The scary thing about Rylee Blade breaking the meet record in the women’s race at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic on Saturday night is that she thinks she can run even faster.
Corona Santiago senior ran the three-mile course at Great Park in Irvine in 15 minutes and 20.3 seconds, breaking the previous record by an astonishing 12.2 seconds in a race that featured seven runners who posted times under 15:50 and 53 girls who finished in under 17 minutes.
“I wanted to see how I felt after the first two miles,” Blade said. “I felt like I had a little more potential. There are still a lot of races left, but I’m happy with where I am right now.”
Blade not only won the individual title, but helped the Sharks take third place in the team standings with 215 points, behind only Lewisville (Texas) Flower Mound (157) and Ventura (193).
“What motivated me the most was running for my teammates,” Blade said. “I wanted to make them proud.”
She did it, but she also left her fellow competitors in awe.
Chiara Dailey of La Jolla placed second in 15:28.2 and Lily Adler of Provo (Utah) Timpview placed third in 15:28.9. In the girls’ collegiate qualifying race, Erika Kirk of Vista Murrieta won in 16:33.0 and Gweneth Williams of El Toro placed second in 16:35.1. El Toro (90 points) won the team title.
In fifth place in her season debut was Ventura senior Sadie Engelhardt, who took first place at Woodbridge as a sophomore with a time of 15:42.6 (then the fastest high school three-mile time in the U.S.) and was third last fall with a time of 15:37.4.
Herriman (Utah) won the boys’ race for the third consecutive year with 79 points, 150 more than second-place Southlake (Texas) Carroll. Mira Costa was the top California team with a score of 413.
In a full-throttle sprint to the finish, Owen Powell of Mercer Island, Washington, edged out Josiah Tostenson of Central Point, Oregon, Crater by two-tenths of a second to win the individual title in 13:30.3.
Oaks Christian teammates Christian Yoder (14:15.7) and Cooper McNee (14:16.5) were first and second in the men’s varsity division.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
