BARNESVILLE — Caroline Rickard had broken the tape once before in a big race, winning the 1,600 meters at last spring’s Schuylkill League Track and Field Championships.
When the Blue Mountain senior arrived Wednesday at Tuscarora State Park for the Schuylkill League Cross Country Championships, she wanted to feel the thrill of victory one more time.
Working her way through a pack of evenly matched runners, Rickard rose to the occasion and won the girls’ race in 19:43. Covering the 3.0 miles of hills and trails on an unseasonably warm day amid blazing fall foliage, Rickard dominated. She won by 34 seconds over Marian freshman Nicole Capparell (20:17).
Defending champion Tina Capparell, a Marian sophomore, placed fifth in 20:41.
“It’s surreal. It’s absolutely surreal,’’ Rickard said of breaking the tape Wednesday.
And about the track victory?
“That feeling was indescribable. I wanted to do it here,’’ Rickard said. “Cross country means the most to me, and I wanted that feeling again.
“You just feel on top of the world,’’ she added. “You feel invincible, and all that hard work and training really pays off.’’
Tamaqua’s hard work also paid off as the Blue Raiders dethroned two-time defending champion Blue Mountain 43-76 for the team championship.
After Rickard and Courtney Dukmen (20:24) went 1-3 for Blue Mountain, Tamaqua needed its depth to make up ground on the Eagles’ fast start.
Kailee Carroll got the Blue Raiders going with a fourth-place finish in 20:31.
“It means a lot,’’ Carroll said. “We all tried really hard to bring our times down and push each other every run.’’
When Sarah Maue (20:54), Monika Shimko (20:56) and Nicole Wasserleben (21:13) went 7-8-9, Tamaqua was on its way to the championship. Chelsea Frantz placed 15th and Melanie Shimko took 16th — both in 21:47 — to give the Blue Raiders six runners in the top 16.
“The girls ran really well today,’’ Tamaqua coach Tom Kanger said. “There’s a lot of individual competition. It’s really, really packed.
“We talked about it at the beginning of the season that we wanted to get here and have an opportunity to win this because it’s real special to us,’’ he added. “It has been a while for Tamaqua to win the championship.’’
Adding the Shimkos and a strong freshman in Maue, the Blue Raiders built the depth needed to succeed at a high level.
That level is starting to remind observers of the Tamaqua teams of the mid-2000s when the Blue Raiders won three straight boys’ championships and two straight girls’ titles at the District 11 Class AA Cross Country Championships.
“I’ve had past runners, runners from other schools and people who are involved in cross country come up to me and say that my girls’ team now looks like one of my girls’ teams from the past,’’ Kanger said.
“And it does. They’re strong and they’re together. They’re packed. They really care about each other,’’ he added. “The team bonding that they have is really nice because they’re really concerned about the team. They’re into that team trophy more than they are about individual awards. That’s tough to develop when you have good runners.’’
In the early races, Pine Grove eighth-grader Megan Wessner began the day by repeating as Schuylkill League junior high champion. She covered the 1.8-mile course in 12:19, just two seconds ahead of runner-up Cori McCormick of North Schuylkill. Tamaqua took the team title with 22 points.
In the JV race, Tamaqua junior Genevieve Beck took top honors by running the 3.0 miles in 22:07. The Blue Raiders swept the top four places to win the team title with 21 points.
In all, 419 runners competed at the league meet — 184 girls and 235 boys.
Rickard is the first Blue Mountain runner to win a league title since Tyler Rauenzahn captured the boys’ championship in 2009. Available records go back to 1999, and during that span, no Blue Mountain girl has won league gold.
To change that, Rickard had to change her strategy.
“I usually start slow and build my way, but I knew today if I wanted to win, I had to go (out fast) with the top girls,’’ she said.
“That’s what I did and I had that mentality that this is my goal, and this is what I want. ... The whole race I kept my breathing under control, and I just had that one goal in my mind.’’
Rickard made her move on the hills, steadily working her way up the standings. Eventually she found herself all alone at the front.
