California's Top 10 Returning Girls In The 5K

A top seed for most of her high school career, Sadie Engelhardt (Ventura HS // SS) has been rocking her season during grades nine, ten, and eleven. What lies ahead for her during this senior season?

The Southern Section as a whole proves to provide some stiff competition this season as they return six on the list of ten best returners for this year. Among them, a pair of JSerra High School athletes ranked 9th and 10th overall look to help the Lions make it four in a row for the Div. IV state title.

The San Diego Section is also sending in some troops with both Chiara Dailey (La Jolla HS // SDS) and Jaelyn Williams (Eastlake HS // SDS) having the number four and six top returning 5K times for this season. Both have competed twice at the national meet, Dailey at Footlocker Nationals and Williams at NXN.

Top 10 5K Run Returners

Rank Time Athlete/Team Grade Meet Date Place
1 16:39.30
Ventura (SS)
2025
2 16:45.80
Santiago Corona (SS)
2025
3 17:05.00
Trabuco Hills (SS)
2025
4 17:07.30
La Jolla (SD)
2026
5 17:10.20
Montgomery (NC)
2025
6 17:22.90
Eastlake (SD)
2026
7 17:24.40
Buchanan (CS)
2025
8 17:26.50
Huntington Beach (SS)
2027
9 17:31.60
JSerra Catholic (SS)
2026
10 17:32.90
JSerra Catholic (SS)
2025