By Jim McGrath

The Bishop Ireton harriers capped their 2024 season at the Virginia Independent Schools championship on Nov. 7 at the Panorama Farms course in Earlysville. While the Cardinals enjoyed key performances from several runners this season, this fall’s campaign will surely be remembered as the first time that an Ireton runner captured the mythical Virginia private school Triple Crown.

That runner, BI ninth grader Cate Messing, won the girls division of the Virginia State Catholic meet, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title, and capped off her season with that Nov. 7 VISAA Division 1 championship.

The accomplishment is even more meaningful given that Messing is just a freshman, is in her first full competitive season and barely stands more than five feet tall. In spite of her diminutive stature, Messing may be the most notable high school newcomer in the state of Virginia. The statement is not hyperbolic; in fact, on two occasions, Messing won the Girls Runner of the Week award from Milestat.com, which is considered to be the foremost authority for all statewide high school cross-country and track news.

Not bad for a soccer player, at least if one is to believe her sports biography. Messing showed athletic prowess at a very young age.

“My dad signed me up for soccer at four years old,” Messing, speaking a week before her biggest race to date, the Nike Cross Nationals regional qualifier in Cary, North Carolina, on Nov. 23, said. She would place 38th in the race in 18:06, first among freshmen. This occurred despite running a good portion of the 5,000 meters with one shoe hanging off her foot, the victim of having a competitor step on the back of her foot.

Excelling with various teams in the Mount Vernon, and later Arlington, areas, Messing showed a potential for endurance, often running miles during a typical game at her outside forward position.

Her running started to transition from the pitch to the streets, as the youngster started taking runs with purpose, adding distance as her ability improved.

“It was fun,” Messing said. “I liked it.” However, simply taking her new activity to the streets wasn’t enough for the fiery competitor. “I was mainly running to stay in shape for soccer. But my dad [Erick] mentioned the Army 10-Miler and I started training for it.”

Last October, as a 13-yearold eighth grader, Messing toed the line for the first time in one of the Washington, D.C. area’s most popular distance races, and traversed the course in “about 1:12,” a time impressive for any runner, much less a first-time racer. Her time of 1:12:44 was also good enough to place her first among all 14-and-under females, more than six minutes ahead of the runner-up.

At the same time, Messing was thinking about where to attend high school. As a student at Carl Sandburg Middle School in the Alexandria portion of Fairfax County, she might have elected to attend nearby Mount Vernon or West Potomac High Schools. St. John’s, a Catholic high school in D.C., was also in the running.

A trip to an open house at nearby Ireton sealed the deal.

“It was closer to home [than St. John’s],” Messing said. “I liked the students and teachers that I met there.”

Another runner on the Ireton team, who had seen Messing at the Army race, alerted Cardinals head coach Bob Artman of Messing’s pending enrollment on Cambridge Road.

Artman knew she played soccer, and that the fall sport happens to run concurrently with cross-country in the WCAC. But he figured getting her to come out was worth a try.

Artman reached out to the incoming freshman and found an immediate selling point. Messing had run cross-country as a middle schooler, and qualified for the USA Track & Field middle school national championships. The spark to continue running was already there.

Artman inquired what her best 5K time was. “19:50,” was the reply. “Well, you know, our school record is 19:34 [set by Jessica Wolfe in 2001].”

Challenge accepted.

Ireton’s first race came at the Monroe Parker Invitational, held at Burke Lake Park on Sept. 7. Running in the freshman/sophomore division, Messing placed second in 19 minutes flat, but more than a minute behind Petra Gruendel of Robinson High.

“I got a cramp and it affected my time. But I was really happy,” Messing said of her debut.

Her next major race came two weeks later at the Oatlands Invitational, held on the historic course in Leesburg used for the Virginia state championships for Classes 4-6. Now competing in the varsity girls race, Messing took eighth place, with her time of 18:40 being consistent with the performance of an All-State caliber runner. This time, she was also 22 seconds ahead of fellow freshman Gruendel, and her time broke the course freshman record.

But it was two weeks later that Messing really turned heads for the first time as a runner. Competing in a field of 307 runners at the prestigious Oktoberfest Invitational, at The Plains, Messing took the lead and stayed there.

Right until the last 400 meters.

“Cate was 20 yards ahead for the whole race, but the West Springfield girl [Adeline Barker] ran a smarter race,” Artman said. “It was the last race she’s lost,” he added.

Messing finished second, just three seconds shy of toppling Barker of the perennial state championship-contending Spartans.

Messing’s first win came on Oct. 17, as she captured the Alexandria girls city championship. Her winning time of 17:52 was 56 seconds ahead of Lucinda Jones of Alexandria City High School and helped the Cardinals to a second-place finish. Teammate Jason Day took second (16:20) in the boys race – which was won by ACHS’ Thatcher Kotuby, in 16:17.

As the third week of October ended, the private school triple crown season began, as did Messing’s springboard to DMV distance running notoriety. It started at the State Catholic meet, with the freshman covering the Occoquan Regional course 48 seconds ahead of runner up Eden Alexander from St. Sebastian’s Academy.

Four days later, Messing destroyed a WCAC girls’ field at D.C.’s Kenilworth Park to win by more than a minute. To add the final touch, Messing won the VISAA race by 22 seconds, defeating a field of well over 300 runners, to win in 18:28 at Panorama Farms, site of an NCAA championship meet – and the home course of the University of Virginia.

“It was kind of cool,” Messing said, recalling how the Cavaliers logo is painted into the grounds just 20 meters from the start line.

But she may need to get accustomed to running on college courses.

Asked about her future plans of competing in both running and soccer at the college level, Messing said she plans to take the month of December off from running as mandated by Artman for all Ireton cross country runners. She’ll then resume training, which will include running starting in January and club soccer in the spring.

“Let’s see how this plays out.”