Cross Country is a demanding sport where students run every day during practice. During races at Eaglebrook, students compete in two courses. The first course, located near the track and turf, takes runners from one end of the football field into the woods, where they run a 3-kilometer trail around the whole area that ends in an all-out sprint-off next to the track. Our second course is located at Hilltop Farm, where the Hilltop Ramble’s finish line takes place in the spring. This trail is more open than the other. Cross Country athletes must run two laps around the E-shaped field, which resembles the Eaglebrook logo. This course is newer than the first, as the property was bought only a few years ago. The races are hard, and students do their best to get a new personal record, but some could argue that our daily practices can be as hard as an actual race.
A regular Cross Country practice starts with the students meeting on the turf and waiting for everyone to arrive. The coaches provide a brief overview of the day’s activities, such as the course we are running, and then run a lap around the track. We go at a very slow pace, which warms our muscles up and reduces the chance we get hurt due to starting too fast. Then the students start their dynamic stretches, which we do both before and after our workouts. The dynamic stretch consists of walking on their toes and heels, pulling their legs to stretch their quads, doing high knees, and stretching their hamstrings. The stretches after the workout are for keeping the runners’ muscles healthy and helping them avoid soreness the next day. We perform these stretches to prevent our bodies from being overworked too quickly, giving our muscles time to warm up before practice and also cool down after a hard run.
The team runs to different places depending on what we are working on and the weather that day. The trails vary from the Pine Nook road, the cornfields near Deerfield Academy, and Eaglebrook’s very own forest. We get to experience the natural side of Eaglebrook, giving runners a chance to appreciate our beautiful campus. If you are quiet enough, you can hear a bird chirping or a squirrel climbing a tree.
The trails we run on for practice depend on what skill the team is trying to work out. If the workout focuses on endurance, the team runs 4-6 miles, depending on our level of experience. If the team is focusing on practicing their race pace, we run laps around the track at our own unique pace to make sure that we are ready to keep a steady pace in the race.
Each individual in Cross Country runs at a different pace, but we all come to practice with a positive attitude. Each member is not judged solely on their mile time or how fast they can sprint a 100-meter dash. They are different people who are working to support each other through the harsh runs.
The coach and runners who are on the team this season consist of: Coach Hull, Coach Manto, Coach McClure, Coach Minickiello, Lief Abramson ’28, Leo Cao ’28, Johnny Chen ’27, Eric Choi ’28, Hugh Devine ’27, Joey Fu ’28, Jason Hu ’28, Creek Huang ’29, Aditya Hung ’28, Harrison Kain ’27, Michael Kao ’27, Collin Li ’29, Daniel Liang ’27, Christian Lin ’28, William Lin ’27, Eric Liu ’29, Jasper Mok ’27, Jisung Park ’27, Addie Pieroni ’27, Max Qin ’27, Krishna Reddy ’28, Jaden Song
Cross Country
