Following memorable Nike Indoor Nationals, Corona Santiago looks to continue momentum at The Ten

Before the spring season even arrived, the Corona Santiago girls track and field team already had a profound impact on the 2025 schedule.

Now, the Sharks elite distance runners will participate at an invitational for the first time during the California outdoor season when they compete Saturday at The Ten, presented by Sound Running, at JSerra High in San Juan Capistrano.

It will be two weeks after Corona Santiago excelled at Nike Indoor Nationals at The Armory in New York.

Rylee Blade interview

Corona Santiago DMR interview

Corona Santiago coach Ricky Etheridge interview

At Nike Indoor Nationals, Santiago’s distance medley relay team, including Florida State-bound senior Rylee Blade, had standout performances, serving as perhaps a preview to a successful outdoor season.

Rylee Blade of Corona Santiago High | Photo courtesy of Corona Santiago

“(Nike Indoor) just gave me a glimpse into what I felt was possible,” Santiago coach Ricky Etheridge said. “I prepped them so they could be ready to run that, but I didn’t really mess the training up – so to speak – so it won’t affect us negatively at the end of our outdoor season. That’s the main goal. We went there with the expectation that we’re going to run good, but the ultimate goal is to run our best at state and hopefully Nike Outdoor Nationals as well. It made me understand we’re on the right path.”

Blade, junior Taylor Davis, senior transfer Nicole Samson and junior Braelyn Combe won the DMR in 11 minutes, 37.35 seconds.

“We made a goal from the start, probably a few months back, that we wanted to win (Nike Indoor),” Blade said. “It was about 20 seconds faster than our time coming in.”

The March 14 performance produced a California high school indoor record. Corona Santiago elevated to the 10th-fastest U.S. high school all-time indoors, achieving the 14th-fastest indoor effort in U.S. prep history.

“It was exciting to realize this was the first big meet we’ve been to,” Combe said.

Braelyn Combe of Corona Santiago High | Photo courtesy of Corona Santiago

Ironically, it might not even be Santiago’s best lineup for the DMR, which starts with a 1,200-meter leg, followed by a 400, 800 and 1,600 anchor.

Davis, who ran the 400 leg, didn’t run a single 400-meter race (individually or in a relay) last year, but made the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals in the 800.

Samson, while running for Vivian Webb in Claremont last year, was the San Joaquin League champion in the 400 and also made the Southern Section Division 4 finals in the 800.

And the one time Blade and Combe ran together on the DMR last year at the Mt. SAC Relays, Combe ran the 1,200 leg and Blade ran the 1,600 anchor.

Braelyn Combe, Nicole Samson, Taylor Davis and Rylee Blade of Corona Santiago High | Photo courtesy of Corona Santiago

One of the reasons why Blade ran the 1,200 leg instead of the 1,600 was the DMR at Nike Indoor came a day after Blade finished second in the 5,000 meters in 15:16.72.

“Honestly, that time really surprised me,” Blade said. “My goal coming into the race was to just break 16 (minutes). I did not think I was going to go that far under.”

Blade’s time is a California high school record – indoors or outdoors – improving on her previous best at Nike Outdoor Nationals last year by more than a minute and lowering the previous record by more than 36 seconds.

Blade’s effort is also the No. 2 all-time high school performance, behind Brigham Young-bound senior Jane Hedengren of Timpview High in Utah, who won the March 13 race in a national high school record 15:13.26.

Hedengren and Blade also achieved the top two all-time American Under-20 performances, in addition to elevating to the Nos. 6 and 7 competitors in World U-20 indoor history.

The Ten doesn’t include 5,000 or DMR races on its schedule, so Blade probably won’t run the 5,000 again until Nike Outdoor Nationals in June at Hayward Field in Oregon, and Santiago’s next chance to run the DMR would likely be in April at the Arcadia Invitational or Mt. SAC Relays.

“The Ten is going to be an exciting meet. Rylee will be attempting to go after the national (3,200) record,” Etheridge said.

Etheridge said he is planning on Blade running the 3,200 at The Ten, Samson and Combe the 800, with Davis running the 1,600.

The national high school outdoor record for a 3,200 race was established when Elizabeth Leachman of Boerne Champion in Texas ran 9:43.74 at a home meet last year.

Allie Zealand of Pacers Homeschool in Virginia produced a 3,200 split of 9:38.41 last year during her 2-mile outdoor all-time prep performance of 9:41.76 at the Brooks PR Invitational in Washington.

Blade’s PR in the 3,200 is 10:02.19, set when she won the 2023 state title.

Samson will be running for the first time outdoors for Santiago at The Ten, following the 30-day period she was required to sit out after transferring.

Samson was able to compete with her Santiago teammates at Nike Indoor because there is no official indoor track and field season in California.