On the fast track to success

By Pete Jackel

Thursday, November 27, 2003 10:55 PM CST

BY PETER JACKEL Journal Times As usual, race director Pete Henkes of Racine will have a healthy contingent of experienced officials on hand for Saturday's 2003 Foot Locker Midwest Regional Cross Country Championships.

As usual, he'll have the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course at UW-Parkside impeccably set up for the six races, which start at 10 a.m.

As usual, he'll have press information, coffee and doughnuts for race volunteers and trophies for the awards ceremony Saturday afternoon.

Oh, there's one more thing: Henkes just might have a lawn mower on hand.

In all seriousness, during a time of the year when we all start coming to terms with shoveling snow for the first time of the season around these parts, Henkes actually considered mowing the expanses of grass on Parkside's course earlier this week. The condition of the course was that exceptional.

And what that means is this: Barring rain, there could be the largest number of quality times registered since this event was first held at Parkside in 1984.

"The course is in extremely good shape for this time of year,'' Henkes said. "Now granted, if it gets too warm, it could maybe get sloppy because we did have rain. However, if it stays firm, I don't foresee course records, quite frankly, but I think you could see the biggest group fast mass finish in the history of the race on both the boys' and girls' side.

"I think you're going to see a lot of kids running fast. You're going to maybe see eight boys pop into the top 15 times in the history of the meet. I'd be surprised if there was a course record, quite frankly, but you never know. You're going to see some real strategic races and just a wrong decision could make a big difference on a lot of these kids' parts.

"The kid who finishes 16th, if he would have woke up on the other side of the bed or ran a little smarter, might have finished fourth. That's how deep the field is.'' The marquee events of the meet will be the girls' and boys' seeded five-kilometer races, which have respective start times of 10:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The top eight boys and the top eight girls in those races will advance to the Foot Locker National Championships Saturday, Dec. 13 at San Diego.

A total of nearly 2,500 runners representing 13 states will compete in the six scheduled races. Also scheduled Saturday is a freshman/sophomore boys' race at 10 a.m., a freshman/sophomore girls' race at 12:15 p.m., a junior/senior boys' race at 1 p.m., and the Nike Open - which features junior high, open and masters (40 and older) male and female divisions - at 1:45 p.m.

Six of the top 20 finishers in last year's boys' race are expected to compete, which will be headed by Garrett Heath of Winona, Minn. Heath finished fourth with a time of 15:31 last year and went on to place sixth in the Foot Locker nationals.

"He is the top potential returnee at Foot Locker nationals,'' Henkes said.

Another strong contender is Ryan Deak of Aurora, Colo., who won the South Regional last year as a Florida high school junior and placed 12th nationally.

Eight of the top 10 girls' finishers return, led by Michigan Upper Peninsula Division 2 champion Amber Smith of Ishpeming. Smith finished second at the Midwest Regional last year with a time of 18:10 and placed fifth nationally.

Beyond that are too many quality runners to mention.

"I would say at the front end of the four regionals, there's always superstars in each of them,'' Henkes said. "However, I think we are, by far, the deepest here. I think the Midwest is the hotbed of cross country. The Big Ten is one of the top cross country conferences in the country.

"I think an indication of that is how many college coaches are here versus going to the nationals, even. I mean, there will probably be 40 or 50 D-I coaches watching the races here this week.'' There will also be some Racine County athletes competing. Henkes feels the top local runner in the boys' race will be Josh Van Winkle, a senior at Horlick, while the top female runner will be Sara Schumacher, a senior at Park.

While Van Winkle and Schumacher won't be serious contenders for a trip to San Diego, Henkes feels they represent what the Midwest Regional is all about.

"We really take pride in this meet in that five percent of the kids who come have a shot at qualifying for nationals,'' Henkes said. "And for 95 percent, this is the end of the season for them and we're really proud that we get so many kids who travel so far who have no chance of qualifying.

"They just come to participate and we think we put on a great weekend. Just to see the smiles on their faces and hear them say, `Wow, this is great!' ... They love the Marriott in Racine, they love the UW-Parkside course and I think it's a gem for the two communities.'' The financial impact of this event, Henkes feels, is wide-ranging.

"Financial impact isn't my forte, per se, but we virtually fill all the hotels in Racine and Kenosha for all practical purposes,'' Henkes said. "And the people in malls see all these different letter jackets. A lot of the shoppers are from out of state.

"You've got mom and little sister and dad traveling with their athlete and they spend a lot of money in our stores and in our restaurants. So it's huge, especially at this time of year.''

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