Allison Mann, fighting the effects of anemia and hypothyroidism, could barely finish a 5-kilometer race 18 months ago.

On Friday, she ran one better than anyone.

The Liberty senior, who literally found a second wind in her running career, ran away with the fastest girls' time at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede in 18 minutes, 41 seconds.

Yep, the runner once hampered by an underactive thyroid gland and iron deficiency certainly looks like she's in control of her body these days.

Her limits now? She has no idea.

"This is all so new to me," Mann said. "I don't know what my body can do. I haven't been able to really push it until these last two years."

At the site of the cross country state meet, which takes place in two months, Mann leapt off the starting line to the head of the pack just outside Norris-Penrose Event Center, and gradually extended that lead into a 40-second margin over the rest of the 5A field.

Her time of 18:41 was 10 seconds faster than 4A-winner Maria Mettler of Air Academy and eight seconds better than 3A's Lily Tomasula-Martin of Estes Park.

It also would have been the fifth-best time on this course at the 5A state meet a year ago.

"My goal is to get in the top three at state," said Mann, who ran an 18:16 5K at a scrimmage at Monument Valley Park earlier in the week. "I want to get that podium finish."

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To think, this was the same girl who'd labor through 9-minute miles during speed workouts two years ago - before breaking into tears. The girl who was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in eighth grade and couldn't find a consistent spot on varsity through her freshman and sophomore seasons.

It wasn't until Mann was diagnosed with anemia during the sophomore track season that she found a better way to manage her body.

The senior said she continued to take supplements to help her hypothyroidism and added iron pills and a more iron-rich diet to deal with the anemia.

It led to more energy for her training, and her training led to gradual improvement and success in cross country and track.

"For the first time in a while she wasn't struggling with everything she was trying to do in practice," Liberty coach Gary Weston said. "All of a sudden there was this weight lifted off her shoulders. It was fun to run again."

Looks that way.

Just last spring, Mann went from the 301st-fastest girls' runner in the state in the 3,200-meter run as a sophomore (13:15) to third at the 5A state meet in May (11:11).

How much higher can she climb this fall? It's anybody's guess.

"She'll be a very hard person to beat," Weston said. "She's so mentally strong."

Air Academy's Ethan Powell won the 4A boys' race in 15:55, just ahead of Widefield's Maximilliano Martinez in 15:56. The Gladiators won the 4A team title and Palmer's boys won the 5A title.

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