Villa Park’s Garrett Corcoran closed out his accomplished season by placing 14th overall at the 2013 Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships Saturday at Balboa Park in San Diego.
After being stuck in a huge pack of runners through the first half of the race and getting spiked, Corcoran managed to move up well in latter portion of the 5k race and crossed the finish line in a time of 15:34.
“It was a tough race, but I was happy with the way I was able to move up,” Corcoran said.
He acknowledged that the Morley Field course at Balboa Park was a more strenuous challenge for him than the state meet course.
“This course was tougher than Woodward Park because its’ constantly going up and down,” Corcoran said.
The CIF Division 2 state champion was also impressed by the level of competition he faced against some of the best runners in the country.
“In this race, all 40 guys were just as good as the next guy and were running for the win,” Corcoran said. “It was harder to jockey for position and there was a lot of pushing and shoving.”
“That race was an experience and a good indicator of what college racing will be like.”
With his season officially at an end, Corcoran reflected on his overall performance and felt a strong race against national competition was the perfect way to cap it.
“Being a Foot Locker All-American is really satisfying,” he said.
The West regional team won the team competition with 23 points.
Grant Fisher of Grand Blanc High in Michigan and John Dressel of Mt. Spokane High in Washington traded the lead in the final mile before Fisher held on to win the individual title in 15:07.
Dressel was second in 15:10.
Tessa Barrett of Abington Heights High in Pennsylvania won the girls title in a time of 17:16.
Behind Barrett, the Northeast finished first in the team competition with 26 points.
