A November blizzard couldn't stop Raymore-Peculiar's Gabriel Voelker from punching a ticket to the newly minted Brooks XC Nationals in sunny California. On Saturday, Voelker traversed the uncharacteristically white Wayne Dannehl Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 15:29.50, good enough for the seventh of the ten coveted qualifying places to the national meet in two weeks. He had to battle with several of the best athletes from Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and U.S. citizens in Overseas Military Installations.
After years of qualifying only 40 of the nation's best, the Foot Locker National Championships has become the Brooks XC National Championships, and while the new Golden Ticket feature has made it less exclusive, it will surely be nonetheless competitive. In the Show-Me State's history at this meet, only 11 athletes had ever qualified for it, starting with Chris Zinn and Joe Falcon way back in 1983. In the last 30 years, only Greg Speicher (1995), Matt Tegenkamp (1999), Jason Sandfort (2000), Josh Harper (2002), Noah Kauppila (2013), and Isaac Rivera (2023) have qualified out of Missouri.
The Class 5 State Cross Country Runner-Up joins an elite list of Missourian qualifiers and looks to become the fifth to earn All-American honors at the meet. Tegenkamp (5th), Jon Hatley (7th, 1985), Joe Kirby (14th, 1985), and Zinn (5th) make up the current list of four.
You can watch the Brooks XC National Championships race on MileSplit, with the Boys Championship race starting 45 minutes after the Girls Championship race at 12:00 Central Time (10:00 Pacific).