PATIENCE HAS BEEN the key to Sadie Engelhardt’s steady improvement. As an 8th-grader she made headlines by running an age-14 record of 4:40.16 in the mile. While that would be a high-water mark for many runners, Engelhardt has gotten better each season, and is now our High School Girls Athlete Of The Year.
The key, she believes, has been a gentle training program that has kept her fresh and given her room to improve each year: “When I first started, I wasn’t doing a whole lot. I think I was running maybe three times a week. Even before that I was running like twice a week and then playing soccer.
“So as it progressed throughout the years, I think we just kept adding a little bit and I think the key was just to not add too much.”
Not until her now started senior year at California’s Ventura HS has she hit 50 miles per week, she says, but she is quick to point out another crucial factor in her improvement: “I just really love the sport. I love racing. What keeps me motivated is doing well in races. There’s nothing better than the feeling after a race, after you just gave it your all, whether it’s a bad race or a good race. There’s nothing that beats that feeling.” (Continued below)
It’s been that way since her family moved from Massachusetts to California when she was in elementary school, and her mother convinced her to try running cross county. “I didn’t originally like running,” she admits. “We were running around our school field at Poinsettia Elementary, I found it repetitive. At the time, I had only known soccer, so it was just a slower pace to me. I got bored and I was planning on quitting after the first race.”
But that competition changed everything,” she reveals. “I ended up loving it right away.” Winning helped. Her mother, though, saw her come in with a huge lead and figured her kid had made a mistake on the course. “She was like, ‘Oh no, my poor Sadie! She took a wrong turn!’ She said her heart dropped completely. She was super stressed out. And the coach beelined right over to her and assured her, ‘No, she’s legit. She did not cut anything.’”
Since then, Engelhardt says she has only grown under the guidance of her coaches. “Obviously, I have a different coach for high school, but they collaborate with my coaches that first got me into the sport and the elementary coach who coached me all throughout until high school, Matt Hammel.”
The current coach is Josh Spiker, who owns a running store in the community. A track and cross country All-America for Wisconsin with a PR of 3:40.36, Spiker also ran for Ventura as a prep, where he won a State title and was twice named to our prep All-America team.
Engelhardt, who won the mile at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational in both 9th grade (4:35.16) and 10th (4:36.26), made another performance jump last year under Spiker’s guidance and put together a season that improved all of her bests. She hit 56.45 for 400, 2:03.48 for 800, and a 4:28.46 for the mile. Perhaps the most crucial PR came in a pro 1500 race in Gresham, Oregon, where she finished in 4:08.86 to qualify for the Olympic Trials.
“There was definitely a switch in the training,” explains Engelhardt. “Not that it got super hard; we definitely don’t train hard. There are days when he will let us go a little harder than normal, but those times are few. His energy has contributed a lot. He’s super positive and knows how to get us pumped up.”
Last fall, Engelhardt successfully defended her state title in cross country, winning the Div. II race, but then finished a disappointed 26th in the Nike Cross Nationals. She admits she’s probably more dangerous on the track. “I feel like the mile is the sweet spot for me.”
She opened up her junior campaign in February with a challenging double, winning a 1000 race at Boston U in 2:41.00 (the No. 4 prep performance ever) and going across town the next day to win the prep mile at the New Balance GP in 4:34.45 (No. 3 performer ever). She closed out the brief undercover season with a 4:36.36 win at New Balance Nationals.
Outdoors, she started with a 1500 win at The TEN in San Juan Capistrano, her 4:09.70 making her dreams of running in the Trials realistic, as she became the no. 5 prep ever. She again took the Arcadia mile (with a PR 4:34.31 — No. 3). She improved to win Mt. SAC two weeks later in 4:31.72 (No. 2). At the end of May she won the California 1600 in 4:32.06 and anchored Ventura to a 4 x 800 crown (relay performances are not considered for AOY purposes).
Five days later (May 30), she started her post-season rampage. A trip to St Louis gave her a runner-up finish in a field of pros and the fastest actual mile in prep history at 4:28.46 (Addy Wiley’s 1600 from ’22 converts to 4:27.72). Then it was Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on June 01, where she placed 4th (again, among pros) in 4:10.18. The Gresham race and her Trials qualifier 4:08.86 came on June 09. Three days later (June 12) she won the Brooks PR 800 in 2:03.99. On June 16, she won the New Balance Outdoor mile in 4:37.07.
The racing was fun for her, as well as educational. “My coach always tells me that I have this kind of sense for racing. If I want to win, I’m going to read out the field and see who’s next to me and how they’re feeling and try to gauge off that. And then I’d say that the whole last half of track season, I was going for time because I wanted to get to the Olympic Trials. I was focusing on each lap split, making sure I was on track to get that time.”
She points out that for her there was a stark difference between racing her prep peers and lining up against much older pros. At New Balance Indoors, she says, “That was the most nervous I have ever been.” A few days later at the TEN, she says, “It was the most calm I have ever felt. Part of that is with high school there’s this expectation… When I got to race the pros, I felt like I had nothing to lose.”
When she finally rolled up to the Olympic Trials for her final meet of the season, she ran into a completely different experience, surrounded by athletes she had looked up to. “In the staging area, we were about to go out on the track and it literally felt surreal. I was starstruck. I was like, this cannot be real right now. That was the first time to see a lot of them in person. I’ve watched videos, but it was crazy to be next to them… I think that’s why it didn’t go as planned.”
She had to walk away with a non-advancing 12th in her heat after a 4:19.66.
Now Engelhardt is working toward her future. She has committed to run for NC State, winner of the last three NCAA XC titles. “I’m going to have to work to even be on their travel team, which is a great problem to have. I think that’s just going to push me to be better. And I think the culture there is unmatched.”
And of course, there’s more racing to be done before Engelhardt even dons the Wolfpack uniform. This fall, after placing 5th in a record-breaking race at California’s Woodbridge Classic, she took the Clovis Invitational with a 16:24.2 course record over a route every California star has raced on for decades. Now she is focused on two remaining biggies, the California State Meet and the Nike Cross Nationals.
“I want to make this cross country season count,” she says. “I want to be ready for college cross country because I need to fill some big shoes there.”
Looking ahead to track, she finds herself using the phrase that describes her running career from the very beginning: “I’d just like to see improvement and maybe go to one of the U.S. championships.” But mostly, she adds, “I really honestly want to have fun.”
