Rainsberger ready for a big finish in Colorado

By Brent New for DyeStat

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- She’d won multiple track titles and the Class 4A cross country title, all by wide margins.

She’d finished sixth at Nike Nationals and later went to China to run at the Junior World Cross Country Championships.

Despite all of it, Air Academy runner Katie Rainsberger was far from 100 percent last season.

The U.S. No. 1 runner revealed that she'd dealt with severe fatigue last season, which doctors later diagnosed as a side effect of anemia.

“Something just wasn’t right. We could tell,” said her mother Lisa Rainsberger, the last American to win the Boston Marathon. “We just didn’t know what it was for the longest time.”

In line with the Colorado state cross country meet on Oct. 31, mother and daughter say all is well. Katie’s iron levels and energy are back to normal. She’s once again thriving in her mother’s training regimen. And it’s all thanks to eliminating gluten foods from her diet.

“I’m good. I’m ready to go,” Katie said. “I feel great.”

Earlier in the season, Rainsberger finished in 16 minutes and 23 seconds at the Desert Twilight XC Invitational at Arizona, the fastest girls time in the nation. And going into Saturday’s state meet she holds the fastest girls’ time in the state by almost a full minute.

Frankly, the Class 4A girls’ race looks like a wash.

“I’m looking to do the best I can at state and get ready for the Nikes that are a few weeks after,” said Rainsberger, who wore training shoes and won the 4A regional title by 64 seconds in 17:41 last week. “I don’t know if I’m looking for the course record. I just want to do the best I can and feel good going forward.”

Meanwhile Paul Roberts, the US No. 10 runner, will likely be the other big winner on Saturday.

If he wins the Class 2A cross country title on Saturday, the Lyons High School senior will become the first male runner to ever win four individual high school state championships.

"I started thinking about it back in middle school,” Roberts told the Daily Camera’s Brad Cochi. “It has become my goal and now we're down to the final one so hopefully I can have a good race." 

Mountain Vista is the favorite in 5A boys after it had a perfect score at regionals. Cherry Creek and Air Academy are the best bets in girls’ 5A and 4A, respectively. And Palmer Ridge is the frontrunner in 4A boys despite the loss of Eric Hamer, who now runs at Colorado State.