La Jolla sophomore Dailey and Ponderosa senior Chu among 11 athletes from host state advancing to national final in San Diego; Caldwell, Morgenfeld are boys qualifiers for the second straight year, with Bracken and Williams joining Dailey as two-time girls finalists

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

WALNUT, Calif. – Chiara Dailey didn’t need a good luck charm, but she brought one anyway Saturday to the Foot Locker West Regional.

Dailey, who was third at the West Regional last year, donned a classic Foot Locker jersey for the girls 5-kilometer championship race at Mt. San Antonio College.

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“My parents were like, ‘You should wear my old jersey,’” Dailey said. “They dug it up a few days ago. It was pretty spontaneous. It’s from 1994, both my parents ran at Foot Locker. It’s really cool.”

Also cool is winning.

Dailey completed the Mt. SAC regional course in 17 minutes, 42 seconds, to finish 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Eleanor Raker of Nevada.

A week earlier, Dailey won the Division 4 title at the CIF State Championships in Fresno. Last year, her third-place time on the same 5-kilometer layout was 18:11.

The top 10 finishers in each race advanced to the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships presented by HOKA on Dec. 9 at Balboa Park’s Morley Field in San Diego, very near Dailey’s hometown.

“It’s cool to be the champ of the West Region,” Dailey said. “I'm definitely going to have to taper (for next week), be mentally strong and work on that speed. Everybody has a chance. I need to keep my head high.”

Dailey finished 14th at the national final last year, and is one of three girls to be making a return trip to San Diego.

Cailey Bracken of Mountain Ridge High in Utah finished ninth Saturday after taking 10th last year at the West Regional, followed by a 32nd-place performance at the national final.

Olivia Williams, a senior at Acalanes High in California, didn’t compete at Foot Locker last season, but two years ago took third in the West Region and 17th at the national final.

Williams finished eighth Saturday after placing fifth in the Division 4 state final Nov. 25 at Woodward Park.

Raker, a junior at Galena High, became the first Nevada girl to qualify for the national final since Mel Lawrence in 2006. Lawrence also finished second.

“I’m so excited,” Raker said. “I missed it (qualifying for nationals) by three seconds last year. I was 11th, so that was a little bit of a bummer, but I’m glad I could come back this year.

“My cross country season has been a little rough, but this was my last chance to prove what I’m worth.”

Of the 10 girls qualifiers, six are from California, with La Canada’s Maya DeBrouwer (fourth), Corona del Mar’s Melisse Djomby Enyawe (fifth), Campolindo’s Shea Volkmer (seventh) and Arcadia’s Reena Hsieh (10th) joining Dailey and Williams.

Nevada, Utah, Idaho (Timberline’s Ruby Ihmels, third), and Washington (Mercer Island’s Sophia Rodriguez, sixth) each qualified one runner for the national final.

Utah and Idaho each had a national qualifier last year, but Rodriguez was Washington’s first since 2019. Ihmels and Rodriguez are the only two freshmen among the 10 girls qualifiers.

On the boys side, Joshua Chu, a senior at Ponderosa High in California was the winner in 15:23, a year after he took 11th at the West Regional, 10 seconds from qualifying.

Chu was 16th at the mile mark Saturday and 10th at the 2-mile split. The win came a week after he finished third at California’s Division 3 state final.

“I just wanted to run my race and run it smart,” Chu said. “That first mile, I know can get pretty fast. Then stay with that pack then my goal was to make a move on Poop-out (Hill). Coming up on Reservoir Hill, it started to get slow. As soon as we hit that downhill, I charged into first. Grant Morgenfeld, he’s really strong, so I was trying to kick early so he couldn’t get that last 100 on me. I was able to build enough space and come away with the win.”

Morgenfeld, of Palo Alto High in California and Trey Caldwell of Concord De La Salle High in California, were third and fifth, respectively, to earn return trips to San Diego next week after qualifying last year. 

Like the girls top 10, the boys top 10 was dominated by Californians. Chu, Morgenfeld and Caldwell were joined by El Diamante’s Devin Ibarra (fourth), and Clovis East’s Carter Spradling (ninth). 

Ibarra, Caldwell and Morgenfeld were all in the same Division 2 state final last week, with Ibarra taking third, Caldwell fourth and Morgenfeld eighth.

As there were last year, Utah produced three qualifiers for nationals: Layton’s Davis Rydman (second), Pleasant Grove’s Zach Hillhouse (seventh) and Corner Canyon’s Grayson Milne (10th).

Idaho had one national qualifier: Boise’s Jack Sheesley, who moved up 14 spots to sixth after the 2-mile mark.

Kade Brownell, a senior at Mt. Spokane High, became the first qualifier for nationals from Washington since 2017 after earning eighth. Washington’s last national qualifier, Turlan Morlan, also took eighth.

Like Chu, Rydman moved up after the 2-mile mark when he improved by four spots to finish one second behind Chu.

“I knew going into it, I had the capability of qualifying,” Rydman said. “I obviously knew this was a really deep field. I was ready to just give it my all and see what happens.”