Steven "Double" Cross finishes 31st at Foot Locker Nationals

by Ka'Deem Wynn

SAN DIEGO, CA. ─ Two-time Foot Locker Finalist Steven Cross finished his high school cross country season earlier this morning at the meet of all meets. The Florida State commit has been here before, knew what to expect, and looked to improve upon his finish last year, where he finished 29th in 16:12.

However, Cross moved back a few spots, as he finished 31st overall in today’s championship race. Despite that, he ran 17 seconds faster on this course than he did a year ago, just pulling ahead of Joshua Jacques, the only other runner from Florida to qualify, running 15:55.90.

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“I’m really glad that Josh could come out here with me,” Cross said yesterday. “My coaches are out here, my whole family is out here.”

Cross says that he did something new to help prep himself: he’s been doing weight training throughout the whole season. He says that he feels that it’s been helping him and has gotten him stronger. Cross was the 3A State Cross Country this year, and finished second in the 3,200 meters last spring, and third in the 1,600 meters.  He looks to have a few more state titles under his belt and aims to go sub 9.

However, Cross experienced a bit of a hiccup at the Foot Locker South region. It’s still unsure of what exactly happened to him, as it certainly didn’t look like the Steven Cross that we’re used to seeing, but he may have experienced a bit of an iron deficiency. After the South Regional, he said that is was the hardest race he’d ever ran. It’s a possibility that his body simply just needs time to rest and is burned out, and he’ll certainly get that now that the season is over.

Whatever the case may be, Cross wanted to come out today and leave everything on the course, which he did, despite how he felt throughout the race. Nothing is better than than having the heart of a champion. It’s something that can’t be trained. It’s natural.

With being here before, he said that some of the he was sort of used to, but it was still amazing to meet former Finalists like Alan Webb and Meb Keflezighi, and that the overall experience at Foot Locker was still something special, and something that will stick with him as he prepares to continue his career as a ‘Nole.