Borgia Invitational (MO)
No. 19 ranked Taylor Werner ran 17:23 to win the Borgia Invitational on Saturday. As her fourth consecutive year winning the race, the victory itself was not a surprise - but the time, perhaps, was, as she improved upon her all-time best in this meet by a whopping 16 seconds.
Werner is a two-time Foot Locker Nationals qualifier, via her freshman and sophomore years. She had her best season as a sophomore before dealing with injury in her junior year. Werner's Borgia time in 2013 was 17:39, before going on to place 10th at Foot Locker Nationals and fifth at NXN. Does the course PR mean she's ready to contend for a top 10 spot in the national line-up?
After the race, Werner said the weather was perfect for racing - which perhaps negated some aspects of what is a fairly challenging course.
"I felt pretty good today, and I managed to keep my pace on all the hills!" she said "There's about a 600m hill after two miles, and the whole thing has gradual hills everywhere you turn."
Not to be overlooked is the boys champion in St. Genevieve junior Ben Naeger, who ran 15:34 to win by nearly a minute. The time shows significant improvement over his 16:14 last year. Naeger is undefeated in 2015 with a season-best 5k time of 15:25 from Forest Park.
Photo by Chris Auckley
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