— Leading up to the most important race of his life, Ryan Pickering visualized different scenarios.

Often he imagined himself pulling away to victory in the state cross country meet. Sometimes he pictured someone racing past him to the finish.

The John I. Leonard senior made his best daydreams come true Saturday on the 3.1-mile course at Little Everglades Ranch as he powered away to win the Class 4A state title. His time of 15:03.01 was a state meet record for this course until Creekside's Jimmy Clark ran 14:58.87 two hours later in the 3A final.

No matter. Pickering came to win the title that eluded him through two third-place finishes the past two years.