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THREE RIVERS — With competition starting so quickly, the Niles cross country teams haven’t had much time for hill training. 

But the Vikings were exposed to enough of that kind of terrain in Tuesday’s 25th annual Three Rivers Hill Climb Invitational held at Meyer-Broadway Park. 

With a 13-day break before its next meet, hills were just what the Niles’ runners needed. 

Niles scored 154 points to claim fifth place in the boys’ race, while the Lady Vikings placed fourth with 119. 

Three Rivers won the boys’ meet with 40 points. Marshall (94) placed second followed by Paw Paw (121), Centreville (129), Niles, Berrien Springs (174), Jackson (178), Union City (184), Bronson (185), Constantine (209) and Athens (273).

Abraham McHugh was the individual boys’ winner in the 5,000-meter (3.1 mile) race with a time of 16:36.9 on a course filled with turns and plenty of hills.

Freshman John Brickley finished seventh in a time of 17:43.9 to lead Niles. Junior Liam Pesce was next for the Vikings in 26th place in 20:21.6. Sophomore Oliver Trout took 34th in 20:55.3 followed by classmate Miguel Rodriguez (35th, 21:05.9) and freshman Anthony Gray (52nd, 23:37.5) to conclude the scoring. 

Also competing in the varsity race for Niles were freshmen Cameron Medlin (55th, 23:51.3) and junior Adolfo Sanchez-Perez (66th, 29:56). 

“We don’t worry about times on this course. I treated this meet as an ultimate workout day. It’s more about effort and I’m really pleased with our performances today. Our times were pretty good for this type of course. We’re ready to go now with a 13-day break. Now we can get some good quality workouts and training in,” said Niles head boys’ coach Tony Todd.

Todd likes the youth he has on his squad. The Vikings have no seniors on the roster. 

“Having no seniors bodes well for the future. Our No. 1 runner is just a freshman and our No. 2,3,4 runners are all juniors. Everyone else are sophomores or freshmen. John (Brickley) has been a standout runner since he was in sixth grade so we knew he was coming. We want to keep the reins on him so he doesn’t overwork himself. He’s that type of kid who will run through a wall if you ask him too,” Todd said. 

In his first race on Friday, Brickley broke the long-standing record for a freshman held by Mark Calhoun since 2007 by running a time of 16:52.20. 

Todd was also impressed with the performance of Trout.

“Oliver is our most improved runner. He put in an unbelievable summer and has moved up from being our No. 8 guy to our No. 4 on varsity and he’ll maintain that spot. He’s moved up the ladder and is running tough. He had a two-minute PR on our home course in the first race,” Todd said. “We have a good little squad and should improve on last year.”

Bronson claimed first place in the girls’ meet with 73 points. Marshall (96) took second followed by Three Rivers (110), Niles, Union City (125), Paw Paw (136), Constantine (146), Battle Creek Pennfield (151), Centreville (193), Jackson (205) and Comstock (318).

Senior Ashlynn Harris of Bronson won the girls’ race in 21:30.6. 

Freshman Lena Coulston was the first Niles runner to cross the finish line in a 12th-place time of 23:22.7. Junior Claire DevlescHoward (14th, 23:46.7) was next for the Vikings followed by classmate Haili Martz (23rd, 25:12.7), senior Morgan Hopper (33rd, 26:31.9) and senior Amity Riggenbach (37th, 26:54). 

Freshman Zarrah Dyer (42nd, 27:40.7) and sophomore Katie Walsh (60th, 31:32.3) also competed for the Vikings. 

First-year Niles’ girls’ coach Taylor Nate was pleased with how the meet unfolded for her squad.

“This race was a little tougher for some of our girls. Since we’re only one week in, we haven’t really had much time to work on hills. Overall we did pretty well though and I had a couple girls who exceeded what I had expected of them,” Nate said.

Nate is optimistic about what her team is capable of achieving this season. The Vikings have 15 total runners, including 10 returners. 

“I’m really excited because we have a pretty strong team coming back. Eight out of our 10 returners improved their performances in our first meet of the year at the Viking Stampede. We want to get into the weight room more and get stronger along with working on our endurance and stamina throughout the race,” Nate said. 

Cassie Krueger will serve as Nate’s assistant coach. Both Krueger and Nate ran for former Niles coach Jami Roden.

“We are excited to continue building what Jami built before us,” Nate said.