“I’m good at hills — at least I think I am — and by pacing I was getting one girl after the next,’’ Rickard said. “If I can keep on doing this for the whole thing, I was set.
“I passed the girl for the lead on the second grassy hill,’’ she added. “I was like, ‘OK, I’m in first. Let’s stay there.’ ’’
Strategy aside, Rickard’s victory had as much to do with will and desire as tactics.
This was her last Schuylkill League meet, and she wasn’t going home without the biggest trophy.
“Mentally I was in the zone,’’ she said.
“This is my time, my senior year, and I want to do this so I just kept on going,’’ Rickard added. “Here I am.’’
Race results
Schuylkill League Cross Country
Championships
At Tuscarora State Park
Course length: 3.0 miles
Wednesday’s results
Varsity girls
88 finishers
Team scores: 1. Tamaqua (T) 43, 2. Blue Mountain (BM) 76, 3. Jim Thorpe (JT) 135, 4. Lehighton (Leh) 141, 5. Minersville (Min) 147, 6. Marian (Mar) 155, 7. Pine Grove (PG) 167, 8. North Schuylkill (NS) 193, 9. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 211, 10. Mahanoy Area (MA) 213, 11. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 251, 12. Weatherly (W) 293
Did not score: Col-Mon Vo-Tech (CMVT), Nativity (Nat), Pottsville (Pot)
Individual results: 1. Rickard (BM) 19:43, 2. N. Capparell (Mar) 20:17, 3. Dukmen (BM) 20:24, 4. Carroll (Tam) 20:31, 5. T. Capparell (Mar) 20:41, 6. Nalesnik (JT) 20:45, 7. Maue (Tam) 20:54, 8. Mo. Shimko (Tam) 20:56, 9. Wasserleben (Tam) 21:13, 10. Raczka (Min) 21:14, 11. DiFalco (PG) 21:31, 12. DeAngelo (NS) 21:38, 13. DeMatte (Leh) 21:39, 14. Gaston (Leh) 21:39, 15. Frantz (Tam) 21:47, 16. Me. Shimko (Tam) 21:47, 17. K. Kovac (JT) 21:49, 18. Teaschenko (SV) 21:55, 19. Pedron (Min) 22:03, 20. Stravinsky (NS) 22:04, 21. Babinsky (MA) 22:05, 22. Henninger (BM) 22:18, 23. Nagle (Pot) 22:30, 24. LaBar (Tam) 22:33, 25. Thompson (BM) 22:39
Varsity boys
89 finishers
Team scores: 1. North Schuylkill (NS) 54, 2. Lehighton (Leh) 62, 3. Blue Mountain (BM) 92#, 4. Jim Thorpe (JT) 92#, 5. Tamaqua (Tam) 92#, 6. Mahanoy Area (MA) 156, 7. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 209, 8. Marian (Mar) 224, 9. Weatherly (W) 248, 10. Minersville (Min) 257, 11. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 261, 12. Col-Mon Vo-Tech (CMVT) 363
Did not score: Nativity (Nat), Pine Grove (PG)
Individual results: 1. Bucior (JT) 16:27, 2. C. McCormick (NS) 17:05, 3. Blacketter (Leh) 17:11, 4. Frey (Leh) 17:21, 5. Levkulic (BM) 17:25, 6. Melnick (Tam) 17:28, 7. Nortavage (Tam) 17:33, 8. Clemson (Tam) 17:35, 9. Hinkle (W) 17:42, 10. Roseberry (NS) 17:44, 11. M. McCormick (NS) 17:45, 12. Tavella (Leh) 17:49, 13. Bolinsky (NS) 17:51, 14. Saxon (JT) 17:54, 15. Gentile (JT) 17:58, 16. Kluge (BM) 18:06, 17. Mosteller (BM) 18:08, 18. McCabe (NS) 18:08, 19. Ahrensfield (NS) 18:11, 20. Fisher (Leh) 18:13, 21. Derr (MA) 18:16, 22. Anthony (NS) 18:21, 23. McCabe (Leh) 18:23, 24. Srinivasan (Mar) 18:24, 25. Menuchak (BM) 18:31
