"Air" Jordan dominates start to finish

By Dave Devine & Steve Underwood
ESPN RISE 

She was called "Air Jordan" that first fall, but the "Air" was soon discarded and she just become Jordan, as recognizable by her first name as any prep distance runner has probably ever been.

 

And if it seems like she dominated the entire decade, well, you'd be half right. Jordan Hasay of Mission College Prep (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) emerged on the scene as a middle schooler in USA track meets and by the fall of her freshman year displayed as much talent as almost anyone her age ever has.

For what she would do that fall, and the rest of her storied career, she is the DyeStat/ESPN RISE Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Decade.

Jordan had a good chance to win when she toed the line for her first Foot Locker Final in December 2005. She had won the Division V state title -- fastest of the day overall -- and the Foot Locker West Region race, too. But the runner-up from the previous race in the West, Nevada's Marie Lawrence, was second in the nation the year before and had run faster than Jordan in a different race at the big Mt. SAC Invite.