Foot Locker Nationals: A Feat Maine has Never Seen

        As a fan of high school running, I'm disappointed. As an aspiring journalist, I feel guilty, which is why right now, as I sit here barely unpacking my things from my latest class, I'm writing an emergency article on the most prestigious high school cross country meet in America. A combined eighty of the best runners in the country will lace up their spikes one last time in San Diego, California to decide who the best male and female runners in the country are. Three of these fortunate and amazing athletes happen to hail from Maine. 

One of the smallest states in the country. 

Yet, as I sit here angrily, searching the sports section of local newspapers, there have been few articles on the prominence of this rare feat. Tomorrow, Kirstin Sandreuter of Greely, Josef Holt of Telstar and Dan Curts of Ellsworth will all compete tomorrow in San Diego. Each of these runners managed to qualify for the Nationals after all placing in the top ten of their perspective races at the Footlocker Northeast Regional at Van Cortland Park in New York. Only twelve runners from Maine have ever qualified for Footlocker Nationals with Loui Luchini from Ellsworth, Ben True of Greely and Abbey Leonardi from Kennebunk all having made it twice. This year, Maine will have the most representatives its ever had. This feat tops a basketball player scoring forty points against a Class A team. It's more impressive than receiving All-American honors in Lacrosse. It's more prominent than winning the Fitzpatrick Award in Football. Which is why, with one day before the meet, I'm disgruntled by the lack of media coverage from local newspapers and media sources around the state.

A trip to San Diego was the icing on top of the brilliant career for Kirstin Sandreuter. She was far and away the most dominant runner in the state this fall. She took off from the start of the Class B state meet and dared anybody to run with her as she won her first cross country title by over a minute. At the New England Championships in Manchester, NH, she placed fourth running a personal best of 17 minutes, 48.6 seconds while earning All-New England honors in the process. At the Footlocker Regional's in New York, she captured the final position to qualify for Nationals as she placed tenth. Ten years ago, a fellow Greely Ranger qualified for Footlocker Nationals at the same meet. 

His name is Ben True

For Holt and Curts, top ten finishes from them were almost expected. That's how talented both of these runners are. Holt has been on a tear all season. He set the course record at the Festival of Champions running an incomprehensible time of 15 minutes, 6.92 seconds. His lone loss against Maine competition came at the Manchester Invitational where the aforementioned Curts edged Holt by four seconds. Both of them ran some of the fastest times that course had seen back in late September. In early November, Holt ran with the top runners in New England as he placed third at the New England Championships lowering his time at Manchester to 15:12.9, a time that even Ben True couldn't match during his senior season back in 2003. To qualify for Nationals, Holt placed fifth at the Regional's running 15:36.8. With his small town fame, and front running ability, comparisons to current Purdue star Matt McClintock have become inevitable. McClintock enjoyed the same success Holt has had this year. McClintock placed fifteenth at Nationals in 2011 earning the final All-American spot. Holt will be looking to better his performance tomorrow.


For Curts, he hasn't had the smooth ride Holt has enjoyed. He tore his hamstring at the Festival of Champions and was sidelined for nearly a month. He mustered up the courage to win the Class B state championships at Twinbrook's running the fastest time of all classes, 16 minutes, 9 seconds. With few speed workouts under his belt, he was still able to place sixth at the Footlocker Regional's running right behind Holt in 15:38.7. He will be looking to replicate the success that his current assistant coach Loui Luchini had at Nationals. In 1998, Luchini placed second to Jorge Torres. His place is the highest a Maine native has finished at Nationals. Curts may not have the ability to place second, but an All-American finish (Top 15) will be in his sights.

Tomorrow morning, these three amazing athletes will all toe the line for the final cross country race of their careers along with the best runners in the country. The girls race will start at 9:15 am Pacific time with boys race starting forty five minutes after. They have already cemented their abilities in the great history of Maine cross country, and will look to compare their talents against the best in a race that Olympians such as Kara Goucher, Galen Rupp, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Alan Webb have competed in. 



(Editors Note: I'd like to give a huge shout out to Derek Veilleux and his efforts with Milesplit. He has given me the rare opportunity to have some of my writing published on the site. As far as I know, Maine's Milesplit affiliate is the only source in the state that has generated buzz about this historic feat)