Up until last week, Meya Ranges’ senior season has been all about pacing and patience. Throughout the offseason, Ranges focused on improving her pacing on the course to ensure she could finish races stronger. During the regular season, she was strategically held out of some of Nutley’s dual meets, keeping bigger goals in mind—namely the Essex County and upcoming NJSIAA state and sectional championships.
On Friday at Cedar Grove Park, that training and approach paid off in a big way. Ranges smashed her previous career best by running a 19:09.07 to claim third place at the Essex County Championships. Her medal-winning performance earned her The Observer Athlete of the Week honors.
For Ranges, this marked her second consecutive third-place finish at the Essex County Championships. Last fall, she took third with a time of 19:41.50.
“Going into Friday, I was really confident in myself, and now I have more experience running a 5K,” Ranges said. “I knew how to pace it, and I pretty much ran my own race. I definitely think I’m hitting my stride right now. I think a lot of the credit goes to my training and my coaches. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t run as many dual meets as I did before, just to save my legs for the championship season. I’ve been doing a lot of tempo runs during the dual meets, and that has definitely helped.”
Head coach Kara McNish added, “With Meya, we kind of mapped out the whole season, looking at invitationals and recovery time. I gave her certain days that she wasn’t going to race, like the Essex County Invitational and some dual meets. Last year, we didn’t do that at all, which I think, in the end, weighed heavy on her legs. By the time we got to sectionals and groups, she was feeling it.”
For Ranges, sitting out those dual meets wasn’t always easy. She admitted to feeling a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) as she did her work separately from her teammates.
“I want to save my legs, but I want to be running. I want to be with them,” Ranges said, also crediting swimming and cross-training for helping her get stronger heading into the season. “But I know it’s for the better because Cedar Grove is all concrete, so it’s definitely harsh on your legs. Saving my energy, going to the track, and doing a tempo workout really did help. I felt really fresh on Friday.”
With her legs fresh and another year of experience under her belt, Ranges felt much more comfortable heading into this year’s county meet. Just ten days earlier, at the Super Essex Conference Championships, she set a then-personal best with a time of 19:19.40 at Cedar Grove.
According to Ranges, she didn’t start with the front pack in the field of 106 runners. Instead, she gradually made her way toward the front while saving a strong kick for the end.
“I definitely wanted to go under 19:20, but I really had no idea what was going to happen because everybody in Essex County is so good—everyone’s improving,” Ranges said. “So I just wanted to stay up, run my own race, try to catch up to the lead pack, and then kick at the end. That was my goal, and I executed it pretty well.”
https://www.theobserver.com/2025/10/29/nutleys-meya-ranges-takes-third-in-essex-xc-championships/