Forys fights back to finish second at Foot Locker
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

When he was just a freshman, Craig Forys earned the respect of the upperclassmen by the way he gave no quarter to them during a race.

The juniors and seniors who expected it to be their time and found Forys unwilling to accept that, paid tribute to his “guts.”

Since then, state championships and records have happened with such frequency that it has been easy to forget that first and foremost, the Colts Neck star is a competitor. A competitor who is willing to accept pain and embraces it.

Saturday, Forys put those “guts” on display for the nation to see at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego, Calif. Unleashing a finishing surge that ranks with the best those championships have witnessed, Forys rallied from ninth place to second in the final half-mile. His 15:24 came up four seconds short of champion Chad Hall, of Big Bear High School in California (15:20).

The race had gone according to plan for Forys at the start. He had run with the leading pack through the first mile, and at the first downhill at 2,000 meters used his mastery of downhill running to take a very brief lead.

There remained a big pack of challengers until just past the two-mile mark when Hall put on a big surge that opened up a four-second gap on the field. Forys couldn’t match and he let them go, falling back to ninth place. This decision would pay dividends later.

“Craig knew he couldn’t cover the move,” said Colts Neck coach Jim Schlentz. “He felt sluggish and listened to his body. He didn’t panic.”

Schlentz said one of the greatest strengths of Forys is his ability gauge how his body feels during a race. He knew when Hall surged at that point, it would be a mistake to go with him and the others. Instead, he gathered himself for a final push.

Steve Murdock from Shenendehowa High School in New York (who finished second to Forys at Manhattan Invitational earlier in the year and behind his win at the Northeast Qualifier) would cover the Hall move and take the lead himself. It was down to a three-runner race, or so it seemed, with Murdock, Hall and Hassan Mead, of Minneapolis, Minn.

It was a gamble by Murdock, and in the final 200 meters Hall surged ahead one more time, and the New York runner could not respond.

Meanwhile, Forys was charging. He was seventh when the late-race drama started and could easily have added up the numbers and accepted being an All-American. But that wasn’t good enough for the two-time New Jersey Meet of Champions winner. He was going to leave it all on the Balboa Park course in his last high school cross country race.

One by one he passed and dropped runners. Finally in the last 30 meters, he passed the fading Murdock, who had four seconds on him with 200 to go, to place second behind a well-deserved winner in Hall.

“Overall, my race was pretty good,” said Forys. “A group pulled away at two miles and I caught everyone besides Hall in the last 800.”

Forys, who suffered his first loss of the season, said he was happiest about his last 400, saying that he “ran pretty quick.”

By finishing second, Forys garnered First Team All-American honors in San Diego.

It was the third straight All-America honor earned by the University of Michigan-bound runner this year. He was recognized in indoor track at two miles and outdoors in the one mile.

Forys did not make the trip to San Diego by himself, as his Colts Neck classmate, Ashley Higginson, had qualified for the championships herself by finishing fourth at the Northeast Qualifier. The Cougar senior would finish 22nd (18:40). Kathy Kroeger, of Independence High School in Franklin, Tenn., was the surprised winner in 17:29.

“I’m happy that I tried my hardest, but I wish I could have placed better” Higginson said. “It was a great race, testing me mentally and challenging me a lot.”

Saturday’s race was the culmination of two exhausting weeks for Higginson. The previous weekend she had flown across the country to Portland, Ore., to lead her team to a fourth-place finish at the Nike Team Nationals with her first-place overall finish.

It was back home for the week and then off to San Diego on Thursday for Saturday’s Foot Locker race. The travel and time zone changes had to take their toll on Higginson, who would offer no excuses. But, she would admit that her first place for Colts Neck at the NTN was her most memorable of the season.