Gatorade honor is for cross country

By DOUG BARBER
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Sophomore runner Cory McGee received quite a surprise Thursday afternoon at Pass Christian High School.

When she returned to school from running in the rain, she heard over the P.A. system that she had been named the Gatorade Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year for Mississippi.

She won the Class 3A state championship with a time of 14 minutes and 2 seconds. She finished eighth in the Foot Locker South Regional with a time of 17:29.

She qualified for the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in San Diego, and posted a time of 18:36.

"I was really surprised," McGee said. ""I was in fourth period athletics and had just walked in the gym after running in the rain. I could hear Dr. (Myron) Labat (assistant principal) saying I was named Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year. I was pretty excited."

McGee said she hoped to post a better time in the future at the Foot Locker National Meet.

"The No. 1 thing about her is her dedication," Labat said. "For a lot of high school kids, social activities are high on their list of priorities but that has never got in the way of her dedication to cross country. She's such a well-rounded person in addition to being a tremendous athlete."

She is preparing for the Melrose Mile on Feb. 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a pro meet, but has a high school boys and girls indoor mile event.

"It was my favorite race last year," McGee said. "It was really exciting. There were a lot of celebrities there.

"It is a banked track. It is a 150-meter track, 10 laps per mile, and the lanes are thinner than the regular ones."

McGee may run in another indoor meet before the outdoor season. She is leaning toward the National Scholastic Indoor Championship in New York in mid-March over the Nike Indoors.