Hassan Mead, a senior at Minneapolis South High School who has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete at Minnesota, captured medalist honors at last weekend’s Foot Locker Cross Country Championships Midwest Regional, in Kenosha, Wis. Mead and the other top-10 finishers advance to the Foot Locker National Championships on Dec. 9 in San Diego.

Mead defeated an impressive of total of 22 state champions (includes all classes) en route to the title, covering the 5-kilometer course in a time of 15 minutes, 5 seconds. Mead bettered the runner-up finisher’s time by five seconds. The Midwest Region consists of competitors from 13 states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

“I kind of made my move through the race and after the first mile I started passing some people, but it got tough to pass going through the wet part,” said Mead, the Minnesota Class AA champion. “I just wanted to qualify (for nationals), but I felt good at the last hill and turn, went up it and they didn't catch up to me.”