Pictured, Liliah Gordon and Peyton Shute competing at Foot Locker Northeast
Liliah Gordon of Northern Burlington and Peyton Shute of Gateway Woodbury took the trip to San Diego, CA for the Foot Locker National Championships on Saturday.
The girls race was first up and Liliah Gordon ran to a 33rd place finish with a time of 18:50. The junior opened the first mile with a 5:37 in 35th before moving up to 33rd ahead of the two mile mark where she split 11:54.
The national title was won by Elizabeth Leachman of Boerne Champion HS (TX) clocked at 16:51, the Foot Locker South Regional champ. Leachman had placed 15th just the week before during NXN.
Gordon had qualified for Nationals placing seventh in the Northeast Regional on November 25th.
This concluded a very solid junior cross country campaign for Gordon who repeated as the Burlington County champion, Central Group 3 Sectional champ, and Group 3 state champion. Gordon closed her state meet series with a fifth place run during the NJISAA Meet of Champions.
Peyton Shute finished 32nd clocking 16:04, he opened up the mile split in 36th with a 4:52, crossed the two mile mark in 31st splitting 10:09.
The national title was won by Drew Griffith (PA) with a 15:07 and another Pennsylvania athlete Ryan Pajak finished second at 15:13.
Shute had stamped his ticket to Nationals running fifth in the Northeast Regional.
The Cornell University committed senior repeated as the South Group 3 Sectional winner this season and won the Group 3 State Championship before a second place run during the NJSIAA Meet of Champions to close out his state season.
Team Northeast
Foot Locker scores each region as their own team during the National Championship.
The Northeast girls finished third of the four regions with a score of 76 points. They were led by Ruth White sixth 17:44, Zariel Macchia 10th 17:50, and Elli Shea 14th 17:57.
The Northeast boys finished second on a tiebreaker to the South Regional both scoring 38 points. They were led by a 1-2-3 finished headlines by Drew Griffith 15:07, Ryan Pajak 15:13, and Tamrat Gavenas 15:17.
Girls Top 10 Finishers
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | MARK | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Elizabeth Leachman | 10 | Boerne Champion | 16:50.70 | |
| 2 |  Allie Zealand | 12 | Pacers Homeschool | 17:04.50 | |
| 3 |  Rachel Forsyth | 12 | Ann Arbor Pioneer | 17:08.30 | |
| 4 |  Mary Bonner Dalton | 12 | Myers Park | 17:28.10 | |
| 5 |  Addison Knoblauch | 12 | Homestead High School | 17:43.00 | |
| 6 |  Ruth White | 12 | Orono High School | 17:43.10 | |
| 7 |  Jaynie Halterman | 12 | Independence High School | 17:43.40 | |
| 8 |  Samantha Humphries | 12 | Flower Mound | 17:44.50 | |
| 9 |  Jessica Jazwinski | 11 | Hart | 17:45.90 | |
| 10 |  Zariel Macchia | 11 | William Floyd | 17:49.30 |
Boys Top 10 Finishers
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | MARK | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Drew Griffith | 12 | Butler | 15:06.90 | |
| 2 |  Ryan Pajak | 12 | Ringgold | 15:12.10 | |
| 3 |  Tamrat (Tam) Gavenas | 11 | Phillips Academy Andover | 15:16.60 | |
| 4 |  Berkley Nance | 12 | Mills Godwin | 15:17.50 | |
| 5 |  Brayden Marshall | 12 | Winfield | 15:18.40 | |
| 6 |  Ty Steorts | 11 | Hurricane | 15:21.20 | |
| 7 |  Paul Bergeron | 12 | Westford Academy | 15:25.30 | |
| 8 |  Cameron Todd | 12 | Brebeuf Jesuit Prep School | 15:30.00 | |
| 9 |  Benjamin Anderson | 11 | Mountain Vista High School | 15:32.10 | |
| 10 |  Juan Gonzalez | 11 | Fremont High School | 15:32.40 |