What was the hardest part of Kaltenbach's day? When she was patiently shivering out in the cold while posing for pictures for Foot Locker officials. "That was the hardest part!'' she said. "I was freezing out there.'' Kaltenbach, who made her move with about 250 meters remaining, held off runner-up Ramsey Kavan of Yankton, S.D. by five seconds. Kavan finished in 17:34 and Sunni Olding of Minster, Ohio was third in 17:35.
Sara Schumacher, a senior at Park, was the only local runner to compete in the seeded girls' race. Schumacher finished 362nd among the field of 404 in 25:24. A major surprise was the off day by Amber Smith of Ishpeming, Mich., the top returnee from last year. Smith, who finished second in the Midwest Regional and fifth in the national meet last year, slipped to 10th and did not qualify to make the trip to San Diego. Smith finished in 17:57, which was actually 13 seconds faster than her time last year. "When you have a top returnee in an event, you feel so sad for a kid who has been there before,'' Foot Locker race director Pete Henkes said. "She didn't choke or anything. She just wasn't good enough today. She had a flat day. That's how competitive these races are.'' While Smith unexpectedly struggled, Withrow unexpectedly dominated. After finishing 14th last year in 16:01, Winthrow took an impressive 67 seconds off that time to win easily Saturday. "I guess it all came after last year's state meet,'' Withrow said when asked to explain his drastic improvement. "I've been watching the state meet since my freshman year, knowing that it was my goal to win it. My training got so intense that I just carried it over into this meet. "I knew I was good and that I would be able to run well, but I didn't know how good.'' Ryan Deak, the first male to qualify in two different regionals in the Foot Locker event (he moved from Tallahassee Fla., to Aurora, Col., last June) found out rather quickly how well Withrow was able to run. "At the mile point, we were all together,'' said Deak, who finished second in 15:14. "Matthew was right beside me. I think it was maybe five feet after the first mile and Matt just took off down the hill and that was it. He was on his own.'' Garrett Heath of Winona, Minn., who placed fourth in the regional and sixth in the nationals last year, was third in 15:15. There were no Racine County runners entered in the boys' seeded race. While Withrow exceeded his expectations, so did Gasper. The runner-up in the WIAA Division 1 meet earlier this month placed seventh to earn a trip to San Diego. Among those finishing behind him was Chris Rombough of Fremont, Wis., who edged Gasper for the state championship. Rombough finished 24th in 15:53 Saturday. "Everything went perfectly,'' Gasper said. "I was actually kind of worried because my training between the state meet and now wasn't what I wanted it to be, but I was ready mentally once I got here. "I thought, 'I might as well take a shot at it. The top 20 would be nice.' But when the opportunity was there, I just took a shot at it.''