Liliah Gordon will try to become the 5th South Jersey girl to make multiple trips to Foot Locker Nationals when she races at Northeast Regionals this weekend in Boston.
Gordon, a resident of Chesterfield Township and a senior at Northern Burlington, placed 7th at Northeast Regionals last year, earning a spot at Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego.
The only South Jersey girls to qualify for Nationals twice are Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City, Chelsea Lea of Kingsway and Alyssa Aldridge of Mainland Regional.
Sedberry placed 2nd in 2003 and 10th in 2004, Ley was 10th in 2007, 5th in 2008 and 3rd in 2009, Gess placed 5th in both 2013 and 2015 and Aldridge was 6th in 2015 and 1st in 2016.
The combination of Northeast Regionals moving from its long-time home at VanCortlandt Park in the Bronx to Franklin Park in Boston and Nike Cross Regionals growing each year means Foot Locker has taken a significant hit among South Jersey runners. And this year Gordon is the only South Jersey runner who’ll line up in either the championship boys or girls race. It has to be the first time in history – and Foot Locker dates back to 1979 – that no South Jersey boys will compete.
Gordon has had a tremendous senior cross country season, capped by her 3rd straight state Group 3 title and 4th straight Meet of Champions top-8 finish with a lifetime-best 2nd place.
The girls championship race is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday over 5,000 meters at Franklin Park. The top 10 finishers will qualify for Foot Locker Nationals at Balboa Park in San Diego on Dec. 14.
Gordon last year became South Jersey’s first Foot Locker Nationals qualifier since Aldridge in 2016.
You can find the full list of competitors in Boston here, although there’s no way of knowing who’s competing in which of nine different races throughout the day. It’s just a list of names.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 