Irene Riggs Wins Nike Nationals

Morgantown's Irene Riggs traveled to Portland, OR to run the Nike Cross Country Nationals after her dominating performance at the Southeast Regional. She proved that performance was no fluke as she ran away with the National title. She took the lead about a minute into the race and it wasn't long before she established a gap. By 1.3K, she was 3 seconds ahead. By the mile mark, it was nearly 6 seconds. Her lead would grow to over 21 seconds at 2.75 Miles. She ended up clocking a 16:40.9, the 2nd fastest ever time at this meet, while dealing with blustery winds and a quick mishap in which she veered to the right to follow the lead vehicle, only to have to stop and duck back under the flags as the vehicle was not on the course (that's how it appeared to me anyway). She won the race by 13.7 seconds.

Split	1.3K		1M		2M		4K		2.75M		5K
Place	1		1		1		1		1		1
Time	4:14.8		5:10.0		10:36.7		13:15.5		14:48.5		16:40.9
Gap	3.2		5.8		15.9		17.5		21.6		13.7