Girls' XC Places First At Coe Brown

In Norwood, N.H., girls from 20 different public and private schools laced up their spikes and took their places on the starting line. Last Saturday the PEA girls’ cross country team competed at the Black Bear Invitational hosted by Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, and both varsity and JV teams came in first place.Co-captain and senior Sarah Brown was tremendously pleased with the team’s results, especially because “Coe-Brown is known for having a really strong cross country team,” she said.Lower Grace Gray agreed that the meet was a lot of fun despite the difficulty posed by the talent of the other teams. “I think Exeter did an amazing job of working together as a team and cheering each other on,” Gray said. “Seeing everyone put in their best effort was really amazing.”Senior Joanna Papadakis praised the level of competition at the Coe-Brown meet, saying, “We were competing against many public school teams which was very cool because it was different from your prep school leagues. It helped challenge all of us to run our hardest.”Something that has been contributing to the success of the team in their races is a newly implemented tactic in which PEA runners travel in “blobs.” In order to remain paced and to push each other, coach Gwynneth Coogan has been reminding them to “blob,” or run in small packs, during races and practices.

“I think Exeter did an amazing job of working together as a team and cheering each other on...Seeing everyone put in their best effort was really amazing.”

Upper Anna Clark describes the pros of running in blobs and how it helped them in the Coe-Brown meet. “Other teams may have a few very fast runners out in the front of the race, but we are able to get a dense and consistent group of runners all scoring low,” Clark said. Papadakis echoed this, saying, “It’s a tactic to help us perform well and get the lowest overall score.” So far, it has been working, but the runners must implement “blobbing” in practices in order to have it work in the real races.Although last week was a grind for girls’ cross country, this week was much more relaxing. There was no meet on Saturday, so instead the team went on a 10-mile hike in Franconia. Papadakis thought the hike was “really fun,” and explained that although it provided endurance training, the hike also created an opportunity for a team bonding. They will be away next week racing against Northfield Mount Hermon school for their parents’ weekend.Papadakis anticipates the NMH race will be difficult, saying that historically they have been known for their tough and hilly course, but that Exeter is prepared to meet this challenge. “Our coaches have been training us for these types of courses and we practiced hill repeats last week so I think we are all ready and very capable of doing well,” she said.Senior Annie Yanofsky expressed the same concern for the terrain at Northfield Mount Hermon. “They [NMH] have the advantage of racing their home course because it is really hilly and they have been practicing on it. Ours is basically flat,” she said. Hopefully with the hill training that the team has done and the implementation of the “blob” technique, Exeter will be able to dominate once again.