Irene Riggs Helps Team US to First Medal in U20 World XC

Irene Riggs 12th at U20 World XC Championships

Morgantown's Irene Riggs has finally completed her cross country season. She made the trip to Bathurst, Austrailia to compete in the USATF World XC Championships in the Under 20 division. Riggs worked her way up through the field to a strong 12th place finish to help Team USA earn its first ever medal in this event (top 3 teams medal). The top of the leaderboard was dominated by Ethiopia and Kenya with the top US finisher being Ellie Shea in 10th. The brutal course featured several hills and a mudpit (the billabong) that the runners traverse 3 times. In addition, each lap featured a 180 degree turn followed immediately by a zig zag section. Riggs was in 17th at the 1st and 2nd checkpoints before moving up to the 12th spot. There were 61 athletes in the race and 51 finishers. Yes, there was attrition.

After one lap, Riggs was in 17th, and Kenya was atop the team standings with 11 points with Ethiopia in 2nd with 30 and Uganda in 3rd with 43. The US was a distant 4th with 71 points. Uganda had 4 in front of any US runner.

On the 2nd lap, the US started to move. Riggs was up to 12th with Shea right with her in 13th. Kenya remained in the team lead with 16 points, but Ethiopia was close with 22. The US and Uganda both sat at 63 points. If the tie-breaker is the next runner, then the US had the advantage but barely with the US #5 ahead of the Uganda #5 by one spot and less than one second.

On the final lap, Riggs held her spot to finish 12th in 22:03 while Shea would rise to 10th in 21:48. Ethiopia took over late, taking the top 2 spots and beating their Kenyan counterparts in all 4 scoring positions to win the team title 15 to 21. The US would close well to run away from Uganda for the 3rd podium position. Shea climbed to 10th, Riggs held her 12th spot, Karrie Baloga climbed to 13th, and Zariel Macchia rose to 19th for the US to drop their score to 54th while Uganda fell to 75 points. 

There were 12 checkpoints on the course.  Irene's standing at each.
1	3:22	17th
2	4:22	17th
3	5:46	16th
4	7:17	17th
5	10:22	15th
6	11:25	14th
7	12:49	13th
8	14:20	12th
9	17:26	12th
10	18:29	12th
11	19:56	12th
12	22:03	12th