Fleshman Has Rough Day in Florida, but Earns All-American Honors

Lauren Fleshman of Canyon High got off to a slow start and fell midway through the race, but she still earned All-American honors by finishing 14th in the girls’ race of the national high school cross-country championships at Oaks Trail Golf Course at Shades of Green in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Saturday.

Fleshman, a junior, clocked 18:33.9 over a sloppy, rain-drenched 5,000-meter course that was covered with puddles up to six inches deep. She was the No. 3 finisher from the West region and the top finisher among four runners from the Southern Section.

Junior Erin Sullivan of Mt. Mansfield High in Jericho, Vt., placed first in 17:22.0 to become that state’s first national champion and junior Mariel Ettinger of La Grande (Ore.) finished second in 17:51.1.

“It was pretty hard,” Fleshman said after earning third-team All-American honors. “[Most of the runners from the West region] felt tired, I think from the time change, and we just got left behind at the start. After the first 100 yards, we couldn’t catch our breath and we were toward the back of the pack.”

Fleshman, runner-up in the West regional on Dec. 6, was 23rd out of 32 runners when she came through the mile mark in 5:46, but she managed to pass five runners in the next half-mile before falling on a slippery part of the course.

The fall cost her the spots she’d gained, but she kept her composure.

“I slid on my side where I hit, but I didn’t get hurt,” Fleshman said. “A lot of girls were falling or almost going down because it was so wet and slippery.”

Fleshman recovered well enough from her fall to move into a battle for 12th place with a half-mile left, but she couldn’t keep pace with seniors Jenny Arnold of Libertyville (Ill.) and Laura Turner of Portsmouth (R.I.) when they launched their kicks.

“They both had good kicks,” Fleshman said. “And I didn’t have anything left.”

Nordhoff senior Dusty Herman had the same feeling in the final mile of the boys’ race.

Herman, second in the West regional, led the field through the first three-quarters of a mile and was in eighth place when he came through the mile in 4:57, but he finished 18th in 16:11.0.

Senior and Somalian native Abdirizak Mohamud of Boston (Mass.) English High placed first in 15:22.7 to become the first two-time boys’ champion and junior Jorge Torres of Wheeling (Ill.) was second in 15:33.5.

Senior Isaiah Festa of Morro Bay was the top finisher from the West region with a third-place time of 15:38.9.

“I got into oxygen debt at about 1 1/4 miles and I couldn’t stay with [the lead pack] after that,” Herman said. “But I feel like I ran a good race. It could have been better, but that doesn’t matter now. I gave it my best shot.”