Rylee Blade of Corona Santiago matched the course record at the Clovis Invitational Saturday in Fresno.
It. Just. Wasn’t. Fast. Enough.
Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura shaved seven seconds off the 7-year-old Woodward Park 5-kilometer course record, winning the girls championship race in 16:24.2.
Blade finished in 16:31.3. The course record was set by Malibu’s Claudia Lane at the 2017 state meet.
Ventura, ranked No. 3 in the nation by dyestat.com, was fourth as a team.
The Engelhardt-Blade duel was a rematch of last year’s Clovis final. Engelhardt won the 2023 showdown, 16:40-16:46.
Engelhardt now owns the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 6 all-time performances on the Woodward Park course.
Buchanan won the girls team title with 65 points.
Other scorers for Ventura were: 23. Aelo Curtis, 18:01.5; 24. Sophie Nuckols, 18:04.0; 40. Tiffany Sax, 18:28.6; and 95. Paola Estrada, 19:37.7.
In the boys championship race, Hueneme’s J.R. Lesher placed 10th in 15:01.1.
Oaks Christian’s Christian Yoder (15:19.3) and Joshua Mitchell (15:46.2) were 18th and 52nd