Tough Day in National Meet Leaves Jorgensen in 21st Place

An eerie, empty feeling filtered into the air toward the end of the girls’ race at the 10th Kinney National Cross-Country Championships at Morley Field Saturday morning.

The spectators, who had been so vocal and supportive during most of the 5,000-meter race, suddenly became quiet as the leader approached the finish line. It wasn’t who they were expecting.

Celeste Susnis, a junior from Kankakee Valley High School in Wheatfield, Ind., crossed the finish line in 17 minutes 14.4 seconds, 3.7 seconds ahead of Melody Fairchild of Boulder High in Boulder, Colo., and 4 seconds ahead of Christi Constantin of Kittatinny High in Newton, N.J. The defending national champion was missing.

Kira Jorgensen of Rancho Buena Vista was nowhere in sight, and everyone wondered: Was she sick? Was she hurt? What was wrong? Why wasn’t Kira first?

It was the expectations, more than anything else, that squeezed Jorgensen this week and strangled her competitiveness.

“It’s been the toughest week I’ve had in my 4 years here,” said Jorgensen, fighting back tears after finishing 21st. “I think I choked basically. There’s a lot of pressure, too much pressure. It’s hard to be in your normal flow when everyone expects you to win, and there are 20 people in front of you.”

She then asked the horde of reporters surrounding her and ignoring Susnis if she could be alone, and she headed for seclusion.

In the boys’ race, Brian Grosso of Walled Lake Western High in Walled Lake, Mich., surged to the lead with a half-mile to go and ran away from Jason DiJoseph (Paul VI, Haddonfield, N.J.) to win in 15:03.3. Francis O’Neill of San Pasqual ran a solid race, finishing seventh in 15:19.5.

The national boys’ and girls’ finals included the top eight high school runners from each of four regional meets, a total of 32 in each.

Jorgensen, 17, went to the lead at the start and was a stride ahead 5 minutes into the race. Everyone waited for her to make her move, but it didn’t come, and she began to fade as Susnis and Constantin passed her. At 1 1/2 miles, she labored 10 seconds back, and at 2 miles, she had dropped to 15th.

“During the race a couple times I said, ‘I could just run off (drop out) right here,’ but I didn’t. I finished,” said Jorgensen, a 4-time Kinney participant. “I’ve had a lot of good races and, this isn’t a bad one. These are the top 32 girls in the nation and just to be here makes me proud.

“People have these setbacks. I’m not going to change just because I got 21st instead of first.”

Susnis took the lead for good with a little more than a half-mile left. But she was never sure just how close Constantin was.

“At the end I thought maybe she would come right by me, so I wanted to kick it in as hard as I could,” Susnis said. “I was really tired. I didn’t really know I had that much of a lead.”

Constantin never made her move and, seemingly content with second, was passed in the final 10 yards by Fairchild, a sophomore.

“That girl (Susnis) was just really strong,” said Constantin, who was fifth as a junior. “She really picked it up that last 50 yards.”

Grosso said he knew he was going to be the boys’ national champion before the race.

“I told my coach, I’m going to win,” he said. “I hugged my coach and said, ‘Nothing matters what anyone did before, it’s just me what really counts.’ ”

Tuesday, while still in Michigan, Grosso ran progressively faster mile splits of 5:35, 5:00 and 4:25 during a 3-mile time trial.

“I wasn’t really winded that much,” he said about his workout. “I knew I could come here and run really well. About the 2 1/2-mile mark I just put on a surge, and I said, ‘I’m not going to let it up.’ ”

O’Neill, 24th as a junior, stayed with the front pack most of the race but couldn’t find that extra gear he used to surprise in the Western Regionals last week.

“I got fatigued, as where last week I didn’t feel anything,” he said. “I’ll take it. I felt I went out a little harder than usual, and I didn’t have the energy at the end. I ran a good race, I thought.”