Palmer Ridge's Deitsch wins despite untied shoelaces

Ali Deitsch was still too fast for the competition at the Doherty Spartan Invitational on Friday even with her wet, purple shoelaces flapping all over the place.

Both of the Palmer Ridge junior’s shoes came untied within the first mile of the cross country race at Bear Creek Park but it didn’t stop her from taking home first place in 18 minutes, 39.2 seconds.

“I didn’t want to stop to tie them due to time, and the girl (Lauren Hamilton/The Classical Academy) was catching me,” Deitsch said. “All I thought is I better speed up so the sooner I am done, and the sooner it’s over, I can tie my shoes.”

Palmer Ridge coach Kandee Khodl was not surprised by Deitsch’s performance, or her untied shoes.

“I don’t know how many times her shoes come untied and how many times I tell her in the beginning to make sure you double knot your shoes,” Khodl said, laughing. “I’m not surprised at all. She runs through anything.”

Yet minutes after Deitsch finished she still had not tied her shoes, instead cheering on her teammates, including Heather Gentry (16th), to a second-place finish in team competition behind 119 points.

TCA claimed first with 54 points behind Hamilton’s second-place finish (18:49:4) and Mountain Vista was third with 143. Megan Mooney (18:50:4) finished third individually for Horizon.

“It’s a big tradition of our team that we always wait for all of our runners to come in,” Khodl said. “We run as a team, we win as a team. It’s just been a remarkable year for us. We’re looking at state.”

Deitsch said the only other time her shoes came untied was during her freshman year at the state championships. Friday was her first untied shoes victory.

“My shoes came untied at state my freshman year but other than that they never came untied,” she said. “I guess maybe I should untie them more often apparently.”

On the boys’ side, Peyton’s Jake Erickson easily came in first despite the cold and wet conditions with 16:26 flat.

“It’s easier for me in the cold,” said Erickson, who attends Simla which does not have a cross country team. “My muscles don’t tighten up as much. Neither does my stomach.”

TCA’s Conner Wilburn finished 10 seconds behind at 16:36:7 to help the Titans (99 points) finish second as a team. Coronado (36) claimed first with five runners in the top 20. Palmer Ridge had 106 points to finish third.