Double delight
Toolbox
Published: November 9, 2009
Ginny Richburg just had one of those weekends this past Halloween.
You know, one of those weekends where you win a state championship the day before being inducted into the athletic hall of fame at your alma mater? Surely you've all had at least one of those weekends.
Me neither.
But the Randolph cross country coach did just that, leading the Galloping Ghost girls team to its first-ever cross country title on Halloween before traveling to Waltham, Mass., to be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at Brandeis University.
The Ghost girls won the Division III championship by one point over BFA-Fairfax in just their second season as a varsity program. And the boys finished seventh, better than half the pack.
"I said to the girls, 'Now you've gone and done it, the target is on your back.' We took down BFA-Fairfax, a perennial contender," Richburg said. "We knew what we needed to do, and we also got extremely lucky. Some teams were dealing with illness and they didn't have all their runners on the line, but our runners went and ran their best or second-best of the season. We loved every minute of it."
The girls team is made up of primarily freshmen and sophomores. The top Ghost was Timnah Zimet, who finished fourth in 23 minutes, 35 seconds. Nina Listro was fifth, also in 23:35, Annie Hutchinson 10th in 24:39, Bonnie Currie 16th in 25:25, Brooke Angell was 20th in 25:52 and Katie Giles was 22nd in 26:10.
"Some of them are veteran runners; they have been running for three or four years," Richburg said. "We did have varsity cross country this year and the year before, and the two years before that we were a club sport. Two of those girls were running in junior high, and it's been fun being their coach and growing with them and as their successes grow."
The boys team was paced by Logan Whitcomb's 17th-place finish (20:44).
Richburg started as the junior varsity and then varsity girls soccer coach at Randolph, but in the last four years she has played a big role in bringing track and field and cross country to the school.
"Cross country came about because some of the kids who didn't play soccer didn't have another choice, and we knew it would benefit track," she said. "At the time I was the varsity soccer coach, and said I'd love to get that (cross country) started. I left the soccer field 4 years ago. I have only missed soccer a little bit because cross country has been so much fun."
While participation seems to have reached a plateau, Richburg said, this first title could draw a few more runners to the program.
"We're ready for that," she said. "We're ready to grow a little bit more. We have great leadership in even these young runners and some great potential."
That potential is being drawn out and encouraged by a coach who certainly has the credentials and accomplishments to do so.
"I went to a large suburban high school in Boston," Richburg said. "I was a five-sport varsity athlete there, and I graduated from Brandeis University where I was a three-season runner between cross country and indoor and outdoor track."
Her specialty was that she had no one single specialty – historic success in multi-event competitions resulted in an athletic hall of fame nod as part of the Class of 2009.
According to the Brandeis University Web site, Richburg, who graduated in 1981, "was the first woman in Brandeis history to qualify for the NCAA track and field championships, earning a berth in 1981 in the heptathlon. She earned several Greater Boston and New England championships throughout her career in both the heptathlon and the pentathlon and was recognized Brandeis' top female athlete in 1979."
"It was one heck of a weekend for me," she said. "It was a privilege to be at Thetford coaching these kids…and Sunday I had the privilege to be inducted into the Brandeis University Athletic Hall of Fame."
The newest D-III cross country champions will present their trophy to the school tomorrow, just a week before the winter teams are slated to begin tryouts and practices.
"They have some goals and dreams for the next few years," Richburg said. "I'm really serious about what they want and what we're going to work at. I think the boys program will improve as much or more than they have in the last couple of years."
So congratulations to coach Richburg and the Galloping Ghost cross country program for such a big accomplishment. We'll see you at the track in the spring.
We have just about a week before the winter high school sports are allowed to begin, but big things are happening this weekend in Vermont football – namely, the Norwich University Cadets will host the ECFC title game against Mount Ida on Saturday afternoon. Norwich beat Mount Ida 28-6 at home on Sept. 26.
The Norwich women's ice hockey team will host a pair of regular-season games on Friday and Saturday against Saint Anselm and New England College, respectively, while the men's team has to wait until Nov. 20 to drop the puck on its season.
The Norwich men's basketball team starts Nov. 17 at UMass-Boston, while the Cadet women start two days before that with a home contest against Plattsburgh State.
Also this weekend, the Cadet women's rugby team will host the Northeast Championships after beating Marist 70-14 in the tournament quarterfinals. Norwich will face the winner of the Radcliffe-SUNY Geneseo game in the semifinals. The Cadets beat Radcliffe 50-12 on Halloween but have not faced SUNY Geneseo this fall.
The 13-3-1 Cadets (9-0 NERFU) have won their last 10 games and have outscored their opponents by, suffice it to say, a lot. A lot, a lot. They haven't allowed more than 20 points since a 20-0 loss at Montreal on Sept. 6, which was their last loss. Norwich has not scored less than 36 points since a 36-0 win over Bryant in the NERFU tournament on Oct. 24 at home.
The University of Vermont winter teams are almost all in full swing, and it won't be long until the high school teams catch up to create packed schedules each week.
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