Baylor's Brandon Lord earned All-American status on Saturday when he finished 14th in a race with the nation's top 40 high school cross country runners at San Diego, Calif.

Lord, who plans to join former Baylor teammate Bill Matthews at the University of Georgia next year, had a time of 15 minutes, 39.6 seconds at the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championship, which was held at Balboa Park.

"I'm really happy with the way things turned out. Finishing in the top 15 means I earned All-America status.

"I'm more happy with my place than my time, although this was one of the harder courses I've raced on this year," Lord said Saturday night.

"It was a great race for me personally. Last year Bill (Matthews) finished 21st, so I'm happy to move the bar up a little bit. He was my teammate and someone I've looked up to for a long time, but it's nice to move out of his shadow a little bit.

"I really didn't have any specific personal goals other than to run the best I could and to enjoy myself. Even if I had finished 40th, I still would have been competing with the best high school runners in the nation.

"I really just wanted to crack the top 15. I was never mentioned in the pre-race predictions, but I just went out and raced. Things turned out well.

"It's really cool to have big-name college coaches coming up and talking to me based on the results of today's race. Now I have to come back and get ready for exams next week," the Baylor senior said in conclusion.

Lord was part of the South team that finished second to the West runners.

Sophomore Lukas Verzbicas of Orland Hills, Ill., won the 5K race in 15:08.

The runners competed in an uncharacteristic downpour with a temperature of 62 degrees.

The rain pounded the course as the boys’ race took off.

Wade Meddles of Gardnerville, Nev., and Regional Champions Brian Shrader (West), Craig Lutz (South) and Verzbicas (Midwest) setting the early pace hitting the first mile in 4:48.

By the midway point, Verzbicas had pulled away with Lutz, Shrader, and Matthew McElroy of Huntington Beach, Calif., in the chase group.

Verzbicas never relinquished his lead to become the first sophomore boy to earn a national title.

Place Time Bib Name Grade Region School City State
1 15:08 71 Lukas Verzbicas 10 Midwest Carl Sandburg H.S. Orland Hills IL
2 15:23 84 Matthew McElroy 12 West Edison H.S. Huntington Beach CA
3 15:24 82 Wade Meddles 12 West Sierra Lutheran H.S. Gardnerville NV
4 15:30 61 Craig Lutz 11 South Marcus H.S. Highland Village TX
5 15:31 81 Brian Shrader 12 West Sinagua H.S. Flagstaff AZ
6 15:32 63 Jake Hurysz 12 South Eastern Alamance H.S. Mebane NC
7 15:34 73 Tyler Byrne 12 Midwest North Harrison H.S. Georgetown IN
8 15:35 62 Kirubel Erassa 12 South Grayson H.S. Grayson GA
9 15:35 85 Shane Moskowitz 12 West Central Kitsap H.S. Bremerton WA
10 15:37 64 Matthew Mizereck 12 South Leon H.S. Tallahassee FL
11 15:38 80 Chris Walden 11 Midwest Carmel H.S. Carmel IN
12 15:38 87 Steve Magnuson 12 West Ironwood Ridge H.S. Oro Valley AZ
13 15:38 76 Martin Grady 12 Midwest Fenwick H.S. Burr Ridge IL
14 15:40 65 Brandon Lord 12 South Baylor School Hixson TN
15 15:42 53 Dave Oster 12 Northeast Verona H.S. Verona NJ
16 15:43 52 Tyler Udland 12 Northeast Millburn H.S. Short Hills NJ
17 15:44 75 Scott Fauble 12 Midwest Wheat Ridge H.S. Golden CO
18 15:44 68 Kevin Dowd 12 South Fairfax H.S. Fairfax VA
19 15:45 57 Quinn Raseman 12 Northeast Ward Melville H.S. East Setauket NY
20 15:45 66 Blake Williams 11 South Northern Durham H.S. Durham NC
21 15:46 51 Brad Miles 12 Northeast North Penn H.S. Hatfield PA
22 15:46 72 Walter Schafer 12 Midwest Cherry Creek H.S. Centennial CO
23 15:47 69 Brian Atkinson 12 South Melbourne H.S. Melbourne Beach FL
24 15:48 55 Rad Gunzenhauser 12 Northeast Mt. Lebanon H.S. Pittsburgh PA
25 15:48 70 Anderson Barclay 11 South Boerne Champion H.S. Fair Oaks Ranch TX
26 15:49 79 Danny Nicolls 12 Midwest Regis Jesuit H.S. Parker CO
27 15:50 59 Christopher Bendtsen 12 Northeast Wolcott H.S. Wolcott CT
28 15:51 78 Ryan Poland 12 Midwest Denver Christian H.S. Westminster CO
29 15:52 86 Conner Peloquin 12 West Gig Harbor H.S. Gig Harbor WA
30 15:52 83 Cody Helbling 12 West Lake City H.S. Coeur d'Alene ID
31 15:53 58 Ryan Gil 11 Northeast North Allegheny Senior H.S. Pittsburgh PA
32 15:59 90 Kurt Ruegg 12 West Napa H.S. Yountville CA
33 16:06 89 Pablo Rosales 12 West San Pedro H.S. San Pedro CA
34 16:07 88 Billy Orman 11 West Tuba City H.S. Tuba City AZ
35 16:10 54 John Raneri 12 Northeast New Fairfield H.S. New Fairfield CT
36 16:15 60 John Murray 11 Northeast Shrewsbury H.S. Shrewsbury MA
37 16:17 56 Cory Puffett 12 Northeast DeMatha Catholic H.S. Upper Marlboro MD
38 16:19 77 Colby Alexander 12 Midwest Strongsville H.S. Strongsville OH
39 16:35 74 Nathan Karr 12 Midwest Ann Arbor Pioneer H.S. Ann Arbor MI
40 16:58 67 Colin Barker 12 South Bishop Kenny Atlantic Beach FL
Team Results

Place Team Score
Places For Team
1 West 31 2 3 5 9 12
2 South 42 4 6 8 10 14
3 Midwest 49 1 7 11 13 17
4 Northeast 88 15 16 18 19 20

(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)