When Meya Ranges set her goals for Saturday’s NJSIAA Group 3 Championships at Holmdel Park, qualifying for the Meet of Champions was not one of them.
“Meet of Champions was not on my mind at all,” said Ranges. “I knew I had a shot of getting a wild card spot, but since it was at Holmdel, I know nothing is guaranteed because Holmdel is such a difficult course. So honestly, going into groups, I had no real expectations other than beating my original time at Holmdel.”
An afterthought a few days ago became reality as Ranges exceeded her high expectations by running a 19:50. The time was good enough to take 10th place in Group 3 and gave Ranges an automatic bid in next Saturday’s Meet of Champions.
According to head coach Kara McNish, Ranges is believed to be the first girl from Nutley to qualify for the Meet of Champions in more than 30 years.
“When we went to the start line, I was like, I don’t want to get in your head, but you have a pretty solid chance to qualify with the wildcard (given to the top 30 runners who don’t finish in the top 10 of their group),” McNish said. “And she was like, yeah, I’m just going to run my race.
“She wasn’t even thinking about (Meet of Champions), so to qualify by finishing in the top 10 is a huge deal.”
Ranges’ time this past Saturday was a full 39 seconds better than her previous best time at Holmdel, a 20:29 at the Shore Coaches Invitational on Oct. 4. And while Ranges said she wasn’t disappointed with that performance five weeks earlier, it was a source of motivation.
“I wasn’t disappointed at that time because (at Group 3) last year, I ran over 21 minutes. So to me, that time (at Shore Coaches) was very good because I improved by over 30 seconds,” Ranges said. “But after, I definitely knew that I had a lot more in me. I took that with me on Saturday and I just pushed myself a lot harder. Every mile, I chipped down (compared to before), and yeah, it got to 19:50 so I’m very happy.”
“She has just gotten so comfortable with pacing and we talked about the course and how it has a really hard second mile. It’s completely uphill the entire mile,” said McNish. “We talked using the third mile to shave some time off, but I wasn’t expecting 40 seconds of time shaved off. She just looked confident and comfortable and smooth the whole time.”
Prior to the start of the race, McNish saw a level of calmness and focus in Ranges that she had rarely seen before. Even Ranges’ grandmother remarked to McNish how calm she looked before the start of the race.
When Ranges returns to Holmdel Park on Saturday morning, she won’t be concerned about doing something no girl from Nutley has done in decades, nor will she be concerned about the competition around her or finishing in a specific place.
Instead, the focus will be the same as it was this past week. Just doing a little bit better than the time before.
“I’m excited,” Ranges said. “Holmdel Park is very challenging, but I also think it’s very fun because it’s challenging.
“I’m going to go in with the same game plan, go out maybe a little fast and just start chipping away each mile. And hopefully, I’ll come back with a PR.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)