The scary part about Rylee Blade shattering the meet record in the girls’ sweepstakes race at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic on Saturday night is she believes she can run even faster.
The Corona Santiago senior covered the three-mile course at Great Park in Irvine in 15 minutes and 20.3 seconds, breaking the previous record by a mind-boggling 12.2 seconds in a race that featured seven runners post sub-15:50 times and 53 girls finishing under 17 minutes.
“I wanted to see how I felt after the first two miles,” Blade said. “I felt I had a bit more in me. There are a lot of races left but I’m happy where I’m at.”
Blade not only won the individual title but helped the Sharks take third in the team standings with 215 points, behind only Lewisville (Texas) Flower Mound (157) and Ventura (193).
“What motivated me most was running for my teammates,” Blade said. “I wanted to make them proud.”
She did that, but she also left her fellow competitors in awe.
Chiara Dailey of La Jolla was second in 15:28.2 and Provo (Utah) Timpview’s Lily Adler was third in 15:28.9. In the girls’ varsity rated race, Erika Kirk of Vista Murrieta won in 16:33.0 and Gweneth Williams of El Toro was second in 16:35.1. El Toro (90 points) won the team title.
Placing fifth in her season debut was Ventura senior Sadie Engelhardt, who took first at Woodbridge as a sophomore in 15:42.6 (then the fastest high school three-mile time in the U.S.) and was third last fall in 15:37.4.
Herriman (Utah) won the boys’ sweepstakes race for the third consecutive year with 79 points, 150 better than runner-up Southlake (Texas) Carroll. Mira Costa was the top California team with a score of 413.
In an all-out sprint to the finish, Owen Powell of Mercer Island (Wash.) edged Josiah Tostenson of Central Point (Ore.) 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 boys’ varsity rated division.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
