TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It’s not often that Futsum Zeinasellassie finds himself trailing in a race.
Halfway through Sunday’s Nike Cross Nationals Midwest Regional, Zeinasellassie, a senior from North Central High School in Indianapolis, was in third by a widening gap. As the runners neared the two-mile mark on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, Zeinasellassie took charge and blew open the race to win handily in 15:42.8.
“Nothing on him, but I wasn’t worried at all,” Zeinasellassie said. “I was running my race.
“With this wind I wasn’t expecting anyone to go out crazy, but I knew he would come back to us. I was relaxed and heard coach yelling, so I guess I better go. Right after the 3k, he started yelling, ‘Stop playing.’ So I got out and caught up to him and just held the pace”
Zeinasellassie had just set the high school course record at 14:48 for his third Indiana state title two weeks prior, erasing the 2010 mark laid down by Lukas Verzbikas at last year’s NXN regional. Zeinasellassie finished runner-up to Verzbikas at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 2010.
The early lead was paced by Drew White of Festus, Mo., who won the state Class 3 title the week before. White said he felt strong and thought the early pace was a bit slow. He took off into the strong and gusty winds, which were sustained at near 30 mph in Terre Haute, and ran alone for nearly mile.
“That was not my strategy at all; I just felt so good,” White said. “I started leaving them and at that point I was already committed. By the time I came around to the last 400 I locked up and died.”
White was overrun by the pack in the final half mile and slipped to 17th (16:19.8).
White was briefly joined up front by Billy Leighton of Cape Girardeau Central (Mo.). Leighton said he too got caught up in the moment.
“I caught up to him and told myself I wanted to take the lead for at least one second,” Leighton said. “He helped pull me along for a fast second mile, but then a couple guys started catching up to us and I was out of gas by then.
“I’m just glad I went for it; that’s the most fun I’ve ever had racing.”
Zach Herriott of Rockhurst (Kansas City, Mo.) had blazed his own path at the Missouri Class 4 state meet the week before in an attempt to defend his title. He came up short at the state meet and opted for a different tactic Sunday at Nike.
Herriott stayed in the pack and let others take the brunt of the headwind. He used the tailwinds as a chance to pass people and pick up position. He moved up the fourth place (16:00.6) and secured one of the five individual qualifying spots for Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 3.
“My goal was just to draft off of somebody and then hopefully be able to separate from the guys that took a lot of the wind,” Herriott said. “All I’ve been training for was a state title and to go to nationals. I didn’t get the state title, but going to nationals is amazing.”
Zeinasellassie said he will have a better idea of where he stands heading into Nike Cross Nationals after the Foot Locker regional in Kenosha, Wis., in two weeks, and he will use that to help establish a strategy for NXN.
“The race at Foot Locker would probably be a good race for me to see where I’m at for the final race at Nike,” Zeinasellassie said.
Columbus North (Ind.) knew exactly where it was entering the Nike regional. The team had just captured its third consecutive Indiana state title and was the top-ranked team in the region. North punched a return ticket to nationals with two runners scoring in the top 15 en route to 109 points. The squad finished third at NXN last season.
“Getting there is an accomplishment of its own,” said Christopher Kelsey, who led the team with an eighth-place finish (16:11.0). “We’d like to show up and race well and try to improve a spot, but it’s a different team, different year.
“We knew there were some good teams – Illinois always produces a lot – so we had to show up and run our best and hope we got out.”
Kroy, better known as York out of Chicago, Ill., grabbed the second qualifying spot to NXN with 154 points to beat Palatine (Chicago, Ill.), which had just won the Illinois state title the week prior. York was third at the state meet, but it will be heading to its eighth NXN in eight years of the event.
Palatine tallied 174 points, and Naperville South (Chicago, Ill.) was fourth with 207 points. Both squads will wait to see if they are awarded an at-large bid.
