In First Distance Races Of The Weekend At Nike Outdoor Nationals, Rylee Blade And Corbin Coombs Break Records In 5,000; Mount Tabor OR Boys, South Lakes VA Girls Win DMR Titles

By Lori Shontz for DyeStat

Becky Holbrook photos

INTERVIEWS | RESULTS | WEBCAST  

EUGENE - Neither Rylee Blade nor Corbin Coombs was sure exactly what to expect in their 5,000-meter races Thursday at Nike Outdoor Nationals.

Blade hadn’t done any 5K training since indoor season, and she was coming off the grueling march to the California state high school state championships for Santiago (Corona) CA), which involved a number of rounds.

She figured she’d treat the race like hard one of her workouts, see how comfortable she could feel and mostly enjoy one of the final races of her high school career.

Coombs, a recent graduate of Organ Mountain High in Las Cruces, N.M., who broke the 4-minute mile barrier last month, had never before run a 5K on the track.

But since his high school teammates weren’t able to travel to Oregon, and he wasn’t able to compete in the DMR, he had some time to kill before the 800 on Saturday and the mile on Sunday, so he figured he may as well compete on Thursday, too.

It turned out that both Nike Elite runners were properly prepared.

Blade dominated the girls 5,000, winning by 16 seconds over Trabuco Hills CA's Holly Barker. Her time of 15:59.65 broke the Hayward Field high school record. It's also No. 13 all-time. 

Coombs outkicked Ethan Locke of Eddy (Texas) to win in 14:04.49, breaking the meet record by seven seconds. Locke finished second in 14:05.06.

“I was pretty excited that last lap,” Coombs said. “While it was hard, I knew I had another gear in me.”

Coombs shadowed Locke until there were 200 meters to go, and he began to make his move. He pulled ahead of Locke, who went with him around the final turn but couldn’t hang with Coombs.

“I knew I had to give it what I had that last 100,” Coombs said. “When I passed him with 60 to go and I had a lot more in me, I was super excited knowing I could win this race.”

It was Coombs’ first national title. In-state rival Charlie Vause, the Nike Cross Nationals champion, was third.

Blade’s experience was nearly opposite; she ran the last mile alone. She laughed as she said everyone probably noticed her looking around as she was running, which helped her to achieve her goal of enjoying the moment. She said she was even a little zoned out for much of the race.

“Honestly, the last time I probably zoned in was the last 100,” she said. “Because I was like, ‘Oh, shoot, I’m right at the 16-minute mark.’ So I kind of had to go.”

In other finals, South Lakes Track Club of Virginia continued its winning tradition in the girls DMR with their third consecutive Nike Outdoor National victory, by 15 seconds over Santiago (Corona) CA, without Blade in the lineup 

South Lakes’ time of 11:32.38 was the 13th best on the all-time list and the No. 2 high school time in the United States this year. Santiago finished in 11:47.59, No. 10 in the United States this season.

Leadoff runner Catalina Simon settled in just behind the leaders at the start, then broke away from the field with about 300 meters remaining in her leg. From there, Collins Han, Aya Ryan and Caroline Elliott just kept increasing the lead.

“Catalina had her insane move on the backstretch, and I think that set the tone for the entire day,” Ryan said. “We knew what we had to do. We wanted to be fast and dominant.”

Mount Tabor Track Club of Oregon won the boys DMR in 10:08.01 to win their first national title. The first three runners, Zafer Courcelle, Rory Pedrick and Leaf McQuillen, kept their team within striking distance of the lead, and then anchor Brennan McEwen made the decisive move with 800 to go.

“In a DMR, so much can happen in the first three legs, you can never really predict where you’re going to be,” McEwen said. “It’s just kind of be ready for anything. 800 ended up being the place I felt most confident.”

Cate Bryant of Texas Elite led the heptathlon after the first day with 3,013 points, 37 ahead of Hope Diekmann of San Ramon Valley Track Club and 59 ahead of Eva Welsch of Lakeville, Minnesota.

Miles Lipka of Algonquin Regional Track Club led the decathlon after the first day with 3,895 points, 153 ahead of Miller Mabury of Kinder Sports Track.