SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, December 13 — At first glance, the results of the first Brooks XC Championship bear an eerie similarity to the NXN race two weeks earlier. The top three runners finished in the same order. And the winning margin by Michigan soph Natasza Dudek was the same 1.6 seconds over New Jersey junior Blair Bartlett.
Yet the battle on the fabled Balboa Park course played out quite differently, perhaps because of the different contours of the course, showcasing other aspects of Dudek’s lethal racing skills.
On a foggy morning, Bartlett (Lawrenceville) shot to the lead early with Dudek (Pioneer, Ann Arbor) at her shoulder. Neither had run the course before. Bartlett was a tennis player last year; Dudek only attempted the Nike circuit last fall and didn’t advance after an 8th at her regional. Both had undefeated seasons until Dudek triumphed in Portland. Another advantage Dudek brought was advice from her older sister Zofia, who captured the 2019 Foot Locker title in the fastest time of the last two decades.
Dudek and Bartlett hit the mile side-by-side in 5:16.2, two strides ahead of Michigander Emma Hoffman (Otsego), with Jaelyn Williams, the NXN 3rd-placer from California (Eastlake, Chula Vista), in 4th. A half mile later, it was still Dudek and Bartlett in front, with Williams in 3rd and the rest of the field losing ground.
The anticipation that the race would be broken open when the leaders attacked the course-defining hill for the second time proved accurate. Dudek led past 2 miles in 10:56.0, with Bartlett at 10:56.2 and Williams moving closer with her 10:56.7. As she did at NXN, Williams put on a last-mile burst, taking the lead just before 2.5M. This time, she was unable to build a gap on her rivals, and when they reached the base of the hill, Dudek struck.
She later said, “I do a lot of hills back home, so I could try to use that to my advantage.” By the time she reached the crest, she had nearly 10 meters on Bartlett, with Williams well back. The downhill would prove to be another story. “I knew that Blair’s downhill is a bit better than mine. I was kind of all over the place coming down, but I knew that she was still there. I wanted to use that to really get it all out of me.”
Bartlett charged hard and pulled even with less than 300 left. Dudek, running scared, dug deep and sprinted hard, making it to the tape with an 8m margin in 16:55.5. Bartlett clocked 16:57.1 and Williams scored another 3rd in 17:17.2. Sophia Szolosi (Athens, The Plains, Ohio), who had not run NXN this year, grabbed 4th in 17:19.2, with 5th going to Abigail Hennessy (Westford, Massachusetts) in 17:21.8. The team race went to the Midwest, with a 34–37 decision over the Northeast.
Said Bartlett, “I came into this race hoping to execute my plan, and I’m pretty happy with how I did that.”
For Dudek, to achieve the win meant putting forth a total effort: “I feel like I had to use every single part of that course. I wasn’t completely sure if I was going to stay in the lead after that hill, but I just knew that it’s one of my stronger points that I had to use it.”
In the 20 seasons that Brooks (née Foot Locker) and Nike have battled for national championships primacy, Dudek is the first to win both crowns.
The Dudek sisters are the first siblings to each win national cross country titles. Natasza revealed the advice that Zofia gave her before the race: “She knew that everyone was going to be talking about the hill, so she just told me never to give up on myself and really just work hard all of the way and just squeeze everything you got in the last couple hundred meters.”
BROOKS GIRLS RESULTS
Teams: 1. Midwest 34; 2. Northeast 37; 3. West 70; 4. South 78.
Individuals (5K): 1. Natasza Dudek (MW) 16:55.5; 2. Blair Bartlett (NE) 16:57.1; 3. Jaelyn Williams (W) 17:17.2; 4. Sophia Szolosi (MW) 17:19.2; 5. Abigail Hennessy (NE) 17:21.8; 6. Maddie Gullickson (MW) 17:24.7; 7. Leah Starkey (NE) 17:25.0; 8. Lily Alder (W) 17:31.7; 9. Averi Lowen (S) 17:35.4; 10. Virginia Kraus (NE) 17:36.5;
11. Emma Hoffman (MW) 17:38.1; 12. Elena Aldrink (MW) 17:44.3; 13. Paige Sheppard (NE) 17:45.0; 14. Jazzlyn Garmer (S) 17:46.0; 15. Madeline Dorsch (S) 17:53.5; 16. Libby Dowty (MW) 17:56.8; 17. Gianna Rahmer (W) 18:00.7; 18. Braelyn Combe (W) 18:00.9; 19. Madison Muller (S) 18:01.2; 20. Amelia Avila (NE) 18:01.6;
21. Maysen Fletcher (S) 18:01.9; 22. Calysta Garmer (S) 18:02.1; 23. Daphne Weller (MW) 18:05.5; 24. Annabel Pollert (MW) 18:06.5; 25. Carmen Dorsey-Spitz (W) 18:09.4; 26. Molly Domurat (NE) 18:12.4; 27. Chiara Dailey (W) 18:14.8; 28. Payton Meineke (MW) 18:15.3; 29. Lilly Beshears (S) 18:15.7; 30. Chase Gilbert (NE) 18:16.1;
31. Sadie Krueger (W) 18:20.2; 32. Sofi Alexander (S) 18:22.2; 33. Elliana Patterson (W) 18:22.7; 34. Avery Barton (W) 18:26.7; 35. Tatum Flach (W) 18:27.9; 36. Kasey Dingman (S) 18:32.8; 37. Allison Lee (NE) 18:33.1; 38. Alexis Paterna (NE) 18:34.3; 39. Julia Score (MW) 18:38.1; 40. Carol Dye (W) 18:42.1;
41. Farah Allen (W) 18:42.2; 42. Emilia Garces (MW) 18:42.3; 43. Kaitlyn Estep (S) 18:48.8; 44. Lexie Cole (NE) 18:54.3; 45. Ana Bondy (NE) 19:00.5; 46. Giselle Fernandez (W) 19:02.7; 47. Bridget Smit (W) 19:21.9.
