Weini Kilati and Drew Hunter Capture First place titles at the 37th Annual FootLocker Cross Country Champs

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Weini Kilati, photo by PhotoRun.net

The FootLocker Cross Country Champs are in their 37th year. Many of America’s finest middle and long distance runners came through this meet, and many will continue to do so. The FL Champs are a site to behold. Check out the coverage on the FLCCC.com site.

Weini Kelati and Drew Hunter Capture First Place Titles at the 37th Annual Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals

San Diego, Calif., Dec. 12, 2015 – Weini Kelati of Leesburg, Va., and Drew Hunter of Purcellville, Va., captured first place titles at the 37th Annual Foot Locker Cross Country Championships (FLCCC) National Finals at Morley Field, Balboa Park in San Diego, Calif., today. Race conditions were good with dry terrain, sunny skies and temperatures reaching 56 degrees.

In the girls’ race, Kelati won in 17:10, while Hunter took control from the start to capture the boys’ title in 14:56.

Recapping the girls’ race, Kelati, a two-time FLCCC national qualifier, took an early lead, cruising to a mile split of 5:13. Maryjeanne Gilbert (Peoria, Ill.) closed the gap and took a brief lead prior to the race’s midway point. Kelati reclaimed the lead quickly, while Nevada Mareno (Leesville, N.C.) and Judy Pendergast (Naperville, Ill.) joined the lead pair. Kelati and Gilbert pulled away in the final stretch with Gilbert finishing second (17:11), Mareno in third (17:18) and Pendergast in fourth (17:20).

In the boys’ race, Hunter went out aggressively and continued to pick up the pace after a mile split of 4:32. At the halfway mark, Hunter secured a commanding 15-second edge over Phillip Rocha (Azusa, Calif.) and Ben Veatch (Carmel, Ind.). Hunter never relinquished the lead, but the race for runner-up provided added excitement down the stretch where Rocha out-sprinted Veatch. Rocha placed second in 15:08 and Veatch finished third in 15:10.

The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships is comprised of four regional 5K races, which took place across the country in the Midwest (Kenosha, Wis.), Northeast (Bronx, N.Y.), South (Charlotte, N.C.) and West (Walnut, Calif.), culminating in the National Finals here today.

Download the Boys complete 2015 FLCCC results:

Download the Complete FLCCC Girls results:

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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