Jones and Maguire Stamp Foot Locker Ticket

By Joe Reardon

Emily Jones found herself in a different position than last year when she emerged from the woods onto the flat at yesterday’s Foot Locker Northeast Regional Cross County championships.

The two-time Division 2 state champion from the Bromfield School surged past Mary Kate Champagne of Plattsburg (N.Y.) and set her sights on Neely Spence of Shippensburg (Pa.) with 600 yards to go in the seeded race on the 3.1-mile Van Cortlandt Park course.

What Jones didn’t expect was how much she had left in her final kick.

"I surprised myself," said Jones. "I get out onto the small stretch and I got another burst of adrenaline."

Jones closed on Spence over the final stretch, but fell short at the end. Her second-place finish, however, was hardly a disappointment. Jones (17:41.2) improved on a ninth-place finish of a year ago to qualify for her second consecutive national final on Dec. 8 in Balboa Park in San Diego, Calif.

Jones ran alongside Triton’s Keely Maguire in a pack of 18 runners in a 5:20 opening mile. She made it a point to stay near the front from the start.

"Last year, I went in with the goal of qualifying," said Jones. "This year, I was thinking of getting a better place. It was a different mindset."

Maguire was ecstatic with her fifth-place showing, finishing in a time of 17:46.8, which also qualified her for the national final.

"This is what I was looking at for the entire time throughout the summer," said Maguire.
Maguire admits the huge pack in the first mile was a bit disconcerting, but believed having so many runners around her helped with the pacing.

"The pack made me nervous, but it also helped me a lot," said Maguire. "I knew I wasn’t going to slow down."

The Massachusetts girls had a strong showing in the race with five runners in the top 30. North Andover’s Kirsten Kasper finished 12th in 18:16.9, Oliver Ames’ Jenna Davidner placed 14th in 18:23 and Natick’s Rebecca White earned 27th place with a time of 18:52.4.
"I just wanted to hold on to the top 10," said Kasper, the Div. 1 All-State champion. "I’m happy with how I did. I would have loved to be in the top 10, but there’s always next year."
In the sophomore girls’ race, Gardner’s Stephanie Ellis didn’t flinch when Elizabeth Briasco of Fort Hills, N.J., was 50 yards ahead of her a mile into the race. Ellis began to close ground on Briasco and finally took the lead for good with 300 yards to go and won the race in a time of 19:19.8. Megan Barry of Dennis-Yarmouth placed fourth (19:44.4).

"I could tell she was slowing down so I gave everything I had," said Ellis, who improved a whopping 1:10 on her 2006 time.

The boys didn’t fare nearly as well in the seeded race. Cushing Academy’s Sintayehu Taye was 20th in 16:03.4 and Groveland’s Eric McDonald clocked a 16:15.7 for 33rd place.
In the freshman race, Mansfield’s Shayne Collins, the younger brother of All-State champion Ryan Collins, finished second in 17:00, 13 seconds behind Chris Ubriaco of Glenville, N.Y. Collins battled Ubriaco until the final half-mile after the two harriers went through the opening mile in 5:05.

"He kept losing me on the uphills and I kept losing him on the downhills," said Shayne. "I was going for the win," but I’ll take a top five."

Ryan, who finished 10th in last year’s seeded race and 17th at the nationals, thought his brother ran a smart race on a very tough course. "He ran great," said Ryan, himself, a very strong downhill runner. "He did a good job getting out to the front. That’s the way he likes to run."

Manchester’s Lowell Reeve clocked a 16:34.4 to win the junior boys race and Kate Barrett of Norfolk cracked the top 10 in the junior girls division, placing seventh in 20:05.7.