Junior varsity girls
Course length: 3.0 miles
33 finishers
Team scores: 1. Tamaqua (T) 21, 2. Blue Mountain (BM) 51, 3. Jim Thorpe (JT) 52
Did not score: Col-Mon Vo-Tech (CMVT), Lehighton (Leh), Mahanoy Area (MA), Minersville (Min), Pottsville (Pot), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Shenandoah Valley (SV)
Individual results: 1. Beck (Tam) 22:07, 2. Gerber (Tam) 22:22, 3. Erbe (Tam) 24:17, 4. Kostecky (Tam) 24:34, 5. Albitz (BM) 24:37, 6. Motto (Pot) 25:16, 7. Stauffer (JT) 25:49, 8. Gavornik (JT) 25:50, 9. Johnson (BM) 25:51, 10. Tonelis (JT) 26:06
Junior varsity boys
61 finishers
Team scores: 1. Lehighton (Leh) 52, 2. Blue Mountain (BM) 61, 3. North Schuylkill (NS) 68, 4. Tamaqua (Tam) 94, 5. Jim Thorpe (JT) 94, 6. Mahanoy Area (MA) 137, 7. Pottsville (Pot) 170, 8. Minersville (Min) 196, 9. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 228
Did not score: Col-Mon Vo-Tech (CMVT), Shenandoah Valley (SV)
Individual results: 1. Sherer (Leh) 19:17, 2. Roseberry (NS) 19:19, 3. Roseland (Tam) 19:42, 4. Russel (NS) 19:45, 5. Montemuro (JT) 19:51, 6. Haslam (Pot) 19:53, 7. Bogash (BM) 19:59, 8. Phillips (BM) 20:00, 9. Lucykanish (Leh) 20:07, 10. Beers (Leh) 20:10
Junior high girls
Course length: 1.8 miles
63 finishers
Team scores (4 to score): 1. Tamaqua (Tam) 22, 2. North Schuylkill (NS) 43*, 3. Pottsville (Pot) 43*, 4. Lehighton (Leh) 56, 5. Jim Thorpe (JT) 91, 6. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 110, 7. Weatherly (W) 122, 8. Blue Mountain (BM) 129
Did not score: Marian (Mar), Minersville (Min), Nativity (Nat), Pine Grove (PG), Schuylkill Haven (SH)
Individual results: 1. Wessner (PG) 12:19, 2. McCormick (NS) 12:21, 3. Dumond (Tam) 12:58, 4. Kabana (Tam) 13:03, 5. Maccarone (Pot) 13:12, 6. Racine (JT) 13:41, 7. Rushannon (Nat) 13:45, 8. Ahner (Leh) 13:54, 9. Mateyak (Tam) 13:54, 10. Cressley (Leh) 13:55
Junior high boys
85 finishers
Team scores (4 to score): 1. Blue Mountain (BM) 28, 2. Jim Thorpe (JT) 52, 3. Lehighton (Leh) 72, 4. Tamaqua (Tam) 82, 5. North Schuylkill (NS) 100, 6. Pottsville (Pot) 104, 7. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 105, 8. Weatherly (W) 121, 9. Minersville (Min) 145
Did not score: Mahanoy Area (MA), Pine Grove (PG), Schuylkill Haven (SH)
Individual results: 1. Streisel (MA) 11:01, 2. Soriano (MA) 11:18, 3. Anderson (PG) 11:22, 4. Zoscin (W) 11:50, 5. Haas (BM) 11:53, 6. Wissinger (PG) 11:57, 7. Osenbach (Tam) 12:03, 8. Velazquez (SV) 12:20, 9. Oswald (BM) 12:25, 10. Waslesyn (JT) 12:25
*Tiebreaker, faster 5th runner
#Tiebreaker, faster 6th runner