Boerne Champion’s Elizabeth Leachman ran at last Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, held on the Glendoveer Golf Course where she finished third in the national race.
Leachman was edged for second place by Victoria Garces from Michigan, who posted a 17:13.4, just ahead of Leachman, who finished the 5K in a time of 17:13.7.
Garces and Leachman battled it out at the end in a sprint to the finish where Garces earned silver and Leachman took bronze.
Last Saturday’s race was won by Jane Hedengren after the BYU commit posted a time of 16:32.7 for a new course record.
Leachman said she was happy with her performance in the rain and mud. The junior has overcome some obstacles this year and just a short time ago wasn’t sure if she would even be at this year’s Nike race because of sickness and injuries.
“A couple of weeks ago I didn’t know if I would be trying to get here and then didn’t know if I would even be here, it was frustrating at time, so I’m super grateful to get to be here with all these amazing girls,” she said in a postrace interview.
Leachman made a big improvement from last year’s Nike Cross Nationals time where she was 15th with a 17:53.60.
“I felt stronger (than last year) and I was just trying to improve on what I did last year,” she said. “I just tried to play to my strength and run a better race than last year.”
Leachman is also scheduled to run at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships this weekend in San Diego, California, where the two-time cross country state champ is the defending national champion.
NOTES: As a way to show her appreciation to her teammates, Leachman had the gold medal she won at this year’s 5A state cross country meet cut into small pieces and gave a piece to her teammates. The team qualified for the state meet at regionals despite Leachman dropping out of the race with illness. Once at state, she went on to win the individual title.
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