Ashley Brasovan's Surprise Party
Ashley Brasovan, the junior from Florida, proved it is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog on Saturday as she put the biggest move of the race on the toughest part of the course to take the lead and then go to win the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships at Balboa Park in San Diego.
Jordan Hasay, the winner of this race in 2005, took off from the gun and put a challenge to the field running the first 800 meters in 2:31, stretching the pack out in a line behind her.
Hasay maintained her quick pace, passing through the first mile at 5:18. She then continued her gutsy move up and down the first large hill; however, a chase back of five maintained a gap of about ten seconds and did not fade any further back.
That chase group was loaded with talent including the defending champion, Kathy Kroeger; regional winners, Neely Spence and Claire Durkin; Brasovan, and Katie Flood.
The next mile saw Hasay maintain her ten second lead, but shortly after that point, Brasovan began to take control of the chase pack and began cutting down the gap.
By the 2 1/2 mile mark, Brasovan had caught Hasay and immediately tried to surge by her, but the three time Western Regional winner, matched her stride for stride up the first section of the hill.
At that point, Brasovan picked up the pace once more and she was finally able to open a gap on Hasay.
The diminutive junior from Wellington High School in Florida opened up her stride and her lead on the downhill, and then she gave one final, maximum effort over the last 600 meters to make sure a hard charging Kathy Kroeger would not catch her.
The 2007 champion crossed the finish line in a time of 17:20, with Kroeger
in second, and Hasay showing great heart to finish third.
Neely Spence and Claire Durkin came across the line in fourth and fifth, with sophomore Emily Lipari capturing 6th.
Aurora Scott, a four-time Foot Locker Finalist, finished very strong to round out the top seven.
With Brasovan and Kroeger going 1-2, the South Region had a strong showing, but it was the overall depth of the Northeast that prevailed in the team competition,
Both the Northeast and South finished with identical scores of 42 points;
however, the Northeast won the tiebreaker by having the better placing
sixth place finisher. It was the first win for the Northeast in a decade.