Running on her home course for the last time, Baylor senior Hannah Jumper decided it was time to have fun.
Jumper ran away from the field from the opening gun Thursday at the Front Runner City Championships at Baylor, proceeding to win her third consecutive title in the five-kilometer event. She won in 18 minutes, 20.42 seconds.
Baylor senior Simon Holden won the boys’ title – claiming the CCCL runner of the year award in the process – in 17:04.56, defeating Red Bank’s Robert Bridges by 23 seconds.
Team titles went to McCallie and Baylor’s girls – ranked 10th in the Southeast ESPN Rise rankings.
GPS’s Johanna Gartman was the girls’ runner of the year, with season honors going to Heritage’s girls and Baylor’s boys.
Jumper never trailed in the event, running her personal best on what she called her “favorite course.”
“For it to be the last race, it’s a kind of bittersweet feeling,” she said. “It’s my last time on my home course, and there was a little more pressure because I had won the last two.”
The Lady Red Raiders claimed the top four slots with Tenley Godfrey and twins Rachel and Becca Greenwall finished following Jumper.
Holden’s victory was slightly more important. Had Bridges been victorious, the two would have been co-runners of the year, but Holden pulled away in the second mile and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
“I really wanted to break my personal record here,” he said of his fourth win of the year. “I kind of just ran everybody’s pace but really picked it up in the last mile.”
Said Bridges: “Simon’s a good runner. I did my best to keep up with him, but around the two-mile mark he just took off.
“It’s still been a good season. I’m just going to try to keep up this good season and get ready for the regions.”