For those who know North Salem High School graduate and track star Riley Knebes, the Facebook post shortly after her race at the United States Track and Field Outdoor Championships last week in Eugene was typical Riley.
Riley Knebes (now Muggler) was a top performer in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Division II level during her days at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. On June 23rd, she was one of 25 competitors in the USATF event at Hayward Field in Eugene. Her time of 58.38 seconds beat her Division II championship time in 2018, when she had finished fifth. In Eugene, she was 20th.
You wouldn’t know from her Facebook post after the effort that she hadn’t advanced to the finals.
“It was an honor to race in my home state for USATF Nationals!” wrote Riley with great zeal.
And this is the sort of unbridled enthusiasm that comes with knowing Riley.
I didn’t personally have Knebes in class during my time as a teacher at North Salem High, but it didn’t take much to have a conversation with her in the hallways. Always approachable, Riley was easily one of the friendliest people on the North High campus.
She was great student—one of North Salem’s top academic performers. She also exceled as a trumpet player as a part of the Viking jazz band. And—for the purposes of this story—she was one the Vikings’ top track athletes.
During her senior year in 2014, Knebes competed at the state 6A track meet in the 100 meter dash, the 100 meter hurdles, and the 300 meter hurdles. While she didn’t advance out of the 100 meter prelims, she did bring home hardware from both hurdle events, finishing third in the 100 meter hurdles, and first in the 300 meter hurdles, with a stellar mark of 43.69 seconds, fifth fastest time for the event ever at the time. That title in the 300 hurdles made Riley the first North Salem female runner to win a state event since the legendary Sasha Spencer did so in 1997. Spencer went on to star in track and field at Georgetown University.
But Riley didn’t move on and coast through her college stint after arriving at New Haven. She continued to push herself in all aspects, finishing with a 3.88 GPA, while also garnering award after award on the track—conference athlete of the year honors, Academic all-American designation for most of her career, and an All-American award for her fifth-place hurdles finish at the NCAA Division II Meet in 2018.
Riley’s success has never come as any surprise to her North Salem track coach—2016 National Coach of the Year Don Berger. Berger calls coaching Riley one of highlights of his career.
“She had a high level of God-given talent,” recalls Berger, “but she worked extremely hard to develop that talent.”
The steps towards improvement included turning out for Cross Country to boost her endurance, and extended winter workouts with track coaches to develop her speed and hurdling technique. What makes Riley’s success all the more remarkable, according to Berger, was how full her work day was already.
“She accomplished all this while doing outstanding work as an elite musician and honors student,” said Berger. “She was a team leader and was loved by teammates and coaches.”
The question may arise as to what motivates Riley to keep running and competing as a track athlete several years beyond her graduation from college. The short answer is her strong Christian faith.
“I’m realizing that this is how I get to glorify God,” wrote Knebes-Muggler on Facebook.
“He gives me the opportunities to race and I run as fast as I can to make Him proud.”
Also providing a base of support is Riley’s husband and coach, Corey, whom she married last year.
No plans have been announced for Riley to run again anytime soon, but those who know her won’t be surprised by any action to that affect.
One last FYI: Riley currently works for a Massachusetts-based health insurance company as a health guide. If her past is any indication, she will be a huge success with the firm in very short order.
You go, Riley.