By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | Twitter: @JasonWBrooks2

MESA — Millennium junior Landen LeBlond was the favorite to win two races this weekend.
One ended with her as a state champion. The other ended with her in agony, being helped to a trainer’s table for ice treatment.

After winning the 1600 meters at Arizona’s first statewide, all-classes championships Friday, LeBlond was in the lead by a considerable distance Saturday in the 3200-meter race with 1.5 laps to go. That’s when she exited the track and collapsed on the Mesa Community College infield grass, needing several minutes to be helped to her feet due to an apparent back injury.

Valley Christian senior Lauren Ping ended up her career with a state title in the 3200, winning the race in 10 minutes, 34.16 seconds. Emma Baugh of Highland, a sometime rival of LeBlond, was a distance second at 10:57.32.
Friday, LeBlond won the 1600 with a 4:55 — three seconds faster than Ping and five seconds ahead of Baugh.

Millennium distance coach James Rafferty said LeBlond, also a talented cross country runner, has been battling some type of lower back injury for at least the past couple of weeks.

“We thought that between her doctors and a therapist, we had her injury under control,” Rafferty said Saturday night.. “She seemed to feel good last night, and all day today.”

In 2022, LeBlond was the runner-up to then-Sunrise Mountain senior Kaitlyn Kaye in the 1600 and fourth as Kaye won the 3200.

LeBlond traded the lead with other top runners in the 3200 Saturday, and had pulled out to a large lead halfway through the race that had shrunk by the time she collapsed.

Rafferty said LeBlond told him that she started to feel a cramp in her lower back about one minute before she collapsed on the far side of the track, opposite the start/finish line. She tried to push through to the end but couldn’t.

“She finished the first mile in 5:10, which is a little fast, but still pretty much in the sweet spot she was going for,” Rafferty said. “But then her lead dropped off after that.”

Rafferty said LeBlond is committed to a several running events in the month of June. Those are now subject to change as she undergoes medical evaluation.

“We’ll have to see what her doctors say about what’s causing this,” Rafferty said.

LeBlond not finishing in the top two in the 3200 probably cost the Tiger girls a top-10 finish in the first state Arizona meet. The Tigers scored 13 team points (10 coming from LeBlond’s win in the 1600) and tied for 18th.

Baugh’s Highland team was a close runner-up to girls champion Queen Creek.

Regarding the potential for a junior like LeBlond to win state distance titles on consecutive days, Rafferty conceded a lot of things have to go perfectly for that to happen.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” he said.

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent
@JasonWBrooks2

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.