Foot Locker Nationals Preview

Chiara Dailey has won a Foot Locker West Regional title and been a two-time national finalist already in her high school cross country career, but the junior standout from La Jolla High in California has even greater ambitions when she returns to compete Saturday at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.

Dailey is not only looking to win the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego, but she is also hoping to become the first California female athlete to earn three consecutive All-America honors since Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep achieved the feat all four years from 2005-08.

Chiara Dailey (La Jolla HS, CA, 12/7/2024)

Dailey is among 10 California qualifiers – five athletes in each gender – as part of the 80 overall finalists racing the hilly 5-kilometer layout in San Diego, which has served as the location for the prestigious event since 2002.

The girls national championship is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. PST – headlined by 13 returning qualifiers, including last year’s winner Elizabeth Leachman of Boerne Champion High in Texas – with the boys race at 10 a.m., featuring nine competitors from last season’s final.

Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion HS, TX, 12/9/2023)

Leachman is the first returning girls champion with an opportunity to repeat since Sydney Masciarelli from Marianapolis Prep in Connecticut won the title in 2018 and followed with a seventh-place finish in 2019.

Claudia Lane of Malibu High, the last California female athlete to secure the title, is also the most recent back-to-back Foot Locker girls champion in 2016-17.

Dailey placed 14th in her first Foot Locker championship race in 2022, followed by an 11th-place performance last year.

Despite battling illness, Dailey finished second Dec. 7 at the Foot Locker West Regional at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, becoming the first female athlete from the region to advance to the national final three years in a row since Makena Morley of Bigfork High in Montana qualified all four seasons in 2011-14.

In addition to Hasay, who won Foot Locker national championships in 2005 and 2008, Kauren Tarver from Serrano was a recent three-time All-American representing California from 2005-07.

Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura received All-America recognition for the third time in her career Dec. 7, but her latest accomplishment was an 11th-place performance at Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon, after earning back-to-back honors in 2021 and 2022 competing in San Diego.

Trey Caldwell of Concord De La Salle has also made history by becoming the first California male athlete to advance to three consecutive national finals since Louie Quintana of Arroyo Grande High from 1988-90.

Bryan Dameworth was also a three-time finalist from Agoura High, achieving the feat in 1986, 1988 and 1989.

Dameworth and Quintana were responsible for producing back-to-back boys national titles for California in 1989 and 1990, one of three times in meet history that success has been showcased by the Golden State, including Oceanside El Camino’s A.J. Acosta in 2005 and Big Bear’s Chad Hall in 2006, as well as Camarillo’s Eric Reynolds in 1982 and San Mateo’s Matt Giusto in 1983.

Caldwell became the first male athlete from the West Region to qualify for the national championship three years in a row since Conner Mantz of Sky View High in Utah and John Dressel from Mt. Spokane High in Washington both advanced in 2012-14.

Tyler Daillak of Paso Robles High became the first competitor in school history to advance to the national final, winning the regional title at Mt. SAC in an inspiring comeback after not completing the California Division 2 state championship race Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Tyler Daillak (Paso Robles HS, CA, 12/7/2024)

Caldwell and Daillak are joined in the boys race Saturday by Southern Section Division 4 winner Max Douglass of Corona del Mar, the program’s first male athlete to reach the national championship, as well as California Division 1 state champion Conor Lott from Clovis North – the school’s first Foot Locker boys qualifier after Isaiah Galindo competed at NXN in 2019 – and Aydon Stefanopoulos of Los Gatos, who will make his debut in San Diego after advancing to participate at NXN last season.

Max Douglass (Corona del Mar HS, CA, 10/12/2024)

Conor Lott (#164, Clovis North, CA, 12/2/2023)

Aydon Stefanopoulos (Los Gatos HS, CA, 12/7/2024)

Los Gatos has also never produced a Foot Locker finalist before this year.

Senior Kade Brownell of Mt. Spokane is the only other returning national finalist among West Region male athletes, becoming the first Washington boys competitor to qualify in back-to-back years since Tibebu Proctor of The Northwest School in 2015-16.

Kade Brownell (Mt. Spokane HS, WA, 12/7/2024)

Yohanes Van Meerten, a sophomore at Flagstaff High, became the first Arizona boys qualifier to race in San Diego since 2009.

Yohanes Van Meerten (#144, Flagstaff HS, AZ) and Trey Caldwell (#101, Concord De La Salle HS, CA, 12/7/2024)

Corbin Coombs, a senior from Organ Mountain High, is the first New Mexico male athlete to advance to the Foot Locker national final since 2018. 

Dailey is scheduled to be joined by fellow San Diego Section standouts Jaelyn Williams of Chula Vista Eastlake and Ayanna Hickey from The Bishop’s School.

Williams, a junior, is making her third consecutive appearance in a national championship after racing the past two seasons at NXN, including All-America honors with a seventh-place performance last year.

Jaelyn Williams (Chula Vista Eastlake HS, CA, 12/7/2024)

Williams, the two-time San Diego Section Division 1 champion, is also the first Eastlake female athlete to compete in the Foot Locker national final since Patricia Miessner in 2017.

Hickey, the San Diego Section Division 5 winner, is the first competitor from The Bishop’s School to qualify for the national championship.

Erika Kirk of Vista Murrieta and Nicole Alfred from Rancho Cucamonga are also expected to represent California in Saturday’s girls race.

Erika Kirk (Vista Murrieta HS, CA, 12/7/2024)

Nicole Alfred (Rancho Cucamonga HS, CA, 11/23/2024)

Alfred is the first female competitor from Rancho Cucamonga to reach the national final and the first athlete from the school to participate since Darius Riley advanced to the boys championship in 2017.

Kirk is the only Vista Murrieta qualifier to advance to the Foot Locker national final.

In addition to Dailey, the only other female athlete from the West Region to return to the girls national championship is Eleanor Raker from Galena High in Nevada.

Raker became the first Nevada girls competitor to qualify in consecutive seasons since Mel Lawrence of Reno achieved the feat all four years in 2003-06.

Sadie Krueger, a freshman from Moanalua High, became the first female athlete from Hawaii to advance to the national championship since Victoria Chang of Punahou High won the title in 1999.

Ayanna Hickey (#51, The Bishop’s School, CA) and Sadie Krueger (#13, Moanalua HS, HI, 12/7/2024)

Krueger is only the third girls competitor from Hawaii in meet history to qualify for the national final.

Zariel Macchia from William Floyd High in New York and Tennessee standout Abby Faith Cheeseman of Webb School in Bell Buckle are both four-time girls finalists scheduled to compete Saturday, increasing the all-time list to 27 female athletes advancing to the Foot Locker national final all four seasons.

Only two girls competitors in meet history have been four-time All-Americans, with Macchia having an opportunity to join Lawrence in 2003-06 and Hasay in 2005-08 with another top-15 finish Saturday. 

Zariel Macchia (William Floyd HS, NY, 12/9/2023)

Abby Faith Cheeseman (Webb School, TN, 12/9/2023)

Cheeseman is the first female athlete from Tennessee to achieve the feat since Kathy Kroeger of Independence High in 2005-08, with Macchia becoming the third girls competitor from New York to advance all four seasons, joining Nicole (Blood) Freitag in 2002-05 and Shelby (Greany) Goose in 2005-08.

Macchia and Cheeseman, along with Leachman and Dailey, are among the five returning girls athletes to receive All-America honors last season, in addition to Jessica Jazwinski from Shelby High in Michigan.

Jessica Jazwinski (#34, Shelby HS, MI, 12/9/2023)

Another Michigan athlete, Victoria Garces from Midland Dow, was second Dec. 7 at NXN – ahead of third-place Leachman – and could challenge for the individual title Saturday following a 20th-place performance last year.

Victoria Garces (Midland Dow HS, MI, 12/9/2023)

Tamrat Gavenas of Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts, Benji Anderson from Mountain Vista High in Colorado and Juan Gonzalez of Fremont High in Nebraska are the only three returning boys All-Americans from season.

Tamrat Gavenas (Phillips Academy, MA, 12/9/2023)

Benji Anderson (Mountain Vista HS, CO, 12/9/2023)

Juan Gonzalez (Fremont HS, NE, 12/9/2023)

By Erik Boal