Sheppard Wins to Spark Union Catholic Girls to Title, Wischusen Places 2nd at Northeast XC Regional
By Jim Lambert
WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY — The Union Catholic girls, led by champion Paige Sheppard, overcame some adversity to win the team title and Jimmy Wischusen, who has comeback strong so many times from adversity in his career, did it again with a strong runner-up finish in the boys race at Saturday’s 16th Nike Northeast Regional Championships at Bowdoin Park.
With their finishes, the girls’ team and Wischusen qualified for the Nike National Championships, scheduled for this Saturday (Dec. 2) at the Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon. UC, who earned its first trip to nationals last year by placing second in the Regional, has the potential to challenge for a top spot at the national championships.
The mark of any great team is finding ways to win when things don’t go as planned, and that’s what the Vikings did in the girls’ race to capture their first Nike NE Regional Championship.
Heavily favored UC, ranked No. 1 in NJ and No. 6 in the nation, was leading North Allegheny of Pa., by just 10 points, 55-65, at the halfway mark, and senior Peyton Hollis, one of UC’s top guns, had just dropped out with an injured calf.
So the Vikings entire pack, knowing the situation, all began to crank it up and level up, closing hard en route to a 54-82 win over North Allegheny. There just aren’t many teams that can overcome the loss of a runner as good as Hollis, the Union County champion the past 2 years, and still win a Regional Championship. But Coach Mike McCabe’s team is just built different and will go down as the best girls squad in NJ history!!
Individually, Sheppard ran a perfect tactical race to ignite the charge for the Vikings as the freshman phenom put together a masterful performance, punctuating her victory with an electrifying kick to explode past Ella Woehlcke of Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Pa., with about 100 meters to go to finish first in an eye-popping 18:12.2! That’s the second-fastest time by a NJ girl in course history. Only Charlotte Bednar of Lawrenceville, who ran 18:00.0 to win the NE Regional in 2019, has run faster.
Sheppard’s victory led a scoring combination of 1-5-11-17-20 for UC, which averaged a red-hot 19:06.2.
UC’s top five consisted of Sheppard, senior Courtney Kaiser, 7th in 18:52.1, freshman Cayleigh Kaiser, 15th in 19:07.7, freshman Kayla Devine, 27th in 19:38, and sophomore Ella Solorzano, 30th in 19:40.7.
In the boys’ race, the University of Virginia-bound Wischusen added to his remarkable list of great comebacks by placing second in 15:49.9, the fastest time ever by a Union County runner on the course and the 7th fastest time by a NJ runner all-time on the rugged 3.1-mile layout. The race was won by Stanford-bound Byron Grevious of Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire in 15:32.8, No. 7 all-time in course history! Grevious, second last year, finished 12th at Nike Nationals last year.
Wischusen, who has shown so much heart, guts and resiliency during his career by always coming back strong after overcoming injuries, bounced back in a big way.
Wischusen, forced to drop out with a hamstring injury just past the 2-mile mark at both the State Non-Public A race and the Meet of Champions, picked himself up off the mat once again and came out swinging. Wischusen positioned himself perfectly early in the race, sat in fourth at the halfway point, and then poured it on over the final 1,200 meters to move into second place to lock up his trip to Portland.
After the race, a relieved, excited, and understandably emotional Wischusen talked at length about how much this moment meant to him after so many ups and downs in his career, which includes winning the Meet of Champions Indoor 3,200 last year, and missing most of the 2022 XC season and the end of outdoor season last spring with injuries.
Wischusen, who never stopped believing in himself and has displayed remarkable intestinal fortitude during his amazing career, also spoke from the heart as he offered great advice for runners/athletes who are dealing with setbacks in life and the physical and mental challenges that go with that. Wischusen’s video interview is a must watch for everyone, especially anyone out there that’s struggling with the highs and lows of the sport.
