The Road To Hayward: Record Breakers & Future Teammates Irene Riggs & Sophia Kennedy

Today on the podcast series "The Road To Hayward" is Irene Riggs and Sophia Kennedy, friends and future teammates at Stanford University this fall!

Irene Riggs and the word "history" belong in the same sentence. Over the past year, Irene has made history in her home state of West Virginia and on the National Stage. Irene became the first athlete from West Virginia ever to win a national cross country title, and she did so in remarkable fashion, overcoming cold, windy conditions at NXN to produce the No. 2 all-time mark of 16:40.9 at Glendoveer Golf Course in Oregon. She also ran the second-fastest high school girls' 5K cross country race in history with her 16:02.1 effort at the Nike Southeast Regional. Irene also made her first U.S. National Team by winning the 2023 USATF U20 XC title. This track season, Irene ran 9:45.97 in the 3200m at the Spire Scholastic Showcase Meet, became the Nike Indoor National Champion in the Mile, winning in 4:38.23, and won the Arcadia Invitational 3200m in a meet record time of 9:52.66.

Irene is also a fantastic selfless individual off the grass and track. She is the Vice President of the student body at her school, a student council representative at Morgantown, and has spent hours doing community service. Through these accomplishments, Irene became the 2022-2023 Gatordate National Girls Cross-Country Player of The Year.

Sophia Kennedy has slowly cemented herself as one of the greatest runners in Indiana state history. Last fall, Sophia placed seventh at the Nike Cross Nationals, a week after taking second at the Champs Sports Midwest Region Championships. Sophia is a two-time qualifier for the Eastbay National Cross Country Championships, placing seventh in 2021. Sophia, the daughter of U.S. distance great Bob Kennedy, was fifth in the two-mile at the 2021 Brooks PR Invitational and eighth in 2022. Running for Park Tudor School in Indianapolis, Sophia was second in the 3,200 at the 2022 Indiana state track finals and third in the state in cross country this fall. This indoor season, Sophia placed fourth in the Mile at Nike Indoor Nationals, running 4:45.60. She also ran an outdoor mile in 4:49 and a 3200 in 10:07, where she split 5:08 and 4:59.

Others may know Sophia's dad, Bob Kennedy, a two-time Olympian who set American Records and won four NCAA titles while at Indiana University.

In today's episode, we go through how they met each other, the decision to go to Stanford, exclusive insights and stories from NXN and NIN, how their outdoor season is going, how they're preparing for Nike Outdoor Nationals, and top things off with some listener questions!

You can listen wherever you find your podcasts by searching, "The Running Effect Podcast." If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. 

The podcast graphic was done by the talented: Xavier Gallo.

S H O W   N O T E S

-Nike Outdoor Nationals Info: https://nikeoutdoornationals.runnerspace.com/

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