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Great day for cross country race with weather conditions clear and mild temperatures. Right before girls top flight race wind and rain picked up out of nowhere but subsided at start of race. There was a significant buzz throughout crowd in anticipation of the ladies top flight race. The race director had proclaimed it the most talented and complete field in the meets history. Even the hot dog vendor told me he could not wait to see “THE FIREWORKS” as he put it, of the event. To build the anticipation of the race, the race organizer brought 8-10 of the top competitors and introduced them and a brief bio as they sent each one of them individually to the starting line to join the rest of the awaiting field. (I believe it was: Timmons, McMahon, Mires, Dailey, Brandon, Jamboretz, Neale, Gomez , Maag, Roberts and Hegarty)
At the gun most top seeds made a quick path to the front. At 400 meters it was an established lead pack of Mires, Maag, Neale, Timmons and the trio of Idaho girls. Hegarty followed close behind while McMahon and Dailey hung back. The group moved though the first mile relatively unchanged as they attacked the big hill. Maag hit it first with Mires and Neale right on her heels. Immediately behind them ran Brandon, Gomez and Timmons side by side. Jamboretz trailed right behind the Brandon led pack with 5 yard gaps between Hegarty, Roberts, McMahon and Dailey. (End of Mile 1)
The start of the second mile was the beginning of the end for the rest of the field as Maag exerted herself to establish a convincing and commanding 10 second gap as she surged into the remaining distance. At a mile and a half it was a race for 2nd place with Gomez engaging Mires and Neale for this honor. Jamboretz lead Brandon some 15-20 yards back, followed 5 yards back by Timmons. Hegarty was 15-20 yards behind Timmons while Roberts had lost contact with lead string and McMahon and Dailey began to move their way up although some 20 yards off Hegarty. At two miles Maag was beginning her victory lap while Gomez looked to secure 2nd position. Neale and Mires battled through the second mile mark while some distance back Jamboretz lead Brandon by 5 yards with Timmons 10 yards back. Hegarty looked to be closing on Timmons and McMahon could now been seen stalking and working her way back into connection with the front group. Although some 10 yards back of McMahon, Dailey is clearly moving toward the front and closing the distance on the string of runners in front of her.
At 2 ½ miles it is clear that Maag is uncontested and Gomez will secure 2nd. Neale is clearly trying to push for Gomez but drops her head to some degree while Mires is struggling and appears to be slipping back some. On the move forward is Brandon who has passed Jamboretz and now has sights set on Mires. The battle for 7 -10 has heated up. Hegarty has surged to pass Timmons while Dailey has moved past McMahon and both of them have drawn to the Hegarty, Timmons duo. With quarter mile remaining the top 4 look secured. Mires is struggling and Jamboretz is coming hard eventually coming within 2 seconds of Mires for 5th and 6th position. Timmons retakes 7th position from Hegarty while McMahon has made a move past Dailey and is now bringing herself and Dailey past Hegarty then Timmons. The remaining distance is a display of speed for Dailey as she easily moves toward the finish line opening up a 7 second gap over McMahon and 12 seconds over Timmons. Hegarty fills out the top 10.
Exciting race. Really impressed with Brandons move over the last mile of the course. She looked to be struggling and really made a strong move to get to 4th. As well Jamboretz came on very strong when it had looked like she was out of it. Dailey’s big surge was impressive, she laid back quite a ways and made a huge last mile run. Goes without saying about Maag. She made it look easy. Neale was visibly upset after race. She is very impressive freshman and has incredible future. Obviously a tenacious competitor. Other racers to note were Peyton Schutte, her 18:16 was impressive. Maybe equally impressive was the young lady from Canada (Alexandra Siemans) who was on Peytons heels the entire race and ran 18:33.
