Judson Greer crosses the line first at Foot Locker South
Judson Greer has been a man on fire this season, but that will all come to an end this weekend in San Diego, CA where he will compete in the last race of the season, at the Foot Locker Nationals.
Last weekend, Greer toughed out the challenging course and weather conditions at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) finishing in a 15:37 for 26th place. He just missed making All-American by six places.
That is huge for a young man from a small Texas school. It's huge for a young man who hadn't even made a national high school event before this year. However, that might have been just the experience Greer needed to in order for him to know what and how things will go this weekend.
Two weeks ago, Greer won the Foot Locker South Regional race in Charlotte, NC. Now, heading way across the country, it will be the same Judson Greer -- the person, just a different runner.
For one, Greer hasn't taken losing well. He hasn't taken it bad in terms of sportsmanship, rather in terms of competitiveness. Until last weekend, he has only lost once this season, which was the Nike Cross South Regional meet, where he finished second. That loss was followed up by the dominating and convincing race in Charlotte, which he ran in 14:57. After taking his second loss last weekend at NXN, Greer is sure to bounce back strong this weekend.
This weekend, there will be the travel that is required to make for national events. Greer has proven he can handle it.
There will be the media frenzy, the attention, and the extra-curricular events that surround national championship events. Greer ran well last week and proved he can handle that also.
The response this weekend after going through last week will shape up in the pattern and flow of what was Greer's on fire season. The pace will likely be assumed by another runner and possibly a pack of runners. Unlike last weekend, the course conditions should be more comparable to what Greer is accustomed to running on here in Texas. These factors could play right in the hand of the Melissa High School junior.
He may be from a small town, but Greer definitely is not a small town athlete. He is a national level runner and his man on fire season will both end and continue this weekend because he will rock it at the Foot Locker Nationals.