Coach Gower\'s Final Blog from Footlocker Nationals

Saturday December 9, 2006

Atmosphere is great. Local running fans, families of the runners, and more college
coaches than you could shake a scholarship at. Weather is near perfect, high 50\'s
low 60\'s and clear.

Girls Race:

Early leads by Midwest girls and Mel, but Kroeger and Scott controlled the race.
Kroeger takes the lead for good with just over 1/2 mile to go. Hasay was in third
about 15 yards back, but fell way off the pace. Great job by the South girls as
they finish 2nd as a team and go 1 - 2 at the front.

Boys Race:

Slow first mile, Tebo leads with Ben and Girma in safe position through the first
half-loop. Hall and Tommy G. move to the front with Forys after the 1/2 mile mark.
Ben and Girma continue to stay right in the mix. At the end of the 1st loop, Ben
has moved even with Hall for the lead. Huge pack as the pace wasn\'t extremely fast.
9:52 for the 2 mile and Hall makes his move. Opens up the race. Girma stays in
the top 5 until the top of the hill while Ben is just behind in the next pack. Up
front Hall and Murdock are dueling while Mead and Forys are hanging in. 400m to go
Hall and Murdock are shoulder to shoulder when Hall pulls away at the 3 mile mark.
Forys finishes strong in second with Murdock third. Girma is nipped at the line
finishing 9th with Ben outkicking one but outkicked by another to finish 11th.

After the race, Ben is dead tired. He made it a race and tried to give himself a
chance, but Hall was too strong. As Ben\'s coach for the last 4 years, I am so proud
of his entire career and the guts to go after it today. He himself says he is happy
that his legs are dead, he knows he gave it everything he had and wouldn\'t have
raced it any differently.

Congrats to Girma! Congrats to Ben! Thanks for a great season. Thanks for proving
kids from Georgia can run with the best in the nation. See you in a few months on
the track!