GXC Annihilates Andover
A missing shoe, cold and windy conditions and giant puddles throughout their home course. Girls’ cross country faced all these obstacles at their Exeter/Andover races last Saturday with grit, prevailing in both the varsity and junior varsity races.
In the varsity race, Exeter beat Andover 30-25, with Exeter runners placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 10th out of the top 10 finishers. For JV, Exeter also defeated Andover 36-21. Exeter’s top three runners were lower Gia Pisano and seniors Hanna Pak and Alexandra Van Dijkum. Another standout runner was upper Lucy Gilchrist, who won the JV race by over 10 seconds.
Senior and co-captain Ashley Lin commented on the racing conditions, explaining that the team had to “run through a pond that literally went up to my knee height.”
“Our shoes were wet and muddy throughout the whole race, and it was basically like running through an obstacle course on American Ninja warrior,” Lin said.
Fellow senior and co-captain Grace Gray expressed that she “couldn’t be prouder” of how her team competed. “I knew that we were ready for the harsh conditions going into the race, but it was magical to see every person on the team step up to the challenge of digging into the pain each minute of the race and making those conditions ours to own and take with us to victory,” she said.
Most teams would flinch at the thought of having to run in these harsh conditions; however, Big Red prevailed and found extreme success. Lower Caroline Huang mentioned that going into the race, “Our team felt pretty good. We felt that the conditions would give us a leg up on Andover because we are really tough and have trained to run through rain and mud.”
Her teammates shared similar sentiments regarding the team’s mentality going into the race on Saturday. Lower Helen Lieberman agreed and added, “I think the mud and the lake was an advantage because we were prepared for those obstacles, but Andover was intimidated by them.”
This perseverance created numerous standout performances for Exeter. Pisano lost her shoe in the middle of the race and finished second for Big Red. Huang praised Pisano’s grit. “She raced more than half the course without a shoe and came in first on the Exeter team and second overall,” she said.
In the JV race, the team’s strength and depth shone through as well. Lieberman added, “Around the 1-mile mark, lower Charlotte Lisa twisted her ankle. I was running beside her, and she told me to keep going. Half a mile later, she caught up to me, and we ran almost the rest of the race together. It was really inspiring seeing her work through pain; I have so much respect for the mental toughness it takes to do that.”
Big Red has unfortunately suffered many injuries throughout the season, but this didn’t stop the runners from coming out on top when the team needed it most. Huang said, “[senior Gabby Allen] bounced back after her injury and absolutely killed it.”
Lin also lauded senior Hanna Pak’s race, the third overall finisher. “She killed it on Saturday. She has been severely injured since our prep spring, but she made a huge comeback this season.”
The team is happy about their victories against Andover but has its sights set on Interschols this Saturday. The team has started tapering—a period of low practice volume in preparation for an important race—so that they will be in perfect shape to crush the competition at Avon Old Farms.
Looking ahead, Allen explained that the team will “keep working hard and encouraging each other as best we can. We have one week left, and we want to make it a memorable and fun week full of love and running.”