Massachusetts Trio Heading to San Diego for Footlocker Nationals

While a majority of Massachusetts's athletes and teams are gearing up for the first indoor meet of the season in little over a week, three Mass. natives are packing up their bags and heading west to San Diego. Ariel Keklak, Viraj Deokar, and Marcelo Rocha all punched their tickets two weekends ago at Van Cortland Park in New York and earned a spot on this year's starting line at the 2015 Footlocker National Championship. While this may be the first appearance on the national stage in regards to cross country for all three of these runners, each of them come from historic programs and families and should have no problem adjusting to the scene at the big dance.

 

Here is a quick fact sheet of your Massachusetts representatives at this year's Footlocker National Championship

 

Ariel Keklak

Lincoln-Sudbury

Class of 2016

        

Cross Country 2015:

14:28 @ Manhattan Invite 

17:25 @ Twilight Meet (1st)

17:34 @ EMASS Champs (2nd)

17:25 @ All-States (1st) 

17:52 @ Footlocker NE (7TH)

Personal Bests:

800 - 2:12

1000 -2:51

Mile - 4:49*

*National Outdoor Runner-Up

 

This fall, Keklak has certainly earned the title of being the top runner in the state of Massachusetts. She began her final cross country season with a fantastic 14:28 (4k) performance at Manhattan and never looked back. We saw big victories at Twilight and All-States, where she avenged herself from her runner-up finish a week before at EMass Champs. In the last weekend of November, Keklak excelled once again at VCP to take 7th in a very competitive Northeast Regional race. A great outing in San Diego for Keklak will be a finish in the Top 15.

 

Viraj Deokar

Middlesex School

Class of 2016

     

       

Cross Country 2015: 

15:46 @ ISL Championship (1st) 

15:55 @ NEPSTA DIII Championship (1st)

15:30 @ Footlocker NE (6TH)

  

Personal Bests:

Mile - 4:15

3000 - 8:25

2 Mile - 9:04

5,000 (Track) - 14:41


If you saw this year's Northeast Regional results and didn't know who was the MA runner that placed 6th and beat Marcelo Rocha, well you better study up. Based on PRs and recent performances, Viraj Deokar of the Middlesex School is probably the best runner in the state. Deokar has been tearing up the NEPSTA / ISL cross country scene these past two years and has also been excelling on the oval. Last spring, Deokar dropped a very impressive 8:25 3k at a New Balance Twilight Meet and then a few weeks later he would run 14:41 in the 5K at New Balance Outdoor Nationals to take 4th.  It's hard to compare Deokar to other National competitors, as he mostly competed in low-key private school meets. Though, we think a finish in the 10-15 range is not out of the picture.

 

Marcelo Rocha

Peabody

Class of 2017


     

Cross Country 2015:

15:36 @ Frank Kelley (1st)

15:32 @ Bay State (2nd Overall)

15:41 @ EMASS Champs (1st)

15:27 @ All-States (2nd)

15:35 @ Footlocker NE (10TH)

 

Personal Bests:

Mile - 4:24

2Mile - 9:25

 

There is no denying that junior, Marcelo Rocha made yet another very successful step in his HS career this fall. We saw big wins at Frank Kelley, EMass Champs, and Bay State, while he still performed at very high level and placed 2nd at All-States. After two straight weekends of high level racing, Rocha toed the line for the 3rd weekend in row at Footlocker Northeast and was eyeing his first trip to San Diego. Battling well inside the Top 10 for the whole race, Marcelo held on and finished 10th overall in 15:35. This makes Marcelo the 5th member of his family to compete at the Footlocker National Championship. Despite it being his first time at Balboa Park, Rocha will get plenty of tips from his family and we expect a finish between 15th-25th place. 

 

Race Details:

When: December 12th, 2015 

Where: Balboa Park - San Diego, CA

Girls Championship Race @ 12:15 PM (EST)

Boys Championship Race @ 1:00pm (EST)

Watch: 2015 Footlock National Championship Livestream

 

Best Performances (Top 10) by Massachusetts Boys at Footlocker Nationals

YEAR

NAME

SCHOOL

PLACE

1983

Barry Sirchis

Winchester

9th

1995

Jon Riley

Brookline

10th

1996

Abdirizak Mohamud

Boston English

1st

1996

Jon Riley

Brookline

9th

1997

Abdirizak Mohamud

Boston English

1st

2003

Victor Gras

Belmont

9th

2004

Chris Barnicle

Newton North

6th

 

 

Best Performances (Top 10) by Massachusetts Girls at Footlocker Nationals

YEAR

NAME

SCHOOL

PLACE

1982

Thayer Plante

Cambridge R&L

7th 

1990

Leanne Burke

Randolph

4th

1994

Mary Cobb

Pittsfield

3rd

1996

Erin Dromgoole

Millbury Memorial

10th

2000

Natasha Roetter

Lexington

4th

2001

Natasha Roetter

Lexington

3rd

2011

Catarina Rocha

Peabody

7th

2012

Catarina Rocha

Peabody

2nd