Franklin's Fons earns national cross country berth

Franklin - Franklin's two-time WIAA state champion cross country runner Allie Fons qualified for the Foot Locker Cross Country National Finals on Dec. 10 in San Diego.

Fons earned the berth with an eighth-place finish in the regional meet held Saturday at UW-Parkside. The top 10 finishers in both the boys and girls competitions advanced to nationals. Fons is the first Wisconsin sophomore to advance since Olympian Suzy Favor achieved the feat in 1983.

Qualifiers from three other regional meets will take part in the event. Fons turned in a personal best of 17:44 on the 5,000-meter Parkside course.

She was 17th at the top of the first big hill on the course and then moved up to 11th at the mile and was in the six through 10 pack for much of the rest of the race.

Four-time Division 3 state champion Molly Seidel of University Lake School won with a time of 17:08. Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado and Illinois runners also advanced.

According to Franklin coach Regina Schindel, Seidel and Fons will be just the 15th and 16th girls from Wisconsin to advance to nationals in the 33 years the Foot Locker series has been held.

The national race will be webcasted live with more information available at www.footlockercc.com. Full results will be available at http://footlockercc.com/2011/results/midwest/mwSeededGirls.htm.