BXC Run Strong at Invitational
Senior Joseph Walewski hustles down the last stretch of the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy cross country course, an Oyster River High School runner close on his tail. As the final two runners who can place for their respective teams, the pressure is high to make it across the finish line first. With his last bursts of strength, Walewski beats his opponent in the last several yards of the race to place seventh for his team.
Big Red cross country placed fifth out of 27 competitors in a meet held last Saturday against public high schools. Despite their high ranking, the runners were disappointed at having lost in a tiebreaker against the famed Oyster River. Upper Will Coogan explained, “Oyster River is also a very good team who unfortunately we didn’t beat this weekend.”
The Bobcat Invitational championship runners refuse to settle for anything less than the best. Upper Sam Kim described the team’s mentality thus far this season. “This weekend’s race was not what we were hoping for, but it’s also a tough point in the season,” he said. “We were very tired, but we’re confident that we will have better races soon.”
The team works hard every year to make it to Interschols and win the championship. Though the runners were disappointed in this week’s outcome, they are not letting the meet define their season. Senior and co-captain John Martel said, “Overall, it’s difficult to say where the team stands since we’ve only done two public school meets so far.” Public schools are not part of the NEPSAC League the team competes against at Interschols.
The meet went well for the junior varsity runners, who won their respective heat. Upper Jinwoo Kang said about the victory, “We had about 30 points, and the next JV team had 70 points.” The teams compete to have the lowest number of points.
On the varsity team, several runners performed well against the tough competition. Martel said about his teammates, “On the positive side, we had some really solid performances from [lowers] Varun Oberai, Croix Mikofsky and Andrew Luke, in particular.”
The team is improving and training with the hope of having a strong impression at Interschols this year. While it is still early in the season, the runners want to work on their sprints and team chemistry, especially in the weeks to come. “At this point in time we’re focused on putting in good training and simply getting faster,” Coogan explained.
Big Red will take on the Northfield Mount Hermon School this coming Saturday, and hopes to secure a win. “We won’t be doing much out of the ordinary for the next meet, although we do have a run at Pawtuckaway State Park coming up, which we only do once a year and is a lot of fun,” Coogan said.
For the rest of the season, the runners have only one thing on their minds—Interschols. Martel explained his determination that the team performs well at the meet. “For the rest of this season, I have my sights on Interschols and the chance to help to put our team back on top,” he said.