Katie Rainsberger Wins Nike Cross Nationals In Course Record Time

Nike Cross Nationals 2015

Dec 05, 2015

Katie Rainsberger Breaks Allie O's Record by 23 Seconds

Katie Rainsberger, a senior from Air Academy, Co., ran 16:56.80 on Saturday to win Nike Cross Nationals and break the Glendoveer Golf Course record set by Allie Ostrander last year by 23 seconds. The run was six seconds off the meet record set by Alexa Efraimson at the 2013 championship.

The win caps a high school career that included four consecutive runs at the championship. Rainsberger placed 13th as a frosh before recording two consecutive sixth-place runs in her sophomore and junior year. The No. 2 ranked distance prep in nation fluttered between competing at Foot Locker or returning to NXN in her senior year.

Sixth place was not what she wanted last December. So back to NXN it was.

She bided her time, letting Kaitlyn Neal of Fayetteville-Manlius, Stephanie Jenks of Linn-Mar, Iowa and Judy Pendergast of Naperville North, Ill. set the pace at 5:14.

Until midway through.

"My strength is just to go out hard and drop the last mile," she said. "I felt really good the last mile and a half coming off the last hill, so I just started to incrementally pick it up. I just felt better the faster I went, so at two miles, I just went for it."

At the two mile, Rainsberger led the field in 10:54.1 as just Neal, Pendergast and a steadily rising Cailie Logue of Girard, Kansas remained in contention. Once she took off, Rainsberger said she had no idea how close she was to the rest of the field.

"I just wanted to focus on my effort, my finish. I wasn't sure how far back they were, so there was no letting up, all the way through the line."

The University of Oregon-bound prep did not let up, as she won the individual title by 14 seconds. Ella Donaghu of Grant, Ore. ran a huge final kilometer to take runner-up honors in 17:10.2 as Logue moved up to third in 17:14.2.

Saratoga Springs freshman Kelsey Chmiel (fourth, 17:15.4) and Bethany Hasz of Alexandria Jefferson, Minn. (fifth, 17:17.1) also ran under Ostrander's 17:19.0 course record.

Fayetteville-Manlius Wins Ninth NXN Title

The Fayetteville-Manlius (FM) girls of New York won their ninth total and second consecutive Nike Cross Nationals title on Saturday with 55 points ahead of California's Davis (second, 144 points) and Great Oak (third, 171 points).

FM controlled the race from the gun via front-runner Kaitlyn Neal, who took the field out in 5:14 for the mile. At one mile, FM led scoring with just 42 points as Pennsbury of Pa. was second with 130 points.

By the two mile, Great Oak and Davis were up to second and third place in team scoring with Great Oak ahead, 148 to 174. While Great Oak started to fade, Davis held position through the final mile to turn the tables and pull ahead - 144 to 171 by the end.

TEAM SCORES
PLACE	TEAM	POINTS	SCORERS	TIMES
1	Fayetteville-Manlius (FM)	55	4+8+11+14+18 (22+68)	0:48 1-5 Split \| 17:54 Avg
2	Davis Senior High School (SJ)	144	12+17+25+43+47 (136+137)	0:35 1-5 Split \| 18:22 Avg
3	Great Oak High School (SS)	171	10+32+34+42+53 (63+121)	0:56 1-5 Split \| 18:25 Avg
4	Saratoga Springs	207	1+29+33+60+84 (87+91)	1:54 1-5 Split \| 18:26 Avg
5	Pennsbury	241	9+13+31+89+99 (103+153)	1:31 1-5 Split \| 18:33 Avg