Elizabeth Leachman was never really worried when others led the 45th Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships Saturday at Balboa Park.

The defending girls champion from San Antonio, Texas, simply stayed close and when she felt like it was an opportune time, she took off en route to winning the 3-mile race by a comfortable eight seconds in 17 minutes, 31.1 seconds.

Pre-race favorite Tamrat Gavenas of Andover, Mass., used a strong kick to capture the boys’ race in 15:23.7.

Given another week or two, the girls’ race might have had a completely different look.

Eastlake High School junior Jaelyn Williams, who missed most of the season with an Achilles injury and a reaction to having her wisdom teeth yanked, stayed back and midway through the race made a move that earned her a ninth-place finish in 18:04.9.

“I’m not 100 % — maybe 90-95,” said Williams, who a year ago finished seventh in the Nike Nationals as the first Californian rather than running the Foot Locker West Regional. She was again the No. 1 finisher from the Golden State on Saturday.

“I believe in God and I just asked him to let me have a good finish to the season.  I wanted to show others that I’m still me and by placing ninth, I earned second-team national All-American honors.  I was hoping for a top-10 finish.”

Williams admitted she wasn’t sure how things would go. She rushed to compete in the minimum number of meets so she could run the section and state championships. She easily won the CIF San Diego Section Division 1 title before placing a disappointing 24th place in the state meet.

“After state, I wasn’t sure if I’d even run what I knew would be a hard West Regional,” said Williams. “But I didn’t want to end my season with that 24th. My muscles were sore almost the whole week but once the race started, I followed my coaches’ advice.”

That advice was to stay back and let the frontrunners set the early pace, slowly moving up. Heading up the Upas Street hill for the second time, Williams made a strong move and comfortably pulled into the top 10 where she was able to hold on for ninth.

“I believe in myself and this is such an amazing event,” said Williams. “They spoil you so much it’s insane. But now I can rest and let my Achilles fully heal before getting ready for track.”

One of the pre-race favorites, La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey, came in battling illness. Dailey fell behind quickly and was unable to finish. A third local runner, Ayanna Hickey of The Bishop’s School, placed 30th overall in 18:52.4. All three are juniors.

As for Leachman, she too had a challenging season, missing six weeks before winning the South Regional.

Just past the midway point, she made a move that caught leader Zariel Macchia. After that, there was little doubt the junior would win.

“This one was harder than last year,” said Leachman, who won with a time of 16:50.0 a year ago. “I took for granted last year and was grateful to be back—it’s such an honor. I like to go for it but after placing third at Nike last week, I let Zariel lead.  She’s super strong, I knew that, but I felt good.”

As for Gavenas, he studied his third-place finish a year ago. This time, he took off late in the race.

“I was really nervous,” said Gavenas, a future Harvard athlete who also overcame a bruised heel and plantar fascitiis that resulted in his right foot being heavily wrapped. “This is my third time here and I love everything about this.”

45th Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship

at Balboa Park (3 miles)

BOYS

1.      Gavenas (MA) 15:23.9, 2. Gonzalez (NE) 15:27.4, 3. Graffeo (MA) 15:34.5, 4. Quagiaroli(IN) 15:35.0, 5. Smith (TN) 15:41.6, 6. Crane (IL) 55:42.4, 7. Giardina (MA) 15:44.1, 8. Recupero (WA) 15:44.6, 9. Fries (MN) 15:45.2, 10. Cupial (IL) 15:46.8, 11. Van Meerten (AZ) 15:47.3, 12. Caldwell (CA) 15:47.9, 13. Dissa (CT) 15:47.9, 14. Coombs (NM) 15:30.2, 15. Mechura (MN) 15:50.2, 16. Bontrager (IN) 15:51.2, 17. Yoder (VA) 15:51.4, 18. Douglass (CA) 15:52.6, 19. Hogsed (GA) 15:53.1, 20. Oates (TN) 15:57.4. 21.   Anderson (CO) 15:59.3, 22. Wirth (MN)15:59.78, 23. Dailak (CA) 16:00.2, 24. Kelley (AR) 16:01.7, 25. Bowen (TN) 16:04.2, 26. Brownell (WA) 16:04.8, 27. Furman (NY) 16:07.1, 28. Tostenson (OR) 16:07.7, 29. Bauschke (IN) 16:12.1, 30. Lott (CA) 16:18.4, 31. Raman (PA) 16:21.7, 32. Lee (CT) 16:51.9, 33. Burnett (GA) 16:22.0, 34. Carr (PA) 16:26.9, 35. Stefanopoulos (CA) 16:30.4, 36. Gartner (MA) 16:31.2, 37. Gosling (PA) 16:32.9, 38. Sugie (KY) 16:41.2, 39. Adams (FL) 16:47.7, 40. Shelly (AR) 16:54.1.

GIRLS

1.      Leachman (TX) 17:31.1, 2. Garces (MI) 17:39.9, 3. Macchia (NY) 17:49.6, 4. Ihmels (ND) 17:50.5, 5. Dowty (IN) 17:55.9, 6. Chaney (VA) 18:00.9, 7. Beshears (AR) 18:04.0, 8. Kraus (PA) 18:04.6, 9. Williams (CA) 18:04.9, 10. Wingard (TX) 18:06.9, 11. Bendet (TX) 18:08.0, 12. Hushagen (MN) 18:08.9, 13. Chapman (OH) 18:14.1, 14. Cohen (CO) 18:16.9, 15. Mucharsky (CO) 18:19.9, 16. Foltz (IL) 18:20.1, 17. Armstrong (WA) 18:21.7, 18. Barton (NC) 18:23.0, 19. Cheeseman (TN) 18:25.5, 20. Weller (IN) 18:28.6. 21. Favero (UT) 18:30.1, 22. Strauss (CT) 18:32.7, 23. Gordon (NJ) 18:33.5, 24. Jazwinski (MI) 18:37.3, 25. McElhinney (NY) 18:40.1, 26. Gilbert (CT) 18:42.1, 27. Areheart (TN) 18:43.2, 28. Loescher (VA) 18:45.4, 29. Lee (NJ) 18:50.3, 30. Hickey (LJ) 18:52.4, 31. Garmer (TN) 18:53.0, 32. Flach (UT) 18:57.8, 33. Raker (NV) 19:00.5, 34. Kirk (CA) 19:15.0, 35. DiCola (PA) 19:18.5, 36. Krueger (HI) 19:21.9, 37. Alfred (CA) 19:31.8, 38. T. Sherry (CT) 20:50.2, 39. L. Sherry (CT) 21:45.3, 40. Dailey (CA) DNF.