UC’s Wischusen Earns All-American, UC Girls Place 10th at Nike XC National Championships
By Jim Lambert
Union Catholic’s Jimmy Wischusen and the Union Catholic girls squad solidified their place in New Jersey cross-country history by capping off their remarkable seasons with great performances at Saturday’s 18th Nike National Championships at the muddy and rain-soaked Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon.
After a hamstring injury forced him to drop out of the State Non-Public A and Meet of Champions races, the University of Virginia-bound Wischusen has bounced back in a big way! After placing second at the Northeast Regional last week, Wischusen dropped an electrifying seventh place finish in a field of 201 runners in the national championship race with a time of 15:25.5 to close out his amazing high school cross-country career as one of the best in NJ history.
Wischusen’s 7th place finish is the highest for a NJ boy at Nike Nationals since the legendary Edward Cheserek of St. Benedict’s Prep was second in 2010 and is the fourth-highest finish in meet history for a NJ boy. Only Cheserek and the great Joe Rosa of West Windsor North (third in 2009 and fourth in 2008) have finished higher than Wischusen at Nike Nationals.
And the 15:25.5 by Wischusen makes him the third-fastest runner ever from the Garden State on the Glendoveer Golf Course, which has bene used as the National Championship layout since 2014. Only Liam Murphy of Allentown, 8th in 15:12.0 in 2019, and Jack Stanley of Mendham, 19th in 15:20.8 in 2018, have run faster.
In the girls’ race, Union Catholic, ranked No. 1 in NJ and No. 6 in the country, put the finishing touches on arguably the best season by a girls’ team in state history, by placing 10th in the 22-team field with 282 points. It was the second appearance at the national meet for UC, which placed 22nd last year.
The Vikings, who won its second straight NJ Meet of Champions title last month with a course record 18:37 at Holmdel Park, and captured its first Northeast Regional last week, were led by freshman star Paige Sheppard, 51st in 18:36.1. Senior Courtney Kaiser finished 71st in 18:67.4, freshman Cayleigh Kaiser was 74th in 18:58.8, senior Peyton Hollis finished 129th in 19:32.6, and sophomore Ella Solorzano was 159th in 20:04.6.
