SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, December 13 — It would have been easy for Jackson Spencer to get a little panicky at the mile mark of the Brooks XC Championship Saturday, sitting in 20th place and seemingly further back in the pack than the splits would suggest.
Ditto for the final 50 meters being dicey, too, as the Herriman (Utah) senior had rallied and seemingly already made the winning move only to nearly get overtaken by Marcelo Mantecon’s wild final surge.
But Spencer didn’t win prep championships in back-to-back weeks by not being able to handle adversity and unexpected situations. Overcoming a shaky start and a bracing challenge at the finish, he joined Lukas Verzbicas (2010) as the only boy to claim both dueling national XC titles since Nike Cross Nationals launched in 2004, holding off the Floridian, 15:10.7 to 15:10.9.
When Foot Locker retired its nationals after 45 years, Brooks swept in and retained most of the structure, from the four regional qualifiers to the finale in San Diego’s harrier mecca. But the shoe company also added the Golden Ticket invitations they’ve utilized in their post-season track meet, giving 10 of the nation’s best a chance to come straight to California. Spencer and Mantecon were two of the recipients.
Coming into the race, Spencer had designs not only on matching Verzbicas’ achievement, but also the seemingly unassailable Balboa Park CR of 14:36 set by Reuben Reina 40 years ago.
However, when the throng of runners passed the mile mark, with Mantecon (Belen Jesuit, Miami, Florida) leading with a modest 4:48.8, the NXN champ found 19 runners between himself and the front (though at 4:50.8, he was just 2 seconds back).
While Spencer has already proven himself a savvy tactician, this was not what he had in mind. “I wanted to be the one to take it out, but then I got a horrible start,” he said. “I started halfway down in the field, maybe worse.”
While Spencer was contemplating threading his way through the pack, Mantecon was surging on his first trip up the hill on Morley Field, then using his strong downhill chops to build a 2–3-second lead that would endure for more than a mile.
A chase pack developed that broke away from the rest of the 50-runner field that included eventual 3-4-5 finishers Caden Leonard (Carroll, Southlake, Texas), Yohanes Van Meerten (Flagstaff, Arizona) and Sean Fries (Minnetonka, Minnesota). Spencer focused first on closing in on that group, ascending to 8th at the halfway mark. Then by 2M, which Mantecon reached in 9:50.5, Spencer had joined and edged ahead of the chasers at 9:53.8.
There they stayed for another half mile, but Spencer dug deep on the final trip up the hill and ate up the distance between himself and Mantecon, pulling Fries along with him. But past the crest, the Utahan took the lead for good.
“I had to wait it out, be patient… Marcelo made a move before I could get to the front of the race to match it,” Spencer reflected. “I felt like if I was able to put myself in a good position with 800 to go, I could probably get it — maybe even 400 to go. And yeah, Marcelo, he’s a freaking crazy athlete, so he definitely gave me a battle for it.”
The Floridian not only refused to let Spencer gap him by more than a few ticks, but he used the downhill momentum he generated to pull back up on the leader with less than 400 left and passed him back.
Spencer responded quickly, however, building his lead again into the final 200 — only to have the junior unleash one final kick in the last 50 that fell just short.
Their battle gapped the rest of the field significantly. Leonard duplicated his NXN finish in 3rd (15:18.4) and NXN runner-up Van Meerten outsprinted Fries for 4th, 15:21.2 to 15:21.6.
“Once Jackson takes the lead it’s pretty much over, but it wasn’t today,” said his Herriman coach, Doug Soles. “Marcelo kicked like crazy.”
BROOKS XC BOYS RESULTS
Teams: 1. South 34; 2. Midwest 45; 3. West 49; 4. Northeast 102.
Individuals (5K): 1. Jackson Spencer (W) 15:10.7; 2. Marcelo Mantecon (S) 15:10.9; 3. Caden Leonard (S) 15:18.4; 4. Yohanes Van Meerten (W) 15:21.2; 5. Sean Fries (MW) 15:21.6; 6. Paul Van Laningham (S) 15:27.2; 7. Conor Lott (W) 15:30.3; 8. Calvin Seltz (MW) 15:33.4; 9. Rocco Culpepper (MW) 15:35.7; 10. Kavi Gibson (S) 15:36.8;
11. Wyatt Dann (MW) 15:38.1; 12. Lucas Tanner (MW) 15:42.3; 13. Brian Burns (S) 15:44.1; 14. Nicholas Mazzeo (NE) 15:44.6; 15. Evan Spreitzer (S) 15:45.5; 16. Blake Bay (W) 15:46.4; 17. Nathan Lee (NE) 15:47.2; 18. Jaden Merrick (MW) 15:50.8; 19. Ethan Garza (S) 15:54.1; 20. Mikah Peters (MW) 15:56.4;
21. Zarian Rodriguez (W) 15:58.0; 22. Cadel Ruthven (MW) 16:00.8; 23. Aiden Le Roux (MW) 16:04.7; 24. Benjamin Berman (NE) 16:05.9; 25. Andres Lomeli (W) 16:07.0; 26. Travis Furmanski (NE) 16:07.6; 27. Noah Strohman (S) 16:08.9; 28. Samuel Laverdiere (NE) 16:09.4; 29. Gabriel Voelker (MW) 16:09.8; 30. Symond Martin (W) 16:11.7;
31. George Lawson (S) 16:12.4; 32. Tycen LaBelle (NE) 16:12.9; 33. Myles Jermyn (S) 16:13.4; 34. Caden Bybee (W) 16:13.8; 35. Malachi Burnett (S) 16:14.9; 36. Sam Leone (NE) 16:16.7; 37. Colton Cranney (W) 16:17.2; 38. Josiah Bowman (W) 16:18.6; 39. Kamari Ronfeldt (MW) 16:21.9; 40. Charlie Palmore (NE) 16:23.0;
41. Falcon Jones (W) 16:23.8; 42. Michael Fritz (NE) 16:27.2; 43. Noah Bontrager (MW) 16:29.6; 44. Lucas Wik (MW) 16:37.1; 45. Alex Roberts (MW) 16:38.9; 46. Teddy Hojlo (NE) 16:41.8; 47. Braulio Castillo (W) 16:48.0; 48. Preston Sangely (S) 16:50.8; 49. Ryder Strohman (S) 16:51.0;… dnf—Edward Stout (W).
