Elizabeth Leachman leads the way at the 5A Girls race at the UIL State Cross Country Championships last fall in this terrific photo by Bert Richardson

Every once in a while, a high school runner comes along and rewrites history. Think Jim Ryun, the first kid ever to run sub-4 for the mile. Or Alan Webb, who ran 3:53 to break Ryun’s 36-year-old high-school record of 3:55.

Welcome Daniel Simmons and Elizabeth Leachman to that rarified club. After winning 10 straight cross-country races this past fall, Simmons, a senior at  American Fork High School in Utah, set his sights on the oval. And boy, did he deliver.

On March 9, Simmons, who has signed with Brigham Young University, destroyed the national high school indoor record for 5,000 meters at the New Balance national indoor championships in Boston.

Sixteen minutes is a pretty decent time for the high school boys 5,000. Fifteen minutes is even better. When you get down to the 14-minute range, you’re talking heavy recruitment by colleges. Simmons took that to another level. He ran 13:38, breaking the previous indoor record  set by Tyrone Gorze at the same meet last year by 18 seconds. For comparison’s sake, the high-school outdoor 5,000 track record is 13:34.

Leachman, who dazzled at last fall’s UIL meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, winning the 5A state championship in 16:25, also delivered. Competing at the Nike Indoor Nationals at the Armory in New York City she ran her first 5,000 on an indoor track. There, Leachman zoomed to a 15:28 to take down the girl’s 5,000 indoor record. The previous record of 15:37 was set by Katelyn Tuohy. A week earlier, she smashed the two-mile meet record, clocking 9:44. Though the indoor environment was new to Leachman, she told the San Antoino Express News that the constant cheering was a huge plus.

Leachman is just 16, and a sophomore now, but it will be exciting to see what both she and Simmons do in their collegiate careers and beyond!

Upcoming races: April 6 at 8:00 a.m., the Bobcat Prowl 5K at Country Estates Swimming Pool in San Marcos. April 7 at 8:00 a.m. the Statesman Capitol 10,000, downtown Austin.