A first time for everything

It was a day of firsts last weekend at New York's Van Cortlandt Park, where Neely Spence and Craig Forys did something they hadn't done before -- broke the tape at the Northeast Regional Cross-Country Championships.

For Spence of Shippensburg, Pa., it was not only her first win above the state level, but also the first time she qualified for the national meet, having placed 14th in 2004 and 19th in '05. The top 10 finishers in both the girls' and boys' seeded races advance to nationals on Dec. 9 in San Diego. It was also the first time a girl from Pennsylvania won the girls' Northeast Championship.

"I had three goals going into the meet," Spence said. "My first goal was to place in the top 10. My second goal was to place in the top five and my third goal was to place in the top three. I never expected to win it."

Neely's father, Steve Spence, was a bronze medalist in the 1991 World Championships and competed in the marathon at the '92 Olympics. After the race, he didn't appear as surprised as Neely about her winning time of 17 minutes, 41.1 seconds. "Her training has been going really well," he said.

This is also the first year Spence, a home-schooled junior, was allowed to compete for her local high school in Shippensburg. Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell recently passed legislation allowing home-schooled students to compete for their town's public high schools. Spence won the state AAA championship in her first year on the team.

Like Spence, New Jersey's Ashley Higginson will also compete at the nationals for the first time. Higginson failed to qualify in '05, but was able to pull out a fourth-place finish this year in a time of 17:52. Higginson has run consistently well all season, placing a close second to Danielle Tauro at the New Jersey Meet of Champions in 17:50 on the hilly Holmdel Park Course.

Tauro, a pre-race favorite and 4:39 miler, was in contention throughout the race but slipped back at the two-mile mark. She struggled through the last straightaway and fell just before the finish line, but was able to pick herself up and stumble across in 10th place, claiming the last ticket to San Diego. Tauro, who will run next year for Michigan, started this cross-country season late due to a lengthened track season that included a trip to China for the Junior World Championships. Undefeated in the New Jersey state meets, Tauro suffered first loss this season.

On the boys' side, Forys, a senior at Colts Neck ( N.J.) High, lived up to expectations, crossing the line in 15:15.1, less than a second behind the course record of 15:14 set by Anthony Smith in '82. Forys hung back behind the first 10 runners for the first half-mile, then inched forward as the pack crossed the mile mark in 4:50 -- slower than normal. He didn't take the lead until just after the hilly two-mile mark, and then relied on his speed and strength to carry him to the finish line at the end of the grueling 700-meter gravel path leading out of the woods.

"I was surprised at the start," Forys said. "I was expecting everyone to go out faster."

As he crossed the line, Forys held his arms in the air, then turned around to see Massachusetts' Taye Sintahehu cross three seconds later. Few moments of glory this season in high schools sports were as well deserved as Forys' first-place finish. Earlier this season, Forys broke the Van Cortlandt Park 2.5-mile course record set 23 years ago, only to watch New York's Tom Gruenewald break it 10 minutes later. Forys also broke the Holmdel Park 3.1-mile course record on Nov. 18 with a time of 15:16 -- a blazing average page of 4:55 per mile.