Northern York's Marlee Starliper finishes second in national cross-country race

Northern York’s Marlee Starliper proved she’s among the top high-school cross-country runners in the nation on Saturday in California.

Starliper finished second at the Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals in San Diego.

That was, by far, her best-ever performance at the prestigious national event. She didn’t qualify for the race as a freshman and settled for 13th-place finishes during both her sophomore and junior seasons.

The North Carolina State recruit finished Saturday’s race in a 16 minutes, 46.8 seconds, which was fewer than two seconds behind the winner, Stanford recruit Zofia Dudek, who finished in 16:45.0.

Dudek's time was the fifth-fastest time in course history. Starliper's time, meanwhile, was the sixth-fastest time ever seen at the Balboa course and the fastest ever for a silver medalist.

The previous weekend, Starliper had finished fifth at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.

Starliper is a a three-time PIAA Class 2-A girls’ cross country champion and is the state record holder.

Reach Steve Heiser at sheiser@yorkdispatch.com.