Indiana Athletes at Foot Locker MW Over the Past 5 Years

Nov 21, 2018

With the 2018 Foot Locker Midwest Regional scheduled for this weekend, now is our chance to look how Indiana athletes have done in the past to potentially see how some of them could do this year. Entries close tonight, so we should know the official list of Indiana athletes entered sometime tomorrow or Friday.

Over the past 5 years Indiana has sent at least one male and one female representative to Nationals in San Diego.

2017

Matt Schadler (Evansville Memorial) Phoebe Bates (Carmel)

2016

Gabe Fendel (HSE) Christina Geisler (Carmel)

2015

Sarah Leinheiser (Carmel) Lauren Johnson (West Lafayette) Ben Veatch (Carmel) Christian Noble (Mt. Vernon) Brayden Law (Homestead)

2014

Anna Rohrer (Mishawaka)* Ben Veatch (Carmel) Seth Williams (Columbus North) Zack Snider (Brebeuf)

2013

Alex Buck (Pendleton Heights) Rachel Nichwitz (HSE) Kelcy Welch (Carmel)* Jackson Bertoli (Terre Haute South) David Dalton (Greenwood)

* denotes individual regional champion

Any interesting note to further discuss the dominance of Carmel HS. They have sent at least one representative to nationals over the past 5 years. All-time, the most athletes has sent in one year was 5 athletes. This has happened 3 times, in 2003, 2013 and 2015.

Also another interesting stat worth noting, the last time an individual cross country state champion was able to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals was in 2015 when both Sarah Leinheiser and Ben Veatch qualified. 2016 state champions, Tyler Schwartz and Curtis Eckstein, did not compete. 2017 girls state champion, Emma Wilson also did not compete, but competed at Nike Cross Nationals. 2017 boys state champion, Gabe Fendel, competed but just missed out on competing at his 2nd national meet by 2 seconds, taking 11th.

But what does all of this mean to current Indiana athletes who are looking to earn one of the 10 individual spots at nationals? Really, it doesn't mean a whole lot, other than the thought of continuing Indiana's strong representation in San Diego on the line.

Based on 2017 meet results, Cole Hocker is the #3 returner, placing 15th in 15:29 last year. Phoebe Bates earns the girls #3 returning spot, placing 6th in 17:40. Emma Wilson mentioned at NXRMW that she plans to race Foot Locker as well, so we should see her out in Wisconsin, battling for one of those top 10 spots as well. All of the Indiana athletes that end up competing this weekend in Wisconsin, will face more competition at this regional meet compared to the Nike Regional meet, as 7 more states are added into the mix.