There is only one more meet remaining in the 2024 cross country season. This weekend is the Foot Locker Nationals (formerly Kinney Nationals), which is the longest lasting national cross country meet in the USA.
The best 40 individual runners in the country will compete in San Diego, California tomorrow. Three of the runners will be Texas girls who are all two-time cross country state champions.
Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion) is heading to Foot Locker after a third place finish at the Nike Cross Nationals in 17:13. She ran 16:55 to win the Foot Locker South Regional and will look to win her second Foot Locker national title. The back-to-back UIL 5A state champ ran 16:50 last year to take the win after running 17:53 at the 2023 race in Portland.
Over the last couple of race this season, Leachman has employed a new race strategy and it has been effective for her. Rather than going out fast and dictating the pace, she has elected to move up throughout the race after the first mile.
Elizabeth Leachman
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Sophia Bendet (Universal City Randolph) placed sixth at the South Region to snag a qualifying position and with a time of 17:08 personal best.
The Texas A&M signee ran three sub 18-minute races and has served up five of them this season including a 17:41 in the mud and rain last week in Portland. That was the slowest race of the season for back-to-back 3A state champ, in the most challenging and most adverse conditions to what she is used to.
She has developed a level of consistency that is almost unmatched and if she is capable of getting back on the level of low 17s could earn her an All-American finish.
Macy Wingard (Denton Braswell) earned her first Foot Locker Nationals qualification in her first attempt when she finished eighth at the South Region with a 17:16 run.
The back-to-back UIL 6A state champ was 51st last weekend in Portland at NXN. Her 18:31 run was the next to slowest 5K time in her high school career. That makes for a good come back for Wingard in San Diego.
Sophia Bendet
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If Wingard has a tendency, it is that every race in her career that wasn't on par with her typical performance was then followed by one of her next best runs.
Leachman ran 13 races in 2023; this year, she has lowered her amount of races drastically. So far in 2024, the Boerne Champion star has only raced seven times and tomorrow will be her eighth.
This could mean she has fresh legs and could give her a good shot at another Foot Locker win.
Bendet is kind of on the opposite end of that trend. She ran 12 races in 2023 and this weekend will be race 14. The two additional races this year are thanks to qualifying for both national championship races.
Wingard ran eight races in 2023 and this weekend will be race number 11 for the 2024 season. Much like Bendet, the additional races are due to the extra two Foot Locker races. With only three race before the Texas championship season and the post season races, Wingard has been on a roll.
Macy Wingard (R)
Photo by Andrew Brown/MileSplit NC