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Thomson, Assumption represent Louisville on large stages

While the state competition in Lexington may have concluded the high school cross country season a few weeks ago, there are several heralded runners from the area who are continuing their success on a national level and putting Louisville's name on the map in the process.

Holy Cross High School junior Jacob Thomson, who was the 2011 KHSAA Class A individual cross country champion, and Assumption High School, which was the 2011 KHSAA Class 3A overall team champion, both have respectively qualified for a pair of upcoming and extremely prestigious races around the United States.

For Thomson, who has been ranked in the top 25 nationally for most of the season, the accomplished Cougar competed in the Foot Locker South Regional on Nov. 26 at McAlpine Greenway in Charlotte, NC. With good conditions and a 42-degree morning, Thomson ran the 5,000-meter (3.10-mile) course in 14:55 (4:48 mile pace) and ultimately finished 7th out of 243 runners in the seeded boys division.

With his top ten finish, Thomson qualifies for the Foot Locker National Championships, which will pit the country's 40 best runners against each other. That race, which is scheduled for Dec. 10, will be run at Morley Field at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA. A live webcast will be available through the Foot Locker cross country championships website and the race is set to go off at 10am PST (1pm EST).

Below are the results (top 7) from Nov. 26th's South Regional in North Carolina:

• 1 #1974 Craig Nowak (senior) TX: 14:37
• 2 #2022 Ahmed Bile (senior) VA: 14:38
• 3 #1989 Daniel Vertiz (senior) TX: 14:40
• 4 #470 Joshua Brickell (junior) GA: 14:41
• 5 #1158 Thomas Graham (senior) NC: 14:52
• 6 #2234 Sean McGorty (junior) VA: 14:54
• 7 #910 Jacob Thomson (junior) KY: 14:55

Sacred Heart Academy's Emma Brink, who now runs at the University of North Carolina, qualified for and ran in the Foot Locker National Championships girls race as a senior in 2010.

The nationally-ranked AHS Rockets team also competed this past Saturday, ran in the Nike Cross National Southeast Regional and subsequently qualified for the Nike Cross Country Nationals in Portland, Oregon this coming Saturday (Dec. 3).

Running the 5,000-meter championship race at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC, Assumption got outstanding finishes from Katherine Receveur (7th; 18:11.7), Bailey Davis (8th; 18:13.1) and Emily Bean (17th; 18:29.3).

Kensley Defler (37th; 19:02.5), Caroline McCaslin (38th; 19:03.8), Amanda Vokoun (44th; 19:15.0) and Kate Crawford (51st; 19:20.9) also finished strong out of 147 total runners. The trio of top-20 finishes and four top-51 finishes helped the Rockets finish second in the Southeast Regional team standings behind the squad from Wilmington, DE.

The seven Assumption runners will compete as a team under the name “Louisville Track Club” and will race against the other 22 teams who qualified to run for the high school national title.

Assumption is the first girls high school cross country team in the history of Kentucky to qualify for nationals.

In addition to the national qualification at the Southeast Regional, the Rockets also won the "open run" team standings. This race, which featured 80 runners, did not lead to any type of national qualifying, but did show the depth of the Assumption team. Competing in the 5,000-meter open race in North Carolina were:

• Olivia Boughey (3rd; 20:04.6)
• Abbie Wright (6th; 20:16.6)
• Melanie Strothman (7th; 20:17.9)
• Natalie Senninger (9th; 20:21.9)
• Jessica Byrd (10th; 20:22.4)
• Lauren Hayden (20th; 21:01.7)
• Kyndel Guyton (33rd; 21:21.5)
• Katia Vela (59th; 22:47.4)
• Emily Riedling (67th; 23:14.6)