By Cameron Smith
A young cross country runner in California is tearing up courses at a pace never seen before, leading some experts to already proclaim that she may soon be considered one of the great prep runners of all-time.
California teen turns in cross country time called “greatest high school performance ever”
As reported by the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Simi Valley (Calif.) High junior Sarah Baxter won the Mt. Sac Invitational with a blistering time of 16:00. That time obliterated a previous 11-year-old record on the three-mile course -- widely considered one of the toughest in the state and possibly the nation -- by some 16 seconds, leaving area writers and prep track analysts completely agape at the time she turned in.
"Baxter's 16 minute run is] the most amazing female individual performance in U.S. prep annals," PrepCalTrack.com editor Rich Gonzalez, one of the most respected track analysts on the West Coast, wrote on his website.
"Baxter, already owning the distinction of beating the strongest prep field in U.S. history at last year's Nike Cross Nationals, applied an even grander exclamation point on Saturday. Actually, it was the grandest:
'Greatest High School Performance Ever.'"
For some sense of just how dominant Baxter's performance was, all one need do is take a glance at her closest competitor. The second-place finisher at the Mt. Sac Invitational was Santa Clarita (Calif.) Golden Valley High star Chelsey Totten, who crossed the finish line at 17:08. That's more than a minute after Baxter finished, across a span of just three miles!