HHS Cross Country Faces Off Against Tough Competition
Junior Sam Oomen-Lochtefeld, Senior Scott Myers, and Sophomore Zack Passios (left to right) during their race.
October 2, 2016
This past Tuesday was the Cross Country teams’ annual meet against their biggest competition, Plymouth North. The boys’ team came in a well-deserved first place, while the girls’ team lost with perseverance and pride in their efforts.
The front runners from the Hingham boys’ team were juniors Tristan Del Aguila and Evan Goddard and seniors Jack Muldoon and Scott Myers. On the girls’ team, juniors Kaylee Hill, Jackie Harrington, and Heather Linscott and senior Renee Noordzij cohesively worked together as front runners. Top runners were not the only notable participators, as almost every person racing earned a personal record. Countless hours of summer training and challenging workout days aided the runners in their fight toward personal and team goals.
Senior and team captain Zach Lytle expressed, “I was really nervous at first because I wasn’t sure we had won, but some of our runners had some great performances which (barely) gave us the win”. Zach and his other team members felt extremely proud of their win, especially considering Plymouth North’s reputation as Hingham’s greatest competition.
Even Zach’s fellow runner Kyle Sutton skeptically stated, “the new course may or may not be a 5K”. Because of the huge numbers of personal records, some of the runners joked that the course was not a complete 5 kilometers in length.
While the girls’ team technically lost, senior Kate Farrell explained, “I don’t know how it is possible for a human being to run as fast as Plymouth North did today! I’m extremely proud to be part of such a dynamically cohesive team that can give it their all, even when they know it will be a challenge. So many girls set personal records today and all the team could ask for was everyone’s best. That’s what we did, and for that I’m so proud”. As much as the title “winners” means in a competitive situation, each girl set personal and team goals during the first week of practice, and most entailed working their hardest, staying positive, and preventing injury as a team. With such group and character-based goals by their side, a single loss will not bring the girls’ Cross Country team down by any means.
Racing is never easy, and each runner deals with pain differently. Without anything to hold, throw, or kick as with other sports, runners must find ways to entertain themselves. Dan Carr, a runner on the team, utilized strange forms of logic to keep his mind off pain. He described his experience, saying, “At one point in the race, I thought, how many Jolly Ranchers could a Grizzly Bear that just ate a fish eat? Then I determined that, even if it had just eaten a fish, a Grizzly Bear is a larger than average mammal, and could eat at least twenty five Jolly Ranchers. Then I kept running”. Dan Carr’s logic may strike most athletes as obscure, but any runner would appreciate his efforts in entertaining himself. Dan Carr is surprisingly logical.
Win or lose, the Cross Country team performed extremely well against Plymouth North. Next week, Hingham XC will be heading to Whitman-Hanson Regional High School for another meet and are always welcoming support. All runners should feel happy for their progress and keep up the good work!
