Kady Schrann attacks. It seems part of her DNA to do as much.

The York Catholic junior, an NCAA Division I recruit in basketball, rarely, if ever, decides to take it easy. But the subject this fall isn't basketball -- in which she's been known to hit the courts against men twice her size over the offseason.

No, this fall she's arguably the best female runner in the YAIAA. With a long and fluid stride and an undeterred work ethic, Schrann is just now starting to show the type of elite form that helped her win the YAIAA championship her freshman year and place 14th in the PIAA Championships in 2008.

She nabbed first place in the girls' field at the five-team YAIAA meet Tuesday at Codorus State Park, delivering a time of 19 minutes, 36 seconds. The time was 51 seconds better than the course record set last year by New Oxford graduate Jordan Jenkins -- who now is parlaying her talents at North Carolina State University.

Schrann helped enable the Irish to secure four wins over Delone Catholic (25-30), Northeastern (15-50), Susquehannock (16-43) and Biglerville (18-37).

"There were a lot of times where I could have just started jogging and relaxed," Schrann said. "But I kept pushing, because I had a goal to beat the course record. So I was like, 'I might as well.'"

The performance was so dominant, it was allowed to soak in for 1 minute, 24 seconds before the second-place runner, Delone Catholic's Emily Resciniti, crossed the finish


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line at 21:09. The Squirette's time was the fourth best time on the course alltime.

"If I have the ability to run as hard as I can, then I'll use it," Schrann said. "That's what I keep telling myself during the race."

For Delone Catholic, Mary Kate Lutz finished fourth at 22:08 in perhaps her best race of the year.

"Coach (Scotty) Watt always says around October we should be peaking," Lutz said.

Meanwhile, on the boys' side, Delone Catholic's Chris Sauvageau ran for the first time in two weeks after a hip flexor injury held the junior out. He expressed that he still wasn't 100 percent, but the Squire was strong enough to get through the course.

Sauvageau was impressive through long stretches, elevating a slim lead after the mile mark into a cushion that was never questioned in his route to the finish in 17:54.

"Feel pretty good," Sauvageau said. "Just getting back. I haven't run for two weeks, so ... "

The Squire's performance wasn't quite enough as Susquehannock authored its key win against Delone (27-28). The Warriors had five runners in the top six after the first mile and kept their composure to secure three other wins against Northeastern (19-42), York Catholic (17-44) and Biglerville (15-50).

Delone did well to cut the gap in the middle stretches of the race, as David Roth and Nick Poole pushed into the top 10. But the Squires were one runner away from separation.

"When I saw them come by the first mile, I thought to myself, 'Where did the Delone boys go to?'" Watt said. "I mean, there were six of them from Susquehannock and one of us.

"We closed the gap at the end, but not enough. It's too bad. I think if we ran them again, we'd have a good shot at beating them."