EUGENE — There was no denying the difficulty and impressiveness of Olivia Brooks’ performance at Lane Community College on Saturday afternoon.

The Summit junior ran by herself from start to finish — a testament to her explosiveness and stamina but also to her mental fortitude. Before exiting the starting area, Brooks had already built a 1-second lead. Just more than a mile later, that advantage ballooned to 20 seconds.

The lead only grew throughout the Class 5A girls cross-country championship race — and she did so all by her lonesome.

“Midway, when you’re almost there, it’s hard to keep in mind that you have to finish,” Brooks said of running alone. “I was really excited for this race. I had a lot of adrenaline on my side.”

Brooks rode that adrenaline to a second straight individual state championship, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 46 seconds — just 12 seconds off the course record set in 1993.

“I don’t really know how I thought it would go,” said Brooks, who won by 37 seconds. “I was just ready.”

Led by Brooks, Summit posted 23 points to win an astounding eighth straight team title — one shy of tying the all-time OSAA record held by Jesuit.

That streak could be in jeopardy in the near future, especially with the group of young runners Summit boasted Saturday, including the second- and third-place finishers, sophomores Hannah Tobiason and Taylor Vandenborn. Then there is junior Emma Stevenson, who finished seventh. Junior Autumn Layden was 14th for the Storm.

“That’s amazing, honestly,” Brooks said of her team’s string of team championships. “I love my team so much, and I’m so proud of what they’ve accomplished this season. Going forward … I don’t know. I’m really excited to see what we can do.”

“Every one (is significant),” Summit coach Carol McLatchie said of the title. “You’ve got to get them all to the start line and pointed in the right direction.”

“Mountain View freshman Kelsey Swenson finished sixth in 19:09 to lead Mountain View to a second-place team finish with 49 points. That performance, she said, made up for the postrace pain.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect this. It’s so exciting, especially at the state meet, to be top 10. … I wanted to be mentally strong during this race, and I think I did that really well,” Swenson said, struggling to find words to describe her race before laughing. “It’s just so exciting.”

Sage Hassell joined Swenson in the top 10 for the Cougars, taking seventh to help Mountain View to its third straight state runner-up finish. Madison Leapaldt was 12th, Ciara Jones was 13th and Grace Scrocca took 30th.

Grace Perkins, the lone Bend High representative, placed 10th in the 94-runner field. That was the goal, Lava Bears coach Lisa Nye said, and Perkins nailed it.

“I’m so proud of her,” Nye said of the junior. “She’s just now starting to understand her ability. She ran a great race and I think really opened her eyes to see what she can do.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0307, glucas@bendbulletin.com.