Photo Credit: IG @texas_jenna/Photographer: David Sheets
Jenna Hutchins has already had an incredible junior season.
Even before arriving at her first cross country race in September, she pounced on an opportunity in August, leveling a junior class record for 3,200 meters at the Music City Distance Carnival, producing a US No. 3 all-time performance of 9:49.83.
A streak of four straight sub-17 minute performances for 5K followed.
But on Thursday, the Science Hill athlete made it even better.
Hutchins made an empathic statement at TSSAA Region 1 Championships at Daniel Boone High School in Gray, Tennessee, absolutely terrorizing the water-soaked course en route to a winning time of 17:06.7.
While that performance snapped Hutchins' streak of sub-17 minute efforts, it was arguably her best performance of the fall season to date.
Hutchins was the second fastest time on the course on the day .. across the girls' and boys' fields. Only Daniel Boone's Conner Wingfield was faster overall, winning the boys Regional in a time of 16:56.7.
For her effort, Hutchins achieved a feat that only Katelyn Tuohy has done before in a regular season race, posting a speed rating over 170. TullyRunners, the ratings site managed by statistician and scientist Bill Meylan, awarded Hutchins a scoreline of 171, topping the season's best of 165 -- Brynn Brown owned that performance -- by six points.
No single girls athlete over the 2019 season -- including North Rockland graduate Katelyn Tuohy -- eclipsed that mark. And only Tuohy has produced a rating over 170 over the regular season according to Meylan's numbers, doing so in 2018 at the NJ Shore Coaches Invitational (177) and in 2017 at the NY Federation Championships (172).
Beyond Hutchins' great mark, however, there have been a handful of simply incredible marks in 2019. Both Brown and Rawlins' Sydney Thorvaldson own speed ratings over 164. Hutchins' previous best was 165.
Video of the course saw portions of it entirely under water. There was also reportedly a decent amount of wind in both races.
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