Werner and Long will cap phenomenal seasons at Foot Locker Nationals

Werner and Long cap season with Foot Locker Nationals

Girls Race 11:15 a.m. CST Boys Race 12:00 p.m. CST

 http://www.footlockercc.com/

Webcast:  http://www.footlockercc.com/2012/webcast.shtml

In their short careers, Eureka High School sophomore Hannah Long and Ste. Genevieve High School freshman Taylor Werner are already included in the conversation about the all-time best in Missouri High School distance running with their performances. Saturday the duo will join elite company by being just the 24th and 25^th Missourians to race at the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships. The pair will make the 33^rd and 34^th appearances by Missourians at the meet, which began as the Kinney Cross Country Championships in 1979.

Long and Werner will toe-the-line at San Diego’s Balboa Park Saturday at the meet’s 34^th edition. The duo from the Eastern side of the state are just the 3^rd and 4^th underclassmen from Missouri to qualify for the meet, which currently brings together the top 10 finishers from each of four regional meets. The meet is dubbed as the first high school national championship competition of any sport, and one of the few that can actually be determined in competition and not subjectively by voters or polls.