Sadie Engelhardt made her intentions clear from the start that it would be her vs. the clock in the girls 1600m State Meet final.
After weeks of patient, conservative racing, it was of little surprise that Ventura (SS) sophomore Sadie Engelhardt went out fast at the gun in the 1600-meter run finals.
Engelhardt, the state record-holder and defending champion in the four-lap challenge, made it known from the jump that it would be her vs. the clock, hang on at your peril.
Engelhardt opened at 65.61. La Jolla (SD) freshman Chiara Dailey took the bait and ran 65.97. Etiwanda (SS) senior Janelle Avilez went out in 66.85 with the rest of the group in the 67s.
Engelhardt went 68.07 and hit the 800m at 2:13.67. Dailey droped to 72.20 and was in a pack of seven girls at 2:18. The leader went 69.73 and was at 3:23.40 through three laps, nearly six seconds on, in order, Scotts Valley (CC) junior Ashlyn Boothby, Montgomery (NC) sophomore Hanne Thomsen, Del Norte (SD) senior Hannah Riggins, and Dana Hills (SS) senior Allura Markow.
Engelhardt finished in 70.05 for a 4:33.45 clocking that broke the meet record of 4:33.82 by Christine Babcock (Woodbridge/SS) in 2008, and was just 0.16 off her CA record time from Arcadia of 2002. She became the 10th girl to win the 1600m at consecutive State Meets, and now is in position to become one of just four to ever win it three consecutive times, and the first to win it all four years.
Engelhardt's time improved on her previous U.S. No. 1 time.
Boothby, the only girl among the leaders to negative split the final two laps, closed in 70.21 for a runner-up time of 4:39.45 that ranked U.S. No. 2 (at the time, now U.S. No. 3). Of the 48 State Meets since girls were added in 1974, Boothby's time would have won the title in 43 of them.
Riggins closed in 72.06 for third in a San Diego Section-record time of 4:41.42. Thomsen, who injured her foot during the race which would later force her to drop out of the 3200m where she was the defending champion, ran 71.00-70.83 in the middle two laps, made it home in 74.38 for fourth.
Dailey, who threatened the SDS record with a 4:42.69 to win the San Diego Section title the week before, closed in 80.74 for 11th in 4:52.82. She was the only freshman to qualify for the State final.
Watch the Race
Race Countdown voting by Ryan Blystone, Steve Brand, Albert Caruana, Mark Gardner, and Jeffrey Parenti
