Rylee Blade shatters girls’ record at Woodbridge Cross Country Classic

The scary part about Rylee Blade shattering the meet record in the Bob Day girls’ sweepstakes race Saturday night at the 43rd annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic is that she thinks she can run even faster.

The Corona Santiago senior covered the three-mile course at Great Park in Irvine in 15 minutes and 20.3 seconds, breaking the previous standard of 15:32.5, set last year by Jane Hedengren of Provo (Utah) Timpview by a mind-boggling 12.2 seconds in a race that saw seven runners post sub-15:50 times and 53 girls go under 17 minutes.

“I ran how I was hoping. I wanted to see how I felt after the first two miles,” said Blade, who finished fourth in 15:42.0 last year. “I felt I had a bit more in me. There are a lot of races left, but I’m happy where I’m at.”

Blade not only won the individual title but helped the Sharks take third in the team standings with 141 points, behind only Flower Mound (Texas) with 92 and Ventura at 112.

“What motivated me most was running for my teammates,” said Blade, who has committed to Florida State. “I wanted to make them proud.”

She certainly did that, but she also left her fellow competitors in awe.

Chiara Daily of La Jolla was second in 15:28.2, almost eight seconds behind Blade, while Timpview junior Lily Adler was third in 15:28.9 and Hedengren was fourth in 15:36.7.

Placing fifth in her season debut was Ventura senior Sadie Engelhardt, who took first at Woodbridge as a sophomore in 15:42.6 — then the fastest high school three-mile time in the U.S.) — and was third last fall in 15:37.4.

“It’s not a huge surprise,” Engelhardt said about Blade’s performance. “We’ve been racing each other since youth, and I knew she’d be fit. I was laboring a bit in the last mile, but even so my mindset is that I can find a way. It’s a shock to the system but I really wanted something like this. What I love most about running is the competitive aspect. The highlight of the night for me was getting second with my team.”

Erika Kirk, a senior from Vista Murrieta, won the girls’ rated race in 16:33.0 and El Toro sophomore Gweneth Williams took second in 16:35.1 as 56 runners broke 18 minutes. El Toro (90 points) won the team title and Mira Costa (228) was third.

“The atmosphere is so electric. This is one of my favorite races,” Kirk said. “I tried to go off instinct and take the same approach for the three-mile as for the two.”

Herriman (Utah) won the Doug Speck boys’ sweepstakes title for the third straight year with 58 points, 115 better than runner-up Southlake (Texas) Carroll. Mira Costa was the top California team, placing eighth with a score of 324.

In an all-out sprint to the finish in the last 100 meters, Owen Powell of Mercer Island (Wash.) edged Josiah Tostenson of Central Point (Ore.) Crater by two-tenths of a second to take the individual title in 13:30.3. Both broke the meet record of 13:38.1 set by Newbury Park’s Leo Young in 2021 at Silverlakes Sports Complex in Eastvale.

Oaks Christian teammates Christian Yoder, front, and Cooper McNee were first and second in the varsity rated race at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Oaks Christian teammates Christian Yoder (14:15.7) and Cooper McNee (14:16.5) were first and second in the boys’ rated division — and their efforts helped the Lions take third in the team standings with 171 points. Auge Martin of St. Francis was third in 14:23.1 and Adam Divinity of Redondo Union was fourth in 14:32.1.

“Cooper and I train together every day. He’s my bro,” Yoder said. “We were going back and forth and really pushing today. We had a chip on our shoulder not getting in the sweepstakes race, so we had something to prove as a team. I was trying to go low 14s considering I was leading most of the way. There’s no meet in the country like this.”

Granada Hills junior Samantha Pacheco repeated in the blue varsity B division, clocking 17:34.6 while shaving nearly nine seconds off last year’s winning time.

The two-day event is the largest high school meet in the country, attracting more than 15,000 athletes from 484 schools and 17 states.