Kromer All-American

• Ryan Kromer

Ryan Kromer of Hudson sprints to the finish line covered in mud at the Nike Cross Nationals race Saturday in Portland, Oregon. Kromer finished ninth out of 198 runners from across the nation to earn All-American second team honors and a trophy.

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Hudson High School senior Ryan Kromer continued his exceptional string of running success by finishing ninth out of 198 seniors from across the nation at the Nike Cross Nationals last Saturday in Portland, Ore., to earn All-American second team honors.

Kromer, the reigning WIAA Division 1 state cross country champion, will run in another national race at the Footlocker National Championships in San Diego, Calif., this Saturday, Dec. 8.

After several days of rain in Oregon last week, the course conditions at the Portland Meadows race track for the 9th annual Nike Cross Nationals Saturday were the worst they have ever been, and it was evident in the race times. Kromer posted a time of 17 minutes, 25 seconds to finish ninth while Sam Wharton of Ohio was first in 17:06.

“We were running in ankle deep mud for much of the race, by far, the worst conditions I have ever run in,” Kromer said.

Kromer spent much of the weekend touring the Nike Headquarters and bonding with elite runners from around the country.

“We were able to speak with and get autographs from Olympians Galen Rupp, Kara Goucher, Evan Jager, and Matt Centrowitz along with Chris Solinsky, Alan Webb and Elliot Heath, it was awesome; a once in a lifetime experience!” he said.

Kromer will leave for San Diego on Thursday to compete in the 2012 Footlocker National Championships. He qualified for the meet by finishing seventh at the Midwest Regionals in Kenosha Nov. 24. He is the first Wisconsin runner ever to qualify for both the Nike Cross Nationals and Footlocker National Championships in the same year.

Tags: sports, prep, hudson