By Marlowe Hereford for DyeStat

 

EAGLE ISLAND STATE PARK, Idaho -- For the second time in a Mountain View uniform and third time in her competitive career, Lexy Halladay is an individual champion at the Bob Firman Invitational.

The senior from nearby Meridian ran 17:31.2 to win the girls elite race almost two years to the day after winning the same title in her first appearance at the annual meet as a high school runner. Additionally, she won the middle school girls race as a seventh grader in 2014, a memory she fondly recalled after her 2017 victory.

 

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The most recent win for Idaho's three-time defending 5A girls individual cross country state champion brought a smile to her face while in the finish area.

"I love this race," Halladay said. "Being able to perform in front of my entire state...all the teams are here. When I see them, I say 'Hi.' I love running in front of them and showing Idaho's great. We've got some really good athletes here. I'm excited to see the future of track and running just for Idaho."

Halladay established a commanding lead from the start, putting considerable distance between herself and the rest of the top 15 by the first run down Poplar Lane. Saturday made eight times Halladay has raced at Eagle Island in high school and it was her fourth win. The course is also a workout destination for Mountain View runners, and Halladay said the familiarity helps her both mentally and physically.

"Going over the second hill, you know you're almost there," Halladay said. "Even going over the first time, you're almost halfway. just having those little markers in your brain helps you mentally stay positive and just to know where you are is really important."

While she said she did not enter Saturday with a particular time to beat, her grandfather made an almost spot-on prediction via a text message to her.

"He said, 'I'm smelling a 17:30,'" Halladay recalled with a laugh. "Oh, Grandpa." 

Halladay was one of nine Idaho girls to finish in the top 30 of the girls elite race, joining Twin Falls' Mattalyn Geddes (sixth in 18:07.4), Boise's Rosina Machu (18:13.7), Eagle's Lizzie Dildine (11th in 18:16.9), Skyline's Sariah Harrison (14th in 18:19.8), Raft River's Kaybee Christensen (21st in 18:43.4), Eagle's Ashley LaJocies (22nd in 18:43.7), Boise's Mikella Tobin (25th in 18:48.2) and Capital's Robyn Reeder (26th in 18:49.3).

Geddes, a senior, also placed in the top 10 at last year's meet, going on to finish fifth at NXR Northwest and ninth at NXN.

"This is one of the biggest races I've run in all season," Geddes said. "Coming into it, I wanted to give it my all."

While the order of several of the runners behind Halladay changed as the race went on, Lincoln OR freshman Kate Peters held onto the second-place spot, finishing in 17:53.7 for her second sub-18 minute 5k time in as many meets. 

"It was my favorite (meet) so far this season because there was competition and it felt more like a big race," Peters said. "I liked the cheering."

Woods Cross UT junior Carlee Hansen led Beehive State finishers with a third-place time of 17:57.9 to claim her second consecutive top-10 finish in the race. She entered Saturday having won the BYU Autumn Classic varsity girls race a week earlier.

"I race competitively with a pack better than I do by myself," Hansen said. "I definitely wanted to get top three, which worked great, and my other goal was I kinda wanted to do the same thing I did at BYU where you take the pack and then you make a move and then you stick with them. It's just unlucky that the pack wasn't more close to first and second place. It was good competition and I feel good about my race." 

The top two girls teams Saturday were also from Utah. Lone Peak, which entered the meet No. 3 in DyeStat's Southwest girls regional rankings and coming off winning the varsity girls title at the BYU Autumn Classic, won the girls elite team title with a score of 77 points.

Led by top-20 finishes from Eliza Arrington (fourth in 17:59.5), Reagan Gardner (eighth in 18:12.6) and Eliza Mason (16th in 18:31.7), Lone Peak won by a 30-point margin over Springville. Boise, the Northwest region's No. 3-ranked girls team, which upset Great Oak by 10 points to win last year's Bob Firman elite title, was third Saturday with a score of 169.