GXC Rus for One
Last Saturday was a busy day for all Exonians. Away at Andover, sports teams battled it out with Big Blue while fans cheered, alumni reunited and parents lit up the barbeques. Back on the Exeter campus, cross country warmed up for their last meet of the season—the Interscholastic championships.
Interschols is held every year at the end of the cross country season and pits all of the prep schools in the league against each other. The 13 other teams from the NEPSTA league included Deerfield, Andover, St. Paul’s, Choate, Brooks, NMH and Loomis Chaffee, all teams that Exeter has defeated in their regular season. Nothing changed on Saturday, as Exeter finished strong, taking home a first place plaque.
The race was off to a fast start once the gun shot, with over 100 runners tearing off of the start line. First place went to the top varsity Andover runner, a postgraduate recruit who has dominated in the league this season. Lower Hanna Pak said, “Lots of the other teams had one or two strong girls as well. Exeter came away victorious because all of our girls are really fast, which allowed us to get a lot of low scores instead of just relying on the top few runners.”
“I’m going to really miss the work ethic this season because we all pushed ourselves and each other beyond what we thought we could do, and our drive to be the best was really admirable.”
Exeter’s success has always come from a deep and even pool of talent, rather than relying on a few select stars to pull the team. Senior and co-captain Sarah Brown agreed that, “what put us above other teams is the depth of our team. Not only did we have [senior and co-captain] Christine Hu who placed second but in the varsity race six of our girls placed in the top 20.” This is the trait that has allowed them to receive such collectively low scores this season and achieve their undefeated record.
Exeter brought this same teamwork and hard working mindset to Interschols this weekend. Lower Grace Gray commended the team’s hard fought effort during the race. “I think our team did a great job of working as a unit while racing, cheering, or working the meet,” she said. “It was definitely different and exciting to have so many people racing on the course at once, and I think our team approached this change well by working off of each other while racing and overall giving it our very best.”
Brown was also very proud of the team’s success and congratulated her team on a well-fought battle. “Many of our runners ran personal records and overall it was a great day. We felt very prepared going into the race. We knew the course, our team and how to race,” she said.
This race was especially significant because it was held on Exeter’s home turf for the first time in many years. The girls spent all season practicing and holding small meets on our trails, so they knew the course inside and out, and when the day came, they were prepared. One physical challenge that Pak noted was the unexpectedly long grass. Grass is an obstacle that hinders speed in country and the Exeter runners weren’t exactly used to. The race was also a mental challenge due to the sheer magnitude of the event. “It was one of the more mentally challenging races since it’s such a big deal,” upper Sara Kopunova said.
Pak said that the thing she will miss most about this season is their team dynamic. “I’m going to really miss the work ethic this season because we all pushed ourselves and each other beyond what we thought we could do, and our drive to be the best was really admirable,” Pak said.
Brown said her final goodbyes as well, after four years of membership to the girls cross country team. She said, “I will miss my team, my coaches and getting to train and race in our woods. I will miss our dress up days and the spirit that I saw each time I came to practice. For the seniors, there couldn’t have been a better end to four seasons of cross country at Exeter. We have slowly climbed up from eighth, to third, to second and now to first.”