‘He’s fearless’: Thomas Worthington boys cross country’s Rishi Jha cements legacy
Friday, September 4, 2026
By Michael Rich
mrichnotwealthy@gmai.com
Senior Rishi Jha (center) is the youngest of three brothers to run cross country for Thomas Worthington. The Cardinals are currently ranked third in Ohio behind only Mason and Springboro. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Timed sports like cross country offer a specific measurement of where one stands. An athlete is what their time says they are.
Thomas Worthington senior boys runner Rishi Jha gets joy out of beating his times. It’s one of the things that he loves most about the sport.
“(I love trying) to get another PR,” he said. “That’s the main thing really – making progress.”
Jha wasn’t completely sure about his future as a runner. He had a lot to live up to as the youngest of three brothers.
His two older brothers both saw success with multiple appearances in the Division I state meet in their time with the Cardinals.
His oldest brother, Arjun, participated in four state meets, finishing seventh as a junior at 15 minutes, 18.5 seconds and then fifth in his final season at 15:32.8 before graduating in 2018.
Zubin Jha, the middle brother, competed at state three times with his best performance coming his senior year where he finished 72nd at 16:29.7. He graduated in 2020 and ran at Ohio State.
It’s a lot to live up to for Rishi.
Thomas Worthington sophomore Calvin Watson, who finished 12th at last year’s state meet, was first at the Big Walnut Eagle Twilight event last weekend. Photo: Kevin Rouch
“I never pushed him. I never set any expectations on him,” coach Bill Darling said. “He had to find his own way. Eventually, he got out there in races and he didn’t like losing. And so he kind of found his own fire and worked his way up.”
Rishi shaved almost two minutes off his time from the start of his sophomore year to the end of his junior season. That culminated in an appearance at the state meet where he finished 20th at 15:53.2.
As this was going on, Arjun Jha began helping out in practices. He’s now joined the team as a voluntary assistant and designs the program’s workout schedules.
Arjun ran cross country and track at Indiana and Michigan. He is coaching Thomas while he attends medical school at Ohio State.
“Our workouts (have) changed a lot since he started coaching last year,” Rishi Jha said. “We would mainly do mile repeats or 400- or 800-(meters). But now we do more tempo stuff and there’s variation in the workouts.
“We do a lot of workouts where we have shorter rests and maybe not as fast paces. I think that helps our endurance a lot.”
Thomas is ranked third in the first Ohio Track and Cross Country Coaches’ Poll behind Mason and Springboro. The Cardinals opened the season by winning the Big Walnut Eagle Twilight on Aug. 29, scoring 33 points to beat out seven other teams.
Thomas Worthington senior Wesley Nash sprints to the finish just ahead of Big Walnut’s Ethan Schultz during the Big Walnut Eagle Twilight Event last weekend. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Rishi Jha was fourth at 16:07.83 behind sophomore Calvin Watson (15:45.98) and senior Wesley Nash (15:56.27), teammates, who finished first and second, respectively. Rishi said he was a little under the weather and hopes to run better when the Cardinals run in the Mel Brodt Invitational at Bowling Green State University on Sept. 4.
“Watching him take each day at face value and grow into this athlete that just goes for it all,” Arjun said. “He’s fearless. He sticks it out there every time we race. Just watching that transformation has been really special.
“He’s very into what you tell him. Like if you tell him what’s best for him, he trusts you and he does it. He’s kind of always been that way.”
At last year’s state meet, Watson was 12th at 15:37.49 and Nash was 101st at 16:36.61 as the Cardinals finished 10th of 20 teams with 285 points behind champion Beavercreek (101).
When Rishi first began running, it was because he saw the joy that his brothers took in the sport.
“When Arjun graduated high school, I was 8 (years old). So, I didn’t know what time (he and Zuban) were running,” Rishi said. “But I could see they really enjoyed it and I could tell it was kind of their love.”
Rishi plans on running in college, though he is not committed yet.
“I definitely do want to run … no matter where, no matter how,” Rishi said.