Elizabeth Leachman and Tamrat Gavenas Capture First-Place Titles at the 45th Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals Presented by HOKA®    

The longest-running high school cross-country championships in the country, the 45th FootLocker Cross Country Championships, presented by HOKA, has now completed its 45th year.

The FootLocker was established in 1979 as the Kinney Cross Country Championships. In this 45th year, the FootLocker XC has given generations of American distance runners, from Bob Kennedy and Suzy Favor Hamilton to Julia Stamps and Grant Fisher, from Meb Keflezighi to Jordan Hasay and Molly Seidel. 

This is the release of the 2024 FootLocker XC Champs, which were held in near-perfect conditions at Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Runnerspace provided the streaming coverage, which was provided for free, thanks to the sponsorship of HOKA, which has been presenting sponsor for two years now of this iconic event. 

Elizabeth Leachman and Tamrat Gavenas Capture First-Place Titles at the 45th Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals Presented by HOKA®    

SAN DIEGO, CA (Dec. 14, 2024) — Elizabeth Leachman of San Antonio, TX, and Tamrat Gavenas of Andover, MA, captured first-place titles at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals Presented by HOKA® today. The prestigious event is the longest running high school cross-country championship in the nation, now celebrating an unprecedented 45^th year. Racecourse conditions at historic Morley Field at Balboa Park in San Diego were ideal with mostly firm terrain, sunshine and temperatures reaching 58 degrees.

In the girls’ 5K race, Leachman took the lead shortly before the two-mile mark and pulled away to a comfortable margin of victory, winning in a time of 17:31.1. With the win, Leachman became a back-to-back national champion and the seventh girl finalist to win two Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in the 45- year history of the event. She is also the first athlete from the state of Texas ever to repeat as champion. In the boys’ 5K race, Gavenas, a three-time Foot Locker National finalist, broke away from his remaining challengers on the last major uphill climb to go on to claim victory in 15.23.9. He is also the first three-time national qualifier from the state of Massachusetts.

The National Championship Course at Morley Field at Balboa Park is a 1.5-mile loop run twice that covers 5,000 meters with a steep incline featured just after the mile and 2.5-mile marks. Some twists, turns and varied…