RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lewisburg's Baylee Espinosa reacts after competing in the girl's 3200 during the PIAA District 4 AA/AAA Track and Field finals at Williamsport on Saturday, May 18, 2024.

As girls got into position to run the Class AAA 3,200 on Saturday in a light rain at Williamsport for the District 4 track and field championships, all eyes in the crowd were on Lewisburg’s Baylee Espinosa.

And for good reason.

Espinosa throughout the spring has had one of the top times in both the 1,600 and 3,200 events and on the biggest stage at districts with a trip to the state meet on the line, Espinosa delivered to those in attendance.

The Green Dragon ran an outstanding time in the 3,200 race to open the District 4 track and field championships on Saturday, running a 10:59.78 to win the gold medal, besting Williamsport’s Madeline Sanders, who finished in 11:02.01 and Danville’s Victoria Bartholomew, who was a third-place finisher in 11:07.41.

All three broke the District 4 record and qualified for the state meet.

“(They pushed me) a lot,” Sanders said of running alongside two standouts like Espinosa and Bartholomew. “It’s really great to have people running around your time because then you have something to chase after and focus on during your race.”

While Espinosa was hoping to make it 2 for 2 on Saturday and win another gold medal later in the afternoon in the 1,600, the distance runner wasn’t able to reach the top of the podium. Instead, it was teammate Jenna Binney who won the gold medal in the 1,600, beating out solid competition in the process.

In that 1,600 race, Espinosa and Williamsport’s Isabelle Sanders began the race with a strong pace and were the two to beat. But slowly but surely, third-seeded Binney began to gain distance and saw an opportunity and took it, passing the two standouts.

“I just saw them ahead of me and I was like lets try to make it and make that distance up,” Binney said. “It’s just kind of clicked in that last 600 to go, I just started to go for it.”

And it paid off. Binney eclipsed both Espinosa and Sanders in the final stretch of the race and held on to win in 5:05.03.

“It kind of (clicked) in the third lap, I was kind of catching up to the two in the front, Baylee and Isabelle, I was like ‘lets go for it,'” Binney said.

Binney set the District 4 record in the process. She had a narrow finish, edging out Sanders by just 0.26 seconds as Sanders also broke the District 4 record.

“It’s really surreal, it’s amazing. I didn’t think I would win coming into it. I wanted to make the state time, but I felt that was kind of a long shot because my previous PR was like nine seconds off a state time, so I was just kind of going into it like lets see what we can do” Binney said.

For Binney, she’s looking forward to being able to head to Shippensburg and compete with the best of the best in the state tournament in the 1,600.

“I can’t say I would really have any expectations,” Binney said with a laugh. “I’m just gonna go run it. It’s my senior year, just go have fun and I’m really thankful for the opportunities I’ve gotten.”