St. John's Prep senior Margaret Duffy wins back-to-back Class A Championship

HAM LAKE, Minn. — As St. John's Prep senior cross-country runner Margaret Duffy made her move about 2.2 miles to the front of the pack in the Class 1A State Championship, the Northwestern commit could not help but look over her shoulder a couple of times with Nova Classical's Isabel Pass on her tail.

Despite the close pursuit, as she made it to the final straightaway, a back-to-back individual championship had been won.

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"I was really nervous coming into today, so [I am] just so happy to be able to defend my state championship," Duffy said. "I was a little scared making that move, but it ended up working well. My coach will probably say something about [me looking over my shoulder], but I was very scared. Isabel was kicking off of me at the end, too, so that was a big push. It feels so amazing to win."

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Duffy crossed the finish line with a personal best time of 17:25.2 as her fellow Johnnies totaled 164 points to finish fifth in the team championship.

The senior star had started her title defense a bit slowly this season, battling through a knee injury and subject to bike workouts for about two weeks, before ramping back up to her normal speeds just in time for a championship push.

"I was a little nervous about [coming back]," Duffy said. "I had a tough opening race, but my next couple of races after that really helped [me] gain my confidence again. I'm feeling great, and my race today was a good indicator of that, obviously."

Duffy won last year's race with a time of 17:55.5 and ended her prep career winning 11 of her last 15 races, including each of her final four meets.

"[It was] totally different competition [and] totally different competition," Duffy said. "I would say this race was harder. I'm definitely tired, but I feel good."

You can reach St. Cloud Times sports reporter David Jacobs and send story ideas and tips to djacobs@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @By_DavidJacobs, and on Instagram @ByDavidJacobs.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. John's Prep senior Margaret Duffy wins back-to-back Class A Championship