The Ches King

For the first time this year, Edward Cheserek — the junior from St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J. — didn't break a course record, but he did enough to claim a national crown, beating Indianapolis' Futsum Zeinasellassie in a final charge down the homestretch at the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego's Balboa Park.

C.J. Albertson of Buchanan, Calif., had taken the lead early — gapping the field by as much as 30-40 meters before Cheserek, Zeinasellassie and fellow Californian Darren Fahy grouped up to run him down.

Cheserek and Zeinasellassie dropped Fahy and ran side-by-side through most of the race after taking control on an uphill about a mile in. Soon it was a two-man race as the standout national field simply could not keep pace.

It came down to the final few hundred meters as Cheserek took control entering the final chute. "When we came down the second hill," he said. "I knew I was going to make it."

In the end Cheserek finished in 14:51.5, less than a second ahead of Zeinasellassie, but about 15 seconds behind Reuben Reina's 1985 course record. Cheserek had broken the course record at his seven previous meets.

He and Zeinasellassie were nearly 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, which included Philadelphia's Dustin Wilson in 13th (15:29.4), New Jersey's Tim Ball in 16th (15:32.7) and New York's Daniel Lennon in 21st (15:43.7). [Here is a great piece from ESPN Rise's Doug Binder about the bond established by the frontrunners.]

On the girls' side, it was Molly Seidel of Hartland, Wis., out-kicking early leader Erin Finn of West Bloomfield, Mich., in the final moments. Afterward, Finn explained her early quick pace, where she opened a wide gap and stretched the field, by saying, "Everyone went out too slow."

Before long, Seidel was the only other runner in contention and she caught and passed Finn twice, the final time with 250 meters to go. "Erin went out like a rocket," Seidel said afterward. "I had to dig deeper than I ever dug."

Third place went to a New Yorker — West Genesee High sophomore Laura Leff — who finished in 17:33.9, 12 seconds after Seidel. Leff has often been overlooked in her home state with team powers like Saratoga Springs, Fayetteville-Manlius and North Shore and star runners like Jillian Fanning and Mary Cain. But Leff has proven all season long she can run with some of the best in the country.

Benjamin Cardozo's Alexis Panisse, the first PSAL runner at Foot Locker in 25 years, was 30th in 18:19.2. Panisse, who improved over a minute in the last year, gave the public schools of NYC a reason to keep watching cross country after Thanksgiving.