It’s been a banner two weeks on the trails for Lincoln-Sudbury’s Ariel Keklak — and the Wake Forest-bound harrier isn’t finished yet.
A week after sprinting her way to victory in the Division 1 All-State Championships, Keklak put herself in position early and worked through the pack to finish seventh at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional Championships yesterday. Keklak finished in 17 minutes, 52.7 seconds over the rugged 3.1-mile Van Cortlandt Park layout in the Bronx.
That performance came on the heels of an 11th-place showing last fall when she missed out on a trip to the nationals by one spot. Keklak now moves on to the nationals Dec. 12 at Balboa Park in San Diego.
Keklak was prepared for the quick 5:25 opening mile that put her in the top 15, and from there she began moving up in the pack over the hilly portion of the fabled course. By the time she headed back over the bridge and out of the Back Hills, Keklak was in eighth place and feeling strong.
“I’m thrilled,” she said. “I’m so happy. The first mile is pretty flat and we went out fast, but I was ready for it. I wanted to solidify myself in the top 10. With 600 meters to go I knew there wasn’t anybody close behind me so I was pretty sure I’d make it.”
On the boys side, even a stellar second-place finish in the Div. 1 All-State race didn’t give Marcelo Rocha a reservoir of confidence. After finishing well out of contention in the Northeast Regional last year as a sophomore, Rocha was merely looking to run better yesterday and garner more experience for a shot to qualify next year.
Rocha easily outran his own expectations and will be headed to Balboa Park sooner than expected. He sprinted hard over the final 200 meters to clinch 10th place and the last qualifying spot with a quick time of 15:35.9. Viraj Deoka of Acton and the Middlesex School also qualified with a sterling fifth-place finish in 15:30.6.