Posted: December 12, 2005

Athletics: News & Notes, Volume 6, Number 89

Hasay, Acosta win Foot Locker XC titles

2004 USATF National Junior Olympic Youth Girl's cross country champion Jordan Hasay of Arroyo Grande, Calif., and West Regional champion and two-time national finalist AJ Acosta of Oceanside, Calif., won the girls' and boys' races Saturday at the 2005 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals in San Diego, California.

Defending champion Aislinn Ryan took an early lead in the girls' race. West Regional runner-up Marie Lawrence of Reno, Nevada, led the chase pack of girls behind Ryan, who maintained her lead until Hasay and three-time FLCCC National Qualifier Lawrence caught up with her at the 1.5-mile mark. Hasay, a freshman at Mission College Prep, broke away from the pack taking the lead as she approached the two-mile mark in 11:03. Hasay held tight, never relinquishing her lead and went on to become the second female freshman in the race's history to take home the FLCCC National title.

At the 2005 USATF Junior Olympic Championships in Indianapolis, Hasay clocked the fastest Youth division 3,000m time ever by a female in winning the national title in 9 minutes, 35.12 seconds. Her performance bettered her national Youth record set in 2004 by 13.65 seconds. Hasay also won the 2005 Youth 1,500 meters title in Indianapolis in 4:28.61, smashing her previous Junior Olympic record of 4:34.02.

The boys' race in San Diego started out fast with a pack of five runners leading the field. Eventual winner AJ Acosta, a senior at El Camino High School, started to pull ahead with a small group at the 400m mark. The boys continued their fierce pace hitting the mile mark in 4:33, with Acosta in the lead until Michael Coe of Lompoc, Calif., moved into second place behind Acosta at the half-way point.

Ryan Craven, a senior at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Ill., surged ahead of the chase pack to get behind Coe and Acosta. With 300 meters remaining in the race, Coe started his last kick towards the finish line, closing the small gap between him and Acosta. Acosta, cheered on by his hometown crowd, made his final push to take home the Championship title in 15:02, with Coe just behind him. Ryan Craven finished third in 15:12.

The runners competed under sunny skies with excellent course conditions. Temperatures were in the mid-seventies for the girls' race, and cooled down a bit as clouds rolled in for the boys' race.

The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships is comprised of four regional 5K races, which took place across the country in the Midwest (Kenosha, Wis.), Northeast (Bronx, N.Y.) and South (Charlotte, N.C.) on Nov. 26, and the West (Walnut, Calif.) on Dec. 3, culminating in the National Finals.

Rochelle Stevens elected to Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame

Two-time Olympic medalist and 11-time NCAA All-American Rochelle Stevens has been elected to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. She will be inducted at an awards banquet on February 24 at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.

A native of Memphis, where she was a Melrose High School Prep All-American, Stevens was a collegiate star at Morgan State University in Maryland, where she won the 1988 NCAA Division I 400m women's title. Stevens won a gold medal in the 4x400m relay at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and a silver medal at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Stevens also won relay gold at the 1995 World Outdoor Championships, and silver at the World Outdoor Champs in 1991. The 1989 USA Outdoor 400m champion, Stevens also won the 400 meters at the 1992 Olympic Trials.