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Inside the Grit and Glory of Cross Country
Springbrook runners push past pain, power through the hills, and prove that XC isn’t for the weak.
by Julian Kleinow
Cross country is one of the most rugged rough sports on the planet. We all know people who are like, “It’s not even bad,” or, “You guys are babies for not doing football.” When it turns out, they might be the babies. The race starts out with at least 300 other kids in the race and when that gun goes off it’s madness. You run like the gun was pointed at you, it starts out pretty wide but it just keeps getting more narrow. But once you start getting out from the start line, don’t stop, keep going. We all know it hurts, it hurts bad, but if you want to do well, stay with the people ahead of you. Like my dad says, “When they go, you go” and also like Coach Emmendorfer says, “Embrace the suck,” because unless you trained to be comfortable, you're not trying to be comfy and cozy out there.
THE RACE
First up a small hill, then down it then again. We do that and turn into the woods, down the woods trail we follow it all the way to a hill named “Killer” but luckily we were not going up it, we were using it. Our whole team is passing kids left and right but we also have to know we have to keep moving up, but this isn’t easy. We slip and sink in the sand behind some pine trees then up a giant hill named Bertha that's steeper than Killer, luckily not longer. After Bertha is up through the trail we follow into the woods then through a swirl of mini woods all the way out and you can hear the crowd go wild. Every teams’ coach is leaning over the barrier screaming at their runners to start kicking since there's only 400 meters left. If you don't know how far that is, it's one lap around the track. All of us finish strong, pumping with nothing left in us to keep going. Our head and arms are screaming at us to stop, but we refuse and all push and muscle through the pain. And that's only one race. We have to do that nine times every season, but at the end it's the greatest feeling you'll ever experience.
HOW IT WORKS
Now, probably a lot of people don't even know how cross country works. Points are scored by each person placing. Whatever place you get, that's how many points you scored and the lowest score wins. Most races have 4-5 runners score, but some are top 7. The race really starts weeks before the season with hard work and dedication running mile after mile. But we”ll skip to the day before the race with everyone preparing, taking ice baths, heating, cooling, rolling out muscles that are sore and much more. Then a good night's rest and waking up for school. We drink plenty of water that day and we even need to have Gatorades and drinks that have electrolytes. After school we get dressed into our running clothes, but we stay warm before a race with jackets and pants on. The girls race first this year, so when our lead girl runner hits the mile mark we start warming back up, stretching, and get a positive mindset when coach Emmendorpher was asked, “What is your biggest tip to do better during race time?” he said, “Have a positive mindset, it will help you like nothing else.” Then it’s our race, we know it doesn’t matter how well we do, and it won't be the end of the world if we do badly, and we know to just try our best, but we’re always still nervous for some reason. It's always the same thing for us every time we finish, no matter if we PR or not, we had fun, we worked hard, and it feels good to have it off our chest and to be ready for next week.
MILES AND MILES OF EFFORT
If you're asking what a PR is, it means personal record and what Coach Emmendorffer said after nine years of coaching "what is the most rewarding part of coaching?” The response was, “I just love seeing the kids' faces light up in joy and happiness after getting a PR. It's just amazing and doesn't just make them happy, it makes me happy too.” Something funny about Coach E. is that he never ran cross country in middle school, but he did baseball, football, soccer, and swim. He still became the best coach there is. I mean I think both of our coaches are the best. What I think I love best of all is that we get to hang out as a team, joke around, have fun, then run our guts out, then have fun again, realizing we just hit our PR, and making so many memories out of it because we deserve it after giving blood, sweat, and tears to you, XC.
Ace in Your Face
You don't have to win it, just don't lose it
by Annie Eichorn
This year's 7th grade volleyball team is coached by Alexis Baughey and so far in their season they are 6-5 with two more games left to go! Coach says when she thinks of this team she thinks of family, all the girls get along and there is never team drama. No matter if someone needs water, tape, or wrap the girls are always there for each other. Her goals for the season were to teach the girls a proper rotation and overhand serves, but most of the girls already knew most of the basic volleyball knowledge. She also wants to make a lifelong relationship with the girls. In the season, the volleyball team has handled tough and hard matches against many teams and she likes to handle pressure by telling the girls every single one of them can make a good pass, get a good hit, get a serve over and in. A stand out this year for Coach is everyone soaking so much knowledge on rotation, positions, court numbers, etc. She mainly focused on running 5-1 and 6-2 rotations. She specialized in coaching the knowledge of the game this season, which includes positions, rotations, terminology, running plays, and teaching higher level playing. Most of the girls had the basic techniques for the skills needed to play. Although they worked a lot on passing, setting, hitting, and serving, all of them already knew how to do those things. Couch Baughey has been coached by some of the most amazing people that she still keeps in touch with to this day (some 5-10 years later). She has also been on the other side, experiencing some not so great coaching which unfortunately ruins your relationship with the sport. “I never want to be the coach that ‘ruined a sport’ for someone.” Coach Lexi says that volleyball has been a part of her life ever since she was born. Her older sister and mom played competitively and the second she was old enough was enrolled in volleyball at the YMCA. After years of little league, travel, middle/high school it wasn't until her junior year when she fell out of love for her sport because of a coach and strives to become the reason you fall in love with volleyball. She's excited to be a part of all these girls' lives and can't wait to start their next season.
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