Photo by Tom Smith
Both Walter Johnson senior Jenna Goldberg and Mount de Sales sophomore Juliette Whittaker finished in the top ten at Saturday's Foot Locker Northeast regional in New York City. Goldberg (fifth) and Whittaker (seventh) both qualified for the national championship race on December 14 in San Diego, CA.
Whittaker and Goldberg have the top two 5K times in the state this season at 17:16 and 17:28. Neither runner had raced the Foot Locker Northeast regional race before, although Goldberg ran at Van Cortlandt Park earlier this season in a victory at the Manhattan Invitational.
Photo by Tom Smith
It's just the fourth year this decade that a Maryland runner has advanced to the national championship. In 2011, Winters Mill's Hannah Oneda qualified and finished 33rd. After a four-year drought, an incredible four girls - Maria Coffin, Hayley Jackson, Abigail Green and Julien Webster - qualified for nationals, and both Jackson and Coffin finished in the top ten. The next year, Green qualified for the second straight season and finished 12th at nationals. This is just the second time this decade that multiple Maryland girls qualified for Foot Locker Nationals.
On the boys' side, Calvert Hall senior Owen Johnson was among the top ten runners through 4K and ultimately finished 13th.