Above: Watch Kletter's awe-inspiring season debut, 17:19.
- - -
If your name is Logan St. John Kletter, you don't know what a rust buster is.
LSJK spent the first half of the season nursing a leg injury. Without seeing her compete, we feared that she might pack it in for a season, but Kletter had different plans.
At the Bald Eagle Invitational on Saturday, Kletter made her season debut with a statement victory. Kletter ran a stunning 17:19 on the White Oak Park Course - a 10-second personal best time. Absurdly, she won the meet by nearly a minute.
Her time is the second fastest in course history - just 15 seconds off of Irene Riggs' (WV) 17:04 Course Record.
Kletter's time now ranks as the PA #1 and the US #39 - though we can't discount that White Oak Park is considerably more challenging than some other courses run around the country.
"I felt really good. I wasn't expecting to run that fast," Kletter told PA MileSplit after her race. "I had a little injury a couple of weeks ago; it kept me out of Red, White and Blue, and Foundations. So I took a week off, and then all last week was cross-training. So I just started running on the ground this week."
It's an awe-inspiring debut for Kletter, who now vaults back into the state title conversation. But it also means a lot for her team - which fell to rank #20 after starting the year at PA #10 in the state rankings.
Mount Lebanon finished second to PA #3 Norwin in the 3A division at Bald Eagle this weekend. 15-points separated the two teams, and Mount Lebanon placed their top five all in the top 20.
Norwin capitalized on a tight compression yet again. They had five girls in the top-12 points-paying position (3A).
