GXC Places Fifth at Black Bear Invite
With its motto–run for one, run with love–the Exeter girls’ cross-country team brought high spirits to the Black Bear Invitational meet, hosted by the Coe Brown Northwood Academy in Northwood, NH.
Upper Maddie Machado outlined Big Red’s preparation for this meet, knowing that the race course is infamous for tough running conditions. “There were a few tricky spots of slippery mud, but we prepared really well for it,” she said. “On Tuesday, we had a big workout on our trails in the rain, which I think perfectly prepared us for the obstacles and terrain for this weekend’s race.”
In addition to training for hills and mud, senior and co-captain Grace Gray said they also prepared by “building our mileage and training these past few weeks to deepen our strength and endurance, and I think this heavy training was a big part of preparing for the Coe Brown meet—we learned to race hard on tired legs, and that ultimately makes us stronger runners.”
According to senior Alexandra van Dijkum and the rest of the seniors on the team, this course was familiar to them after having raced there for the past three years. “I’ve raced at Black Bear for four years now, so I was pretty familiar with the course,” Van Dijkum said.
While prep Anika Tsai had her initial worries, she expressed her confidence in the team. “The hills at Coe-Brown definitely intimidated me at first, but in the end as we watched the girls’ varsity and boys’ races, I knew they were nothing we couldn’t handle,” Tsai said. “From what I saw, everyone looked strong from start to finish.”
Though they went in with the goal to win, the varsity squad ultimately placed fifth out of 29 teams. Machado explained the adversity that the group faced by saying, “We ran the best we could, considering that three of our normal varsity runners did not race this weekend.”
Leading the charge for Big Red was lower Gia Pisano in 10th, Van Dijkum 18th, and Gray 47th. These results came from a very competitive field of 225 runners. Machado also highlighted the performances of two other varsity runners. “[Lower] Caroline Luff and my sister [prep] Lindsay Machado stood out to me on Saturday because of their willingness to step up and fill some of those missing varsity spots,” she said. Van Dijkum added that Luff and Lindsay Machado “killed it.”
Gray also highlighted lower Violet Goldstone’s perseverance despite Goldstone suffering a “stumble and a bloody leg” from the race.
Goldstone elaborated on her accident by saying, “I fell and I almost felt like I couldn’t go on; my knee ached and I was on the verge of tears. But I kept going because my teammates cheered me on.”
Van Dijkum also discussed the team’s emotional environment. “Our team dynamic is overwhelmingly positive and supportive. It feels like a family,” she said. “I don’t think I would be running if the team dynamic wasn’t this great.”
Gray shared similar sentiments, adding, “I would describe our team dynamic as being extremely dedicated, caring, and passionate about our sport. We care much more than just the hard numbers typically associated with a race time, and I think this extra devotion is what gives our team an edge in competition. Our team motto sums it up pretty well: Run for one, Run with love.”
Big Red’s biggest competition is Deerfield and Andover, but after knocking out Andover last Saturday, they have their sights set on a dual against Deerfield in a couple of weeks. But they first need to take down NMH this coming Saturday. The team hopes to use their two weeks of rest and knowledge of hill running to crush NMH. Van Dijkum expressed the team’s mentality by saying, “We have a week off so we get to rest up, so I’m excited to be fresh for the next meet.”