'd be able to pass some of them."
Galebach, who received an offer from Harvard yesterday morning, also enjoyed his first national championships.
"It wasn't what I wanted it to be, but I was just happy to compete so I wasn't that disappointed," he said from a San Diego beach. "It's been a ton of fun. We got to meet people from every part of the country. You get to see what other people are like at a really high level."
