With Brie Oakley just out of view, Lauren Gregory attacks the final hill on the state course. Photos by Alan Versaw.
It was close. It was close twice over. In fact, you could make a very good case that this one was so good it should have been the concluding event of the entire state meet.
The individual title didn't come down to a race between three as anticipated, but it did come down to a very good battle between two.
It would be fair to call Lauren Gregory a slight favorite going into the 5A girls race. From conversations I had with fans and other coaches before the race began, it seemed to be fairly widely understood that Allie Chipman was a little nicked up and probably not running at 100%. And, Gregory had beaten Brie Oakley in their lone meeting during the invitational season. Added to all that, Gregory was the grizzled veteran in the group, the one who had been to state and won before, not once but twice.
But, for all Gregory's accumulated perceptions of advantage, once the racin...
