By Ron Knapp and Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden

Nike Cross Nationals

MEET RESULTS - PHOTOS - VIDEOS

In the final cross country meet of his stellar high school career on Saturday, Ridgefield’s Steven Hergenrother finished with a time of 15:41.1 that earned him a 29th place at the Nike Cross Nationals on a soggy 5k course at Glendoveer Golf Course, in Portland, Oregon. In a crowded start of many of the best individuals and top teams from seven regions Hergenrother emerged in top third of the field of 200 harriers after 1k only a few seconds behind the leaders. His largest jump in the packed field came at the 4k mark after he had moved up 18 places averaging a 5:04/mile pace. Of the top 40 finishers, the Princeton bound senior made the largest jump of 11 places in the final standings as he finished the final kilometer in 3:02 that was his fastest of the race. 

Pre-meet Photo courtesy of Coach Bryan Kovalsky.

Hergenrother became the third Ridgefield boy to race at the National meet after Trevor Hopper and Austin Gilbert who qualified in 2013 and 2014. Hergenrother qualified last weekend by finishing third in the Northeast region in a time of 15:53.7 over the 5000m course at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, NY. 

History of Connecticut Harriers at Nike Cross Nationals

NXN Northeast Race Photo courtesy of John Nepolitan 

Marty’s Notes from NXN

Herriman (UT) boys took down top-ranked American Fork (UT) to win the national title by a score of 93-100. Northeast champion Christian Brothers Academy, running as Lincroft finished 6th as their New Jersey rivals Westfield placed 19th. 

Colorado swept the top three spots on the girls side with Academy upsetting top ranked Niwot by a score of 61-72. Denver finished 3rd with 163 points Northeast runner-up Wexford finished 5th, a place ahead of defending champions Saratoga running as Kinetic with Northeast champion Union Catholic finishing 10th. 

Twenty three years after Rockford MI teammates Dathan Ritzenhein and Kalin Toedebusch were 1st and 5th, respectively, at the 2000 Foot Locker Nationals, their daughter Addy Ritzenhein won the 2023 NXN national title in a time of 17:10.4, leading Niwot to the runner-up trophy. Fans of the sport may remember Dathan as a three time Olympian and the former American record holder in the 5000m.

JoJo Jourdon, the Utah 5A champion ffrom Olympus High School, was the surprise winner on the boys’ side as he pulled away from a large pack at 4k to open up a big lead, winning in a time of 15:16.5 over the muddy and water logged 5000m course. 

NCAA Indoor T&F Highlights 

While high school athletes are the main focus of MSR, there were some record-breaking times from collegiate athletes coming off their XC season two weeks ago at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University on Saturday.

Georgetown’s Chloe Scrimgeour returned to the track after her 8th place finish at NCAAs XC championship 2 weeks ago to place 9th in a hot 5k in a time of 15:24.36 that broke the Hoyas school record. While at Conard-West Hartford in 2021 Chloe had set the 1600m CT outdoor state record of 4:46.46.

In the same race NCAA champion Parker Valby of Florida (former of Woodbury, CT middle schooler) set the NCAA record in the 5000m and became the first woman to ever break 15-minutes in the event during collegiate competition. The previous absolute collegiate best was 15:01.70 by Jenny Barringer (now Simpson) of Colorado. Valby is also now the seventh fastest American woman indoors. In case you were searching for her 2014 results at the 2014 CT Middle School Cross Country Championships (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bmrp_M8cQMcB6eB6_HcFgbGFa5bplynq/view?usp=sharing )

The men’s NCAA cross country champion Graham Blanks of Harvard went across town to also break the NCAA record of 13:03.78. Lawi Lalang previously ran the former NCAA indoor 5k record of 13:08.28 back in 2012. Of note was the 2nd place performance of 13:06.42 by Ky Robertson of Stanford University that is an Australian indoor record, a Stanford absolute 5,000-meter record and the second-fastest indoor 5,000 in collegiate history.