Chatard's Lily Cridge clocks fastest 5K ever run in Indiana
Lily Cridge is back. Is she ever.
The Bishop Chatard senior opened the cross-country postseason Saturday with arguably the fastest 5,000 meters ever run in Indiana high school history.
Cridge won at the Brebeuf Sectional in 16:46.3, or 39 seconds faster than the girls course record she set last year. Park Tudor senior Sophia Kennedy was second in 17:10.3, also under the course record.
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Cridge clocked 16:22.81 in finishing second in last year’s RunningLane nationals at Huntsville, Ala. But that course is considered about 30 seconds faster than other 5K courses.
At Huntsville, Cridge bettered the state record of 16:52.25 set by Mishawaka’s Anna Rohrer at Dowagiac, Mich., on Aug. 24, 2013. All things considered, this race was probably faster, and it was the fastest on Indiana soil. Her pace was 5:24 per mile.
“Really, it’s just trusting the process and not going too fast,” Cridge said. “We didn’t want to go too fast too soon, and that’ll lead to injury.”
She lost the 2020 cross-country postseason to injury before winning the state title last October. Then another setback effectively took her out of the 2022 track season, in which she ran for Chatard’s 3,200-meter relay team at state.
Cridge said she reclaimed fitness by trusting coach Dan Kinghorn, not getting discouraged and “not getting stressed out about what others are doing and what times they are running, and just focusing on myself.”
She recently made a college commitment to Oregon, choosing the Ducks over Virginia, Wake Forest and North Carolina State. At Oregon, she will be coached by Shalane Flanagan, a 2008 Olympic silver medalist and 2017 New York City Marathon champion. Cridge said she picked Oregon because of “how welcoming the girls team was” and pro experience of Flanagan and Oregon coach Jerry Schumacher.
Cridge has a long season ahead, including the state meet Oct. 29 at Terre Haute; Nike Midwest Regional Nov. 13, also at Terre Haute, and Nike nationals Dec. 3 at Portland, Ore.
“I’m super stoked,” she said.
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Kennedy climbed to No. 5 in state history behind Cridge, Rohrer, Delta’s Nicki Southerland (17:05.75 in another sectional Saturday) and Warsaw’s Ashley Erba (17:06.90 in 2012.).
Gretchen Farley, also of Park Tudor, was third in 17:42.3. Kennedy has committed to Stanford and Farley to Notre Dame.
North Central won the girls sectional with 43 points, followed by Chatard (76) and Cathedral (79).
Chatard won a boys sectional for the first time since 2005, beating defending state champion Brebeuf 59-71.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls cross-country: Lily Cridge runs fastest 5K in Indiana ever
