Beavercreek’s Ewert 3rd in Nike Nationals; Foot Locker finals next

Beavercreek High School junior Taylor Ewert is among the favorites who will race in Saturday’s 40th annual Foot Locker Cross Country Championship National Finals at San Diego. The race will begin at noon (EST) and will be shown live at http://footlockercc.com/.

The 5,000-meter (3.1 miles) event will be held at Morley Field in Balboa Park and will feature 40 girls and 40 boys runners, all who qualified from four regional meets. Ewert placed second (18:08.9) in the Midwest regional at Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Nov. 24.

»» RELATED: Ewert leads Beavercreek to girls D-I state title

Last Saturday, Ewert placed third (17:06.7) in the Nike Cross Nationals at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon. That event drew the top individuals and club qualifiers from eight other regional-qualifying races.

Ewert qualified for that race by also placing third (17:33.7) with team Creek Elite in the Nike Midwest regional at Terre Haute, Indiana, on Nov. 11.

»» RELATED: It’s a record for Ewert

Just the day before, on Nov. 10, Ewert led Beavercreek to the 41st Ohio high school girls Division I state team title by placing first (17:38.7) in the week-delayed state championships at National Trail Raceway in Hebron. That snapped runner-up Centerville’s three-season run as the girls D-I state champs.

»» RELATED: Ewert gets spotlight in Saturday Night Lights

Beavercreek also won a D-I girls state cross country team title in 1996, featuring twins Kara and Tara Storage.

Ewert also is a record-setting national age-group race walker. She set an American Junior record in the 5K race walk (22:38.16) last spring at The Penn Relays and owns the high school national record in the girls indoor mile (6:45.68).

USA Track & Field named Ewert its Youth Athlete of the Year last month. She has not verbally committed to college.

»» FACEBOOK: For more sports you should like Marc Pendleton

Her older brother, Ben Ewert, is a sophomore on the Louisville men’s cross country and track and field teams. He also was a standout middle distance runner at Beavercreek.

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