Mt. SAC insanity and State Championships madness

The Saucony Elite 50 refers to the top-50 individuals in the country (25 boys and 25 girls).  

Mt. SAC and the first crazy wave of State Championships across the nation made for quite the busy weekend for XC!

Let's begin with the madness at Mt. SAC. US#2 Sarah Baxter (CA) came into the meet with loads of hype for a possible sub-16 effort. She certainly stuck to the script, going out in 4:58 through the first mile. But the warm weather and having no other runners to push her made it tough on the Simi Valley senior, who finished in 16:11. It wasn't a course record, but Baxter was rewarded with a senior class record on the course and #2 all-time behind her 16:00 from last year. Certainly a fine effort and a very entertaining race to watch.

But that wasn't all in Walnut, CA. US#16 Fiona O'Keeffe (CA) surprised US#17 Marissa Williams (CA) in the Girl's Individual Sweeps with times of 16:54 to 17:14. US#6 Anna Maxwell (CA) ran on Friday in the D4 Sweepstakes and recorded a winning time of 16:56. Also on Friday, Bethan Knights (CA) recorded a sub-17 in the D3 Sweeps with a time of 16:59.  

Are you ready for this State Championships frenzy?! In Utah, US#21 Lucy Biles (UT) won 5A with a winning time of 17:41 while US#20 Sarah Feeny (UT) rolled in 4A with a state record 17:25 clocking! In Colorado, US#3 Elise Cranny (CO) blew away the competition and won the 4A crown in 18:07. US#7 freshman Lauren Gregory (CO) won the 5A title with a time of 18:36 and US#8 Jordyn Colter (CO) had a rare off day to finish 7th on her team.  

Perhaps the biggest performance of the weekend came from US#5 Makena Morley (MT) who won the Class B race with a shocking 16:35.31 for 3 miles! For comparison, Makena won last year in 18:13 and qualified for Foot Locker later that season!  US#1 Alexa Efraimson (WA) won her League Championship with a time of 17:52, which was over a minute over the next athlete. US#25 Autumn Eastman (VT) won a state title in Vermont by a large margin in Division 1. At the Connecticut Divisional Championship US#10 Hannah DeBalsi (CT) won over watchlisted Claire Howlett (CT) 17:41 to 18:03.

A big add to the watch list is Briana Gess from Haddonfield NJ, who recorded a 16:57 course record at Pennypacker Park and won by well over 2 minutes. We'll see how she stacks up during NJ sectionals in two weeks.  

Stay tuned for another exciting week of XC coming this week and of course each week as we bring you the Saucony Elite 50 Individual Girls every Monday morning!