With sprint at end, Riishojgaard wins

Alex Riishojgaard had a frustrating start to his cross-country season at B-CC. The sophomore had joint pain and had little energy for a couple of weeks. Doctors cleared him to run just eight days ago.

On Tuesday, in his second race, Riishojgaard (at right) won his first meet in his high school career, beating a three-high-school field in 17 minutes, 11 seconds. The other schools were host Damascus and Richard Montgomery.

Riishojgaard ran with two other top B-CC runners – sophomore Peter Horton and junior Nick McGreivy -- in a lead pack for much of the race and then took a large lead. Toward the end, a few runners challenged him, but Riishojgaard outsprinted them to the finish. Horton finished fourth, just three seconds back, in 17:14, while McGreivy (shown below) finished fifth in 17:32. All three ran a PR.

“Alex really broke out today,” said Coach Chad Young. “It was the highlight of the boys’ meet. Not only was it a win, but it was an impressive sprint at the end. It was fun to watch.”

Richard Montgomery edged the B-CC boys team by only three points, while B-CC finished ahead of Damascus.

Sophomore Nolan Ebner finished four on the team (12th overall in 18:05), senior Aidan Hennessey was fifth (18:14), followed by another pack of boys who finished impressively under 18:30: sophomore Matt Boden, junior Greg Picard, and freshman Sam Baker.

“The B-CC boys showed a little bit of depth today,” Young said. “It was a great day for us. They weren’t scared of their competition by any means. They were very aggressive. It was our best race of the year.”

B-CC’s girls handily won their meet even without top runners senior Ava Farrell and junior Laura Nakasaka. Both were held back because of nagging injuries.

Finishing first for B-CC was freshman Nora McUmber (third overall in 20:12), followed by senior Hallie Jester (fourth, 20:14), freshman Kat McNeill (sixth, 20:24); freshman Abby Fry (seventh, 20:25); junior Caroline Leuba (eighth, 20:56); junior Emily Hardgrove (10th, 21:21); and freshman Annie McElvein, (11th, 21:23).

Young’s take:

“Nora started way back, really slow, and as coaches we worried she was too far back. But even as a freshman, she knows what she is doing so well and gradually made her way up and wound up being toward the front. Hallie Jester, to me, she ran the race of the day for the girls. She and Caroline Leuba (above center) both sensed a feeling of responsibility as the race started. Caroline went out hard, and made sure that B-CC’s presence was known. She faded a little, but still finished eighth. Hallie (below left) came on strong toward the middle of the race and was very aggressive with a great kick to the finish line.”

After McNeill was Fry, competing in just her second race. “She was out for two weeks with hip pain and had done a few workouts,” Young said. “This was the first race she felt no pain. She can run for real. She’s a big help to B-CC’s team. She’s right there with the top freshmen on the team already. As the season progresses, as we figure out the identity of this team, Abby may be one of those girls who end up on varsity by the end of the season.”

Four freshmen finished in the top seven. The fourth was McElvein.

“I was talking to other coaches today about how when it comes to invitational meets choosing the top seven is not easy when you have freshmen who are start figuring things out,” Young said. “You don’t know how they will react. The other coaches were saying to me, ‘That’s a nice problem to have.’ It’s true. The girls are definitely in good shape as far as their depth goes. Now we need to make sure that they compete with the higher-end runners. That’s the tough part. If we can do that, we will be hard to beat.”

The next meet is Friday for varsity only at Paul Short Invite at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Ten boys and 10 girls will compete.