HASAY BECOMES FIRST FOUR-TIME FOOT LOCKER WEST CHAMPION
By David Monti
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission
America's
top junior middle distance runner, Jordan Hasay of Arroyo Grande,
Calif., captured her fourth consecutive Foot Locker Cross Country West
Regional Championships title to become the first athlete in
championships's history to win four times in a row. The race was held
yesterday at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., home of the
famoust Mt. SAC Relays.
Hasay, running for Mission Prep, was in
a pack of five at the 4 km mark when she pushed ahead on a dowhill to
break free for the title. She covered the 5 km course in 18:02.
"My
goal was to just to win this race to qualify for nationals," Hasay told
the San Luis Obispo Tribune newspaper. "I really love running on this
course, and it's sad to leave it."
Hasay, the 2007 IAAF World
Junior Championships silver medalist at 1500m, advanced to the Foot
Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego next Saturday,
effectively the USA national high school cross country championships
meet. As a freshman, Hasay was the surprise winner of that
championship in 2005. As a sophomore, she finished tenth, and as a
junior last year she was third.
Chris Schwartz of Bakersfield, Calif., won the boys title in Walnut by four seconds in 15:38.
