Just how great is the Union Catholic girls cross-country team?
Even when they don't have their best race, they still make history!
With junior Cayleigh Kaiser, freshman Harper Telasca and junior Paige Sheppard leading a strong frontal charge, UC put three runners in the top 11, received a strong comeback race from junior Sophia Thompson and a clutch race from freshman Eden Solorzano to win their third straight title and shatter the NJ course record average by running 18:39.4 at Saturday's Nike Northeast Regional Championships at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
UC, ranked No. 1 in NJ and No. 4 in the nation, outscored runner-up and No. 22 ranked Champlain Valley of Vermont, 74-127.
The 18:39.4 by UC took down the NJ record of 19:01 that UC ran last year at the Nike NE Regional and further cemented the Vikings as the best girls XC team in state history.
UC's top five were junior Kaiser, sixth with a big course PR of 18:11.7, freshman Harper Telesca, 7th in 18:13, Sheppard, 11th in 18:16.6, Thompson, 36th in 19:13, and freshman Eden Solorzano, 48th in 19:22,6.
The mark of a great team is the ability to overcome adversity by having multiple runners rise up to the challenge to pick up the slack. That's what UC did!
With Sheppard, who was seeking her third straight title, having an off race, and reliable point producers Saffa Ellis and Ella Solorzano experiencing mishaps, Thompson, making her season debut, and Eden Solorzano leveled up for the Vikings to lock up the championship. Ellis ran with half her shoe off for most of the race after getting stepped on, and Ella Solorzano was slowed as a result of not feeling well during the race.
Looking inside the numbers, several Vikings closed fast to secure the victory.
Over the final 2.5K, Kaiser moved up three places, Telesca improved by nine places, Thompson eight places, and Eden Solorzano, knowing she was the 5th runner, put in several surges to move up a whopping 28 places as negative split by 12 seconds over the second half of the race!
Sheppard said the return of Thompson, who ran her first race of the season after being sidelined by an injury, and the depth of talent on her team was a huge key to victory.
"Having so many talented girls on this team who run for each other is what makes our team so strong,'' said Sheppard. "I didn't have my best race today, and we had some other unexpected things happen, but Sophia being back gave us a big lift and so many other girls came through with big races, which was really big for us to win this again.''
This is the fourth straight berth in the national championship race for UC. The Vikings, finished 10th at the national championships the last two years, and placed 22nd at nationals in 2022 after placing second at the regional meet.
"Winning the national championship has been our goal all season, and we feel if we all run up to our potential we can do it,'' said Sheppard.
