The nation's top 32 high school boys and girls distance runners will compete this weekend in what has become the de facto national championship for prep cross country -- the FootLocker Cross Country Championship at Walt Disney World. With college cross country finished, and no major open races in coming weeks, the attention of most fans has been focused on these high schoolers.

Among the favorites on the boys' side: West champion Nurani Sheikh, a senior from Salt Lake City and Somalia, who ran a powerful 15:25 last weekend; Bobby Lockhart of Virginia, who blasted a record of 14:43 on the short and super-fast South regional course; Tim Moore of Michigan, who crushed the Midwest field; and Peter Meindl of New York, the Northeast champion. Many are also mentioning Bobby Curtis of Kentucky as a contender.

The top women include Amber Trotter of Redwood Valley, Calif., who won the West regional in a huge way; Erika Odlaug of Illinois, the Midwest champ; Natasha Roetter of Massachusetts, who won the Northeast regional; and the South gave us three in a bunch: North Carolina's LauraStanley and Carly Matthews, and Florida's Kara Scanlin -- all of whom finished within two seconds of each other at the regional.

Club cross country champs
For the adult set, the major North American competition of the weekend came at the USA Fall Cross Country Nationals in Mobile, Ala. For many years, the fall competition was where the best U.S. harriers faced off for the national title. But in recent years, the national championships for individuals was moved to February, which makes more sense in terms of selecting an American team that can peak for the World Cross Country Championships in March. Now the fall weekend is host to a club championships, where team scoring is strongly emphasized, and competition can be fierce.

This year, Hanson's Running Shop of Michigan won the men's team title. Hanson's, which lost by one point last year, scored the same as Nike's Farm Team, but won in the tiebreaker. Jared Cordes of Wisconsin Runner RT won the men's individual crown, finishing nine seconds ahead of Chris Graff of the Farm Team.

On the women's side, the Indiana Invaders also moved up from second to first this year, outdistancing the Farm Team, 38-47. Invaders Priscilla Hein and Collette Liss finished 1-2.

The drug beat
In Sweden, Olympic hurdle champion Ludmila Engquist has been banned for two years after admitting to using steroids to give her budding career in bobsledding a jump start.

Italian 800-meter runner Andrea Longo also got a two-year ban, after he tested positive for steroids this summer.

And in more drug news: Remember Olga Yegorova, who reportedly failed a test for EPO before the World Championships, but was allowed to compete when it was revealed the test wasn't performed properly? Well, now she needs Paula Radcliffe's permission if she wants to run in any of Britain's major track meets next season. Radcliffe, a top rival, took such strong objection to Yegorova's situation that she protested with a sign at the World Championships, which resulted in her ejection. British organizers, acknowledging that homegrown Radcliffe sells more tickets than Russian imports, say they will not invite Yegorova to run unless Radcliffe says OK.

Meanwhile, the Chinese seem serious about cracking down on the use of performance drugs now that the Olympics are headed to Beijing. Officials carried out 320 doping tests during the recent National Games, and did blood screening for EPO. Needless to say, the fast times of 1993 and 1997 did not recur.

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