Watch Kaitlyn Estep win Knights Crossing in 17:29!
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Kaitlyn Estep of Cardinal Gibbons took home the individual win at Knights Crossing in Salem, Virginia in 17:29 to mark her best cross country performance to date and first major win of her career.
As a freshman Estep was fourth in her high school 5K debut here with teammate Hannah Rae Shaffer taking the individual win. Estep would go through some injuries over her freshman year but still had a strong season placing 14th at Great American, 12th in NCHSAA 4A and was a big part of Gibbon's team qualifying with NXN. On the track she'd go on to win the 4A Indoor 1000m and outdoor 800m and ended the year with PRs of 2:08.13 and 4:44.87 for 800m and 1600m.
This would be her first test in cross country since her stellar track season and she'd sit with the lead group of Virginian's in Kiera Lowman (Alleghany), Caroline Sapperstein (Oakton) and Abigail Mesfin (Oakton) for two Miles. The group of four would go through the Mile in 5:27 then the 2 Miles in 11:26 with Lowman seeming to be the one pushing the pace.
Over the final Mile Estep would crank it up to another gear and pull away from the lead group crossing the line in 17:29 with Sapperstein taking 2nd in 17:42, Mesfin in 17:52.8 and Lowman in 18:05. Sapperstein ran a 1 minute PR herself for 2nd. She is a 5:00 1600m runner and 10:34 full 2 Mile caliber runner, and Estep was able to put 13 seconds on her over the final mile.
Kaitlyn Estep after Knights Crossing win in 17:29
She'd lead her Cardinal Gibbons team to an individual win over Blacksburg (VA) and Myers Park scoring 65 points with a 19:03 team average. Myers Park placed just 9 points behind Blacksburg for 2nd with a 19:50 team average from 1-5.
We'll see Estep and Gibbons next in two weeks in Kentucky at the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational.
