Photo by Don Rich of PennTrackXC.com
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! If you keep knocking on the door, eventually it should open. Well that door finally opened for Mountain View senior Thomas Porter on Saturday at the 30th Foot Locker Nationals Championships as the three-time qualifier shocked many including his fans back home in Virginia when he found himself running among the top 3 late into the race. Putting himself in great position, Porter held on and fought through the last hill and last mile to finish third overall with a time of 15:26. Porter's broke a six year drought of Foot Locker Finals without an All-American in the boys' race from Virginia and he also had the highest finish by a Virginian since Bobby Lockhart's runner-up finish in 2001.
Porter was not the only runner from the state to earn All-American honors with a surprise performance. Thomas Edison senior Leoule Degfae did an amazing job peaking for Foot Locker South to qualify for the national race when few expected him to. Degfae then made the most of his first and only opportunity at Foot Locker Nationals by becoming the 2nd Virginia to earn All-American in the 2008 finals with a 12th place finish of 15:46. Virginia was definitely well represented by two stellar races from the Northwest Region champ Porter and Northern Region champ Degfae.
Alex Ott (39th place) and Megan Marsico (38th) both struggled in San Diego against the 40 best high school runners in the nation, but Kyle Satterwhite of Western Albemarle put together a solid race to finish 20th in 15:55 as Virginia ended up having three of the top four finishers from the South Region.
Foot Locker Nationals Results: Boys - Girls
Video Interviews: Thomas Porter - Leoule Degfae - Megan Marsico