Sarah Baxter told former Canyon distance running standout and U.S. national 5,000-meter champion Lauren Fleshman after the girls' championship race Saturday at the eighth annual Nike Cross Nationals, "Nike brought me here and I wanted to run my best race to show them my gratitude."

The Simi Valley sophomore wound up showing Fleshman and all those in attendance at Portland Meadows that she might be the future of American cross country.