Zariel Macchia Secures Her Fourth Trip To San Diego; Connecticut Qualifies Four Girls; Top Nationals Returner Tamrat Gavenas Second To Graffeo

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

PHOTOS by John Nepolitan | INTERVIEWS

Virginia Kraus led from gun to tape to win the Foot Locker Northeast Regional race on Saturday in 17:35, beating defending champion Zariel Macchia.

Kraus, a junior from Bethlehem, Pa., has enjoyed a nearly undefeated season so far, with her only blemish coming from a runner-up finish at the Paul Short Run on Oct. 4. She finished fifth at last year’s Northeast Regional, but she did not race at Foot Locker Nationals, so if she races this year, it will be her first national high school cross country meet.

Macchia, a senior from Shirley, N.Y. and one of the most accomplished high school runners of all time in the state, took second in 17:40. She is the third New Yorker to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals three times, joining Nicole Blood (2002-05) and Shelby Greany (2005-08). 

Last week, Macchia won the NXR New York Regional, so while this will be her fourth year running at Foot Locker Nationals, it will be her first year attempting the NXN and Foot Locker double. However, it is not her first time attempting two national races; in 2022, she took second at the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships and sixth at Foot Locker Nationals (then known as Champs National Cross Country Championships).

A trio of Connecticut runners took third through fifth. Brooke Strauss (Glastonbury), the New England champion, was third in 17:42, followed by Liv Sherry (West Hartford) in 17:50 and Chase Gilbert (Old Lyme) in 17:57.

Following the Connecticut trio was a New Jersey duo, led by Allison Lee (Princeton Junction) in sixth. Lee, who was third at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on Nov. 16, had never qualified for a national high school cross country meet before this race.

Seventh went to Liliah Gordon (Chesterfield), who beat Lee at the Meet of Champions. Gordon has more experience on the national stage; she joins Kraus and Macchia as repeat qualifiers.

Dylan McElhinney, a senior from New York City, finished eighth. Last year, she just missed qualifying for nationals, and this fall, she did not compete in her high school season. She competed for the U.S. last summer at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru.

Rounding out the top 10 were Lillian DiCola (Horsham, Pa.), the Pennsylvania 3A champion, in ninth, and Tess Sherry (West Hartford, Conn.).

Liv and Tess Sherry are the younger sisters of Gavin Sherry, who finished third at the national finals in 2021.

Jack Graffeo, a senior and Colorado commit from Westford, Mass., ran away with the boys race, pulling away in the last mile to win in 15:00. Graffeo and fellow seniors Tamrat Gavenas (Andover, Mass.) and Soheib Dissa (Newtown, Conn.) were in a pack at the 2-mile mark, coming through in around 9:45, but Graffeo won by 16 seconds.

Gavenas, who finished fourth in last year’s race, took second in 15:16, while Dissa, the New England champion, took third in 15:24. Graffeo, Gavenas and Dissa are the only repeat qualifiers for Foot Locker Nationals.

Matthew Giardina, a senior from Tyngsboro, Mass. who attends high school in New Hampshire, took fourth in 15:27. Giardina was seventh at NXR Northeast last week and qualified for NXN, so he will be racing at both national meets in the next two weeks. He was the only double qualifier from the Northeast NXR region, but Van Furman, who finished sixth today, qualified from the New York region last week.

Matt Gosling was both the top junior and the top finisher from Pennsylvania, taking fifth overall in 15:29. Gosling was a bit off the radar – he only finished sixth at the Pennsylvania state meet on Nov. 2 – but he continued a recent trend of runners from the Keystone State having their best performances in the postseason.

Rounding out the top 10 were junior Nathan Lee (Greenwich, Conn.) in seventh, senior Vinay Raman (Hummelstown, Pa.) in eighth, sophomore Rowan Carr (Media, Pa.) in ninth, and junior Silas Gartner (East Falmouth, Mass.).

The Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships are on Saturday, Dec. 14, at Balboa Park in San Diego.