Margot Appleton hasn’t been running cross-country races very long, but she is already gaining national recognition for her ability to put her best foot forward.
The Mattapoisett native is a junior at Portsmouth Abbey where she attends high school. Appleton is not new to competitive sports, having been a competitive swimmer in the recent past. And while she has been running throughout high school, including coming in third in her category a couple of years ago in the Mattapoisett 4th of July Road Race, cross-country running is still a new challenge for her.
As Appleton’s mother Sarah shared with a chuckle, “She has been toiling away in obscurity.”
It looks like that is about to change, Mom.
During the Foot Locker qualifying races, which were held in four regions of the US in November, Appleton was selected to run the Northeast qualifier held in Van Cortland Park, New York. She came in sixth in her category.
“It had been my goal all season to come in top 10,” Appleton confided. “But I was not necessarily expecting it to happen because the Northeast has no many fast girls.”
She placed 21st last year, but this year she came in much earlier, which bolstered her resolve.
“I am hoping to come in top 10 again next year,” she said.
This past summer, Appleton added swimming to her training routine along with running just about seven days a week. All of that hard work paid off. Having ranked in the top 10 in the Northeast region, Appleton qualified for the national event held in San Diego on December 14.
The Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships began in 1979 when the company was called Kinney Shoes and owned by F. W. Woolworth. Corporate moves through the decades renamed the event and changed it to Foot Locker in 1993.
It is the longest-running national cross-country race for high school students.
The top ten student runners from each of the four regions, 40 girls and 40 boys, are invited to San Diego for the event. The students are primarily selected from preparatory high schools.
Appleton said they arrived in San Diego several days ahead of the race.
“I did not feel my best leading up to or during the race,” she said, “but it was an opportunity to race with some of the fastest girls in the country, so I tried to make the most of it.”
Even though it was a difficult challenge, she said, “I had so much fun.”
Appleton finished in 22nd place with a time of 18:07.3 – just about a minute behind the winner, Marlee Starliper from Wellsville, Pennsylvania, with a time of 17:03.6.
In fact, it was the first time any female runner has come in at 17 minutes, and the first time two female runners had done so. Sydney Masciarelli from Northbridge, Massachusetts, came in at 17:18.7.
Appleton will, no doubt, be striving to improve her pace. After all, she did exceptionally well, given her health wasn’t the best at the time. My bet is she’ll shave seconds off that time, next time.
By Marilou Newell