Ocean City girls won the first two races at the 26th annual Cherokee Challenge Saturday morning, with Riley Tolson winning the freshman race and Carly Godfrey winning the sophomore race. It was the first varsity cross country race for both,.
Tolson began her varsity career by running 12:07 on the two-mile course at Cherokee, becoming the first Red Raider girl to win the freshman race at the Challenge. The best previous finish was a 2nd place by Christina Missar in 1996, the meet’s inaugural season. She placed 2nd to Rancocas Valley’s Sara Belinsky.
Godfrey ran 11:57 to win the sophomore race, showing great range after running 59.69 and 2:18.50 last spring. This is her first season of cross country. In fact, she had never run anything over 1,600 meters indoors or outdoors in track. She’s the second Ocean City girl to win the Challenge sophomore race, the first since Alexa Palmieri in 2018.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 