On Saturday, Nov. 8, the girls varsity cross country team placed eighth out of 19 teams in the 5k Division 1A championship race. The top seven teams in this race go to states, with two wildcard spots. However, these wildcard spots can come from any of the three divisions. The Warriors secured one of the wildcard spots and will be racing at States next Saturday, Nov. 15, in Devens, MA.
The first five runners make up the team’s score and, for the Warriors, that score was 253, a tie with the Newton South Lions. In the case of a tie, the sixth runner determines the placement of the team and, for the Warriors, the sixth runner was captain Izzy Garon. Garon, a senior, broke the tie by placing 81st, whereas the Lions’ sixth runner placed 82nd, with only a 2.8-second differential, allowing the Warriors to advance to State Championships.
Captain and senior Hannah Petersen came in 28th overall and first on the team, displaying valuable leadership, according to head coach Mike DeYoung. Going into the race, Petersen said she was nervous but really excited.
“I just wanted to, hopefully, lead the team to States,” Petersen said. “It didn’t really matter if I ran a PR or not, but [I just wanted to] run my best race in hopes to help the team qualify.”
According to DeYoung, junior Georgia Gray stood out. She placed 30th overall and second on the team, sticking with Petersen almost to the end. This is Gray’s second year on varsity, and it will be her first year running at State Championships.
“I’m really excited. I’ve never run at States before, so it’s definitely a really cool, really big race,” Gray said.
Gray said she motivated herself with affirmations.
“I like to affirm myself, tell myself, ‘I’ve been working towards this. I’ve done hard things like this before. I can keep doing hard things,’ and, ‘I deserve to be here. I put in work to get here.’ [Those affirmations] definitely help,” Gray said.
Knowing that this could be the last race of the season if they did not qualify, DeYoung said that the Warriors had a strong spirit that made them run harder.
“They’re a great group of kids who work really hard. They get along really well, and we have good team camaraderie,” DeYoung said. “I would say my job is to get them physically prepared, and then their job is to get themselves mentally prepared, and they do a great job of that.”
Petersen said that the team had dinner together the night before and wrote notes on each other’s bibs to encourage one another and boost their morale before the race.
“This sport has so much grit, and everybody is so hardworking,” Petersen said. “I think it’s also a lot of teamwork. I think people often don’t think of cross country as a team sport, but it really is, and every person really matters.”
As her teammates crossed the finish line, Petersen said she was extremely proud of the team and loved giving them hugs to congratulate them for their hard work.
“Our whole goal this season has just been to qualify for States because, as a team, we did not go last year,” Petersen said. “For my senior year, it definitely means a lot. It’s a great way to end the season. We’re going to go to States and have so much fun together.”
