Phil Anastasia: Kingsway's Ley a tiny tornado

Chelsea Ley runs on little cat feet, far from the crowd.

The rest of the state hears her coming, anyway.

"I think I'm ready to run with the big dogs," Ley, a junior at Kingsway, said after dominating the individual race at the South Jersey Group 3 championships Saturday in the rain at Delsea.

Ley's time of 17 minutes, 23 seconds was the fastest of the day by nearly a minute. She cruised through the 3.1-mile course despite the rain and mud.

It was another thundering step for the diminutive athlete who has been sending shock waves through the state with her stunning times all season.

On Saturday, Ley will face her toughest test. She will run against defending Meet of Champions winner Melanie Thompson of Voorhees in the Group 3 state championships at Holmdel.

"She's ready," said Kingsway boys' cross-country coach Christian Lynch, who oversees Ley's training. "She's done everything to prepare for this."

Despite her friendly demeanor, easy smile and soft voice, Ley has a steely confidence. Her goals for the next two weekends are simple: She wants to run away with it all.

She wants to beat Thompson, a senior who has committed to attend Oregon, in the Group 3 race.

She wants to beat her again in the Meet of the Champions Nov. 22 in a race that likely will include Southern's Jillian Smith, the defending Group 4 state champion, as well as Immaculate Heart's Sarah Pagano.

Oh, Ley also wants to break the 25-year-old course record at Holmdel, the 17:35.5 mark set by J.P. Stevens' Janet Smith in 1983.

"I want to break that record," Ley said. "I want to do it either at states or at the Meet of Champions. I want to have the all-time time at Holmdel.

"That's been a dream of mine for a long time."

With her slight frame and short hair - she had a little bit of an aerodynamic, spiked look going Saturday - Ley doesn't look like one of the state's toughest athletes.

She just trains like one.

"She's the toughest runner around," Lynch said. "Whatever you ask her to do, she does it. She doesn't complain, she doesn't hesitate, she doesn't question. She just goes right to work."

Ley was running 85 miles a week in the summer, preparing for the long cross-country season. She cut back to about 70 miles a week in late August, and has been doing around 65 miles, on average, in recent weeks.

Although she was one of the state's top middle-school runners and an all-state performer as a freshman and sophomore, Ley began her junior season behind Thompson and Jillian Smith in most state individual rankings.

But this has been her breakout year. She stunned the state by running 17:44 at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel on Oct. 4. It was an incredible time for that early in the season; by comparison, Thompson ran 18:14 on the same course on the same day in a different race.

Ley hasn't let up, either.

"My times are way better than last year," Ley said. "My training is going a lot better."

Thompson, who was third in the mile at the Nike Nationals last spring, set a New Jersey record by running 14:12.8 on the 2.5-mile course at the Eastern States at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx on Oct. 11. She broke the course record by more than a minute in winning the Hunterdon-Warren championships Oct. 24 in 17:28 and won the North II Group 3 sectional title Saturday in 18:32.

"Formidable is not even the word to describe her," Lynch said of Thompson.

As always, the race will be a test of speed, stamina and psychological strength. Ley knows she will be nervous. But she's undaunted.

She's the slightest thing. She seems part pixie when she flies along the course. But in cross-country, everybody hears Chelsea Ley's footsteps.

"I just have to focus on running my race," Ley said. "I have to worry about my mile splits, not anybody else. That's all I have to do.

"I think I'm ready."