Riley sets personal record at state cross-country meet

Unlike last year, Mac’s No. 1 runner was healthy heading into his biggest race of the year, and it showed in his time

Ginny Riley

Junior Chris Riley kicks towards the finish line in the last 800 meters of the State meet in Round Rock. While many of his competitors fell off the pace, Riley found the energy to sprint the last leg of the race to finish his best race of the year on a challenging course. The final kick secured him 55th place out of 122 runners and an official 5K personal record of 16:14.

Thomas Melina Raab, staff reporter
December 6, 2020

It takes a lot of hard work and natural born talent to be able to compete at a state cross country meet. The top runners from those meets go on to run at big D1 schools like Oregon and Texas. To be able to run at that level not once but twice is a significant accomplishment. Junior Chris Riley did exactly that, returning to the state meet after making it a year ago.

As a sophomore in 2019, Riley ran a season-best 16:31 for the 5K. But it was clear he could do even better with time. The time came this season, in which he ran a personal best 16:14, even unofficially running a sub 16-minute race for the first time. 

Those fast times earned him a spot in the regionals meet, where he was able to also qualify for the state meet. Last year, due to injury, Riley had a mediocre race at the state meet. But this year, fully healthy and faster than ever, he looked to have a great race. On Monday, Nov. 23, he had that chance and he seized it.

The state meet, as always, was held at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, a course at which Riley had already earned a win at in his sophomore year.

Chris Riley (leftmost blue jersey) runs alongside friend and training mate Ben Kim (rightmost blue jersey). Riley and Kim ran similar times all year and paced each other throughout the state meet race with Riley keeping a slight lead. It wasn’t until the last leg of the race when Riley broke off and kicked to the finish. He finished eight seconds before Kim, but the effect of running with someone help both of them run a faster race than they would’ve if they had run solo. Photo by Caleb Gamez.

At 3:15 on a cool Monday afternoon, the gun went off and the runners scrambled to get good placement for the first mile. Riley went out very fast, finishing his first mile at 4:50, and reaching a personal goal to run a sub 5-minute split. As the race went on, splits got slower and people started to die out, but he was able to push himself and keep a steady pace throughout.

He came through the finish line in 55th place, an underwhelming number until you hear his time, a personal best 16:14.71.

“I’m happy with how I did,” Riley said. “It was one of my best times of the year, and I think I did really well. It was a good way to end the season.”

 Riley has many reasons to be proud of his performance at this meet, and so does his Coach.

“Riley is by far the fastest and strongest runner McCallum has had in the last 15 years since I have been coaching,” Coach Ashton said. “He was feeling healthy and strong heading into the race this year. He was very pleased with his race and finish.” 

Riley had a great race, but it’s just a milestone not a crowning achievement. Track season starts in the spring, and from there he expects bigger and better things when cross-country starts again in the fall of 2021.

It’s more than likely that he will run again at the end of the year at this same course, and chances are just as high that he could be one of those runners leading the way at the front of the pack.

After all, three is the magic number.