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Alicia Clark ran the race of her career Saturday, Nov. 26 at Bowdoin Park, Wappingers Falls, cross country head coach Lance Jordan said Monday. “This event is the premier race in the country and is sponsored by NIKE,” he said.
To qualify runners must be on one of the top two teams or be a top five individuals once they pull out the girls from the qualifying teams in your region, the coach said.
There are 8 regions in the country where you can qualify and the Northeast region consists of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Because New York is such a powerhouse in running has its own region making it more difficult to qualify than in any other region, Jordan said.
Clark ran in a field amongst 137 of the best girls in New York State. Clark ran against the team from Fayetteville Manlius who is the number one girls team in the country and has won the National Championship for the last two years, Saratoga who is number two in the country and never finished lower than fourth in the country. The Section II Class C champion is the first Granville runner to ever qualify for this race.
Clark finished with a time of 19 minutes flat, finishing eleventh overall. By qualifying, NIKE will give Clark an all expenses paid trip to Portland, OR to race in the National Championships this Saturday, Dec. 3; the race starts at 11:45 a.m.
“This is a huge deal. Not many kids from this area have ever gone to this race,” Jordan said.
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