Oster Finishes 15th In National Race

Dave Oster turned in an impressive time of 15:41.5 to finish 15th in the 2009 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego today.

Despite battling a hard rain and sore quadriceps muscle, he was the first finisher from the East Coast division to cross the line, just ahead of arch-rival Tyler Udland of Millburn. “He was happy with his performance,” says assistant cross-country coach Laura Palmerezzi, who was with Oster in San Diego. “He’s been running pretty much without competition; this is the first time he’s seeing athletes at this level. He ran a great race.”

Also cheering Oster on at the finish line was his childhood skateboarding friend Eddie Congdon. Now a junior at VHS and one of Oster’s running partners on the cross-country team, Congdon took up running years ago at his friend’s encouragment. “It was real exciting,” says Congdon. “I was running up and down the course trying to catch him wherever he was. His leg wasn’t feeling that good, but he ended up pulling through. I had a feeling he would; he always does.”