By the end of the girls cross country race, the only ones within reach of Air Academy's Allie McLaughlin were her lacrosse teammates.

The senior won the Kadet Invitational Division I race by 1:23 over Kara Slavoski of St. Mary's and set a course record with a time of 18 minutes, 18.8 seconds.

That snapped the 18:58 set by Liberty's Sarah Schwald in 1987.

"She's an amazing runner," Slavoski said. "All I did was just worry about running my race."

In the boys Division I race, Steven Stoot of Fountain Valley beat Liberty's Neil Bishop by almost 7 seconds.

McLaughlin could have ran the 3.1-mile course faster, perhaps, in less muddy conditions and if she'd been able to keep track of the field, which was too far behind.

"I was worried about starting my kick too early because I wasn't sure if someone could catch me," she said.

The only thing she needed to worry about was all the backslaps from well-wishers as the Kadets lacrosse team clustered near the finish line.

"It was great to have my teammates here cheering me on," she said.

McLaughlin's performance led the Kadets to a second-place finish behind Doherty, who was led by Lynnea Sjoersdma's fifth-place finish (20:20.3).

"We really wanted this, this year," Sjoersdma said. "We have a really good chance of standing on the podium at state this year."

Jordan Bloesser finished ninth while Aubrey Hilte as 12th, Leah Anderson 15th and Krista Roy 19th to all medal and score 60 for the Spartans to the Kadets' 83. Summit was third and The Classical Academy was fourth even though standout Kaitlin Hanenburg did not compete. She was not scheduled to race, coach Alan Versaw said.

Stoot was pleased with his effort after winning the Division II race last fall.

"I really wanted to race against the bigger schools to see how I'd do," he said. "I led the whole race so I didn't want to lose it at the end."

The boys made up for the girls lack of drama.

Stoot pulled away from Bishop after the senior caught Stoot on the final hill about half a mile from the finish line.

"He started out real fast so I was hoping to catch him," Bishop said. "I did on that hill, but he just pulled away. I came in wanting to beat 17:20 and I ran 17:02 so I'm happy with the race I ran."

Bishop's finish led the Lancers to second place behind Rock Canyon 101-122.

"Our No. 3-5 runners had to step up today and they did," coach Gary Weston said. "They did so I'm real happy with the finish."

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Contact the writer: joseph.paisley@gazette.com