By: Phil Grove

It had been 735 days since Anna Rohrer last raced and won in San Diego's Balboa Park. 

You might ask, Who's counting?

Chances are the Mishawaka, Ind., standout was keeping track during some of those 2-plus years.

A senior, Rohrer returned to the top of the U.S. high school cross country world, grinding her way to a second Foot Locker national title Saturday. 

"It means a lot more this time," Rohrer said of win No. 2, which came in 17 minutes, 13 seconds. "I know what to expect from it. The journey from not just this season but the whole year, the whole two years. It's been rough, and it just means so much more to be here."

Stress fractures wiped out virtually all of Rohrer's 2013 harrier campaign. The gradual return from the injuries left her struggling at times with the pace of the process and training limitations she had to follow.

"There were some days in there where she even said she hated training, she hated running because it was the cross-training that was really getting to her," said Rohrer's coach, Chris Kowalewski. "The loneliness of the cross-training, the limitations that she can't do. She just wanted to run. She just wanted to be with her team."

Kowalewski believed that the fast early pace set by four-time Finalist Makena Morley of Montana was a blessing for his athlete. Morley had a stride or two on Iowa's Stephanie Jenks after a 2:30 opening half-mile and was still in front after a 5:19 first mile.

"That's just my usual style," Morley said. "I kind of wanted to run how I normally run. Sometimes you can come into these big races and try to run a way different race, so I just wanted to run how I feel good. It ended up being that way. It felt good."

When the field came by for the second go-round, Rohrer was side by side with Ryen Frazier of North Carolina and Morley was a stride back and peering between the co-leaders. The lead duo started to separate themselves from the Montanan, passing through two miles in 11:02.

"Leading up to the race, especially the past two weeks, I could tell my training had been increasing and I've been hitting great times in workouts and feeling good and feeling fresher," Rohrer said of her last-minute fine tuning. "I really knew I was ready coming into it. It was just a matter of being tough and strong during the race."

Kowalewski also knew Rohrer had turned the corner in her training, pointing to her 17:08 clocking in winning the Indiana state meet as a sign of faster times to come.

"I spent a lot of time these last couple of weeks telling her you're the best in the nation," he said. "The confidence, really pumping it up. 'You're in phenomenal shape, you don't have to do more. We're fine where we are.’ I wasn't going to sell out her career just for this season as far as mileage coming back."

Rohrer claimed the lead for good Saturday at about 2.5 miles as the difficult second major climb kicked in. Her grinding style enabled her to pull away from Frazier and the rest of the field.

"The first time it's really not bad," Rohrer said of the course's big uphill. "Having it within the last half mile of the race, it really separates the strong runners and the experienced runners."

Frazier remained the closest to Rohrer, clocking 17:23 for the 5,000 meters. Although she knew that the challenge of holding off the 2012 champion would be difficult, the South Regional winner lamented on lost opportunities in her bid for a national title.

"She's a really good runner, and she had recovered from her injuries and was ready to race," Frazier said of the winner. "I saw the finish at her regional. It was tough conditions for her, it was a lot easier for us so I knew what I was going up against.

"I made a few mistakes early in the race that probably got to me, but she definitely left it all out there and I did, too, so I'm happy."

Morley crossed the line in 17:29 for third and her third top-10 finish in San Diego, while Texan Paige Hofstad was fourth in 17:33. Hannah DeBalsi, the 2013 runner-up, was fifth in 17:47, and sophomore Libby Davidson was next in 17:48.

The rest of the top 10 included Michigan’s Audrey Belf (17:51), freshman Annie Hill (17:52), sophomore Gabriella Karas (17:56) and Californian Elizabeth Lacy (18:01) as five seniors and five runners with at least another shot at San Diego made up the top tier of the 40-runner field.

In the event's 36 years, the only other athlete to duplicate Rohrer's two non-consecutive titles was California's Jordan Hasay, who won as a freshman in 2005 and then as a senior in 2008.

"I mean it's hard to say," Rohrer said when asked if she's at 100 percent after an injury-plagued year. "I'm at a good peak in my training, but this season I haven't been able to run quite as many miles as I'd like. Maybe that helps, but maybe it hurt."