Grady Lenn picked an excellent time to have the best race of his young cross-country career.

The De Pere freshman enters the WIAA Division 1 state meet Saturday at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids coming off a dazzling performance in a sectional loaded with runners who have potential to earn podium finishes.

Lenn ran a personal record 15 minutes, 44.3 seconds to capture the title at the Manitowoc sectional, finishing with the second-best time at any of the 10 sectional meets in the state.

Only Mequon Homestead senior Owen Bosley (15:44.1) had a better showing.

It came one week after Lenn set a PR with a 15:53.9 at the Fox River Classic Conference meet.

“It was surreal,” Lenn said of his sectional performance. “I was not expecting to go into that race and win, especially with how much talent is in the section. I was shocked.

“I didn’t really have those thoughts (of winning) until a half a mile left. I felt like I think I have another gear I can go and change this race up.”

It’s not bad for someone who never competed in cross-country before this season. Lenn played basketball and was in track and field during middle school but decided to give cross-country a chance this summer.

He finished runner-up at several meets and placed first at the Papermaker Invite earlier this month before putting together his two best runs.

The coaching staff knew Lenn had talent, but he has gone to a level not many were expecting this fast.

“He loves the last mile of the race,” De Pere coach Chris Hendricks said. “That’s kind of been his magic spot this season. Just throwing down one final gear in that last mile to see what everybody has got. Some people get nervous and freaked out when it really gets to that final grind, but that seems to be his favorite part of the whole thing.” 

It’s not common for the Redbirds to have a freshman be this outstanding. The program has a training cycle for its runners that spans the course of a year and often builds off that.

But there was a point in the middle of September when it was evident the team had something special.

Lenn finished runner-up against some big-time competition that day.

“He went into that race, and there was three back-to-back-to-back monster hills on that course that he came out in the lead after those three hills,” Hendricks said. “He popped out of the woods in the lead, having gone in with the pack he was running in. When he did that and crossed the line in like 16:10, that was when a lot of us kind of looked and our eyes got pretty big thinking, ‘Holy cow, this is pretty huge what we have got here.’”

Both Lenn and his coach have hopes he can earn a podium finish in his state debut. It’s an impressive goal for a runner who not long ago wasn’t thinking about being in this position.

“I did not expect this at all,” Lenn said. “I was doing cross-country for a way to just train for track. I run more distance events in track.

“I got into it, and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I could actually be good at this.’”