Emily Bush from Saratoga Springs collected her first New York Class A state cross country title last weekend.

Her first place bid of 17:34.30 falls within the top 15 fastest times in NYSPHSAA state meet history at 11th.

The Providence college commit held a lead of 10 seconds over the defending state champion Zariel Macchia.

From her third-place finish last year, Bush shaved off nearly a minute in improvement ending an undefeated season. Bush collected 69-percent of the votes and was named this past week's National Performer of the Week.

Now it's time to vote for this week's NPOTW. The poll will end Friday and the winner will be announced next Monday.

This Week's Nominees:

Allie Zealand, Pacers Homeschool (VA): Going into the large pool that is NXR Southeast, the senior did not seem to notice as she soared to a new personal best of 16:34.30. The Liberty University commit has held an undefeated season, winning seven races; previous to NXR, Zealand had not broken 17 minutes yet. 

Gianna Rahmer, Eldorado (NM): Back on our NPOTW list again a week later, this eighth-grader shocked the nation again with a phenomenal performance at NXR Southwest. After coming off an incredible and record breaking performance at NMAA state last weekend, she pushed past the likes of Addison Ritzenhein and Bethany Michalak to finish first in 17:00.58.

Elizabeth Leachman, Boerne Champion (TX): With no one in sight behind her for another minute, the elite sophomore clocked another personal best of 16:07.60 at NXR South Regional. Only two weekends of rest between her previous record at UIL State, Leachman dropped a near 18 seconds from her previous record. Her push on Saturday floats ever so closely to the current fastest 5k time in the nation held by Rachel Forsyth by a mere ten milliseconds. 

Annabella Tomasic, Lake Highland Prep (FL): Another middle-schooler flying past the high schoolers is seventh-grader Tomasic. This past Friday she completed a near perfect season, going 10-for-11 as she collected the fastest time of the day at the FHSAA state championships. In the 2A division, she toed the line with a near 20 second lead running 17:32.90. She was only a few seconds off of her sub-17:30 personal best.

Sadie Engelhardt, Ventura (CA): At the CIF Southern Sectional Finals this weekend, MileSplit's top junior recruit took home a new three-mile best of 15:26.80, beating out Jane Hedengren's record time at Woodbridge by almost six seconds. Her time was the fastest of the day, which earned her her second consecutive D2 sectional title. 

Zariel Macchia, William Floyd (NY): Although she may have been the runner up behind Emily Bush for the NYSPHAA State meet last weekend, the junior reversed the order on Saturday and collected a first place victory at the NY Federation Championships. Macchia was the only girl to run under 18 minutes at 17:59.40, where she held a lead of nearly 25 seconds ahead of Bush.

NPOTW: