Just Run

Hey, welcome to our world, they’ll tell you.

 

Expect the unexpected. Hydrate well. Respect the high-70s temperature, the terrain, and your counterparts on the other teams. Fear none of them, though, and just run.

 

That’s the deal. Right? Just run.

 

This past Friday, at the St. Catherine’s Goochland County athletic complex, Collegiate’s girls won their third consecutive League of Independent Schools title by placing its five scoring runners among the top 10 finishers to record 27 points.

 

St. Anne’s-Belfield placed second (53) followed by the host Saints (65), Veritas (111), and Trinity Episcopal (115).

 

The Cougars’ Virginia Harris crossed the line second overall in 19:13 over the 5K course, Bridget Blaszak third (19:32), Rosie Ferrell fifth (20:48), Anne Lewis seventh (21:02), and Amelia Haske 10th (21:25). They and Ellie Blackwood (12th in 21:49) earned All-LIS honors for their Top 15 finishes.

 

“It was definitely a little bit warmer than we’ve been used to training and racing in,” said Blaszak, “but every day’s a new challenge, and everybody’s feeling the heat.”

 

Harris, a sophomore, ran in close proximity to the Saints’ Annabel Bayler, the victor in 19:01, from the gun.

 

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more confident, so my strategy was just to go out fast and give it everything I had,” Harris said. “I went out a lot faster than I have in my past few races, so the strategy was to hold onto Annabel as long as I could.

 

Thrice an All-LIS honoree, Harris was the defending champ.

 

“It would have been nice to win again,” she said, “but I try not to put that kind of pressure on myself. That would take away from the enjoyment of it. I felt like if I gave it all that I had, the outcome would be the outcome. If I truly put all my energy into it, I can’t be disappointed.”

 

The Saints’ course has a little bit of everything, so running it strategically as well as fast, especially on a warm day, is the recipe for success.

 

Mile One includes a long, slight uphill, then a bit of downhill, then a trail through the woods, which includes several twists and turns. Mile Two is relatively flat and includes a spectator-friendly circuit of open fields. Mile Three begins with a steep hill as runners enter another section of woods, then levels off for the final .75 mile, much of which follows the perimeter of the fields they’d circled earlier.

 

“The first mile was definitely fast,” said Blaszak, the only senior among the Cougars’ top seven. “Mile Two, you start seeing people cheering you on. That gives you a little bit of a surge. That hill on Mile Three is definitely a tough one mentally and physically, but as soon as you crest that, it’s downhill, and you’re out here to finish. I knew somebody was coming up behind me, and I wasn’t going to let anybody get around me.”

 

Though cross country is often perceived as an individual endeavor, the Cougars’ success was very much a total-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts achievement.

 

“It’s really important to want your team to win over wanting to win