Edgewood senior Lydia Randolph reigned supreme at the 2020 Johnnycake Jog in Mentor on Sunday.
Randolph won the female 16-19 age group with a time of 33:44 in the five-mile run. She was the second-fastest female at the race and placed 29th overall.
“Finishing first in my age group was a huge confidence boost for me,” Randolph said. “I am excited to see where my times are this year, but for right now I just have been looking to get in a good solid effort as I haven’t raced in a while.”
With an average pace of 6:45 per mile, Randolph finished 23 seconds ahead of Wickliffe’s Emma Esteves, who finished second in the 16-19 age group.
“My goal for the race was to get a good solid effort and to stay consistent the whole race each mile,” Randolph said. “I just wanted to see where my fitness level is at with how well my coach has been pushing me at practice.”
Randolph prepared for a quick start but maintained her strategy and pace throughout the race.
“I knew that the first mile was going to be fast as people are just excited to race again, so I knew I had to hold back my adrenaline for the whole five miles,” she said. “I just had a consistent plan for each mile and ran with some of the Riverside boys that I have ran with before and knew where I needed to be.”
Renee Hardin, a 37-year old from Medina, finished as the fastest female at the event with a time of 32:30 in the five-mile run.
Finishing as the second-fastest female runner in the event provided Randolph with some momentum heading into her senior season at Edgewood.
“It is very encouraging seeing my time and place for the race to get a guide of where my fitness is at,” she said. “I can use this race to gauge off of where I am now and where I want to be.”
Randolph, who placed sixth at the Chagrin Valley Conference championships in 2019, has competed at the regional meet in each of the last three seasons.
She hopes to take the next step to compete at the state meet this fall.
“I have been feeling very confident and healthy this year, which has changed my whole attitude,” she said. “I have been working on not stressing over races and just seeing what happens and letting my body do what it knows what to do.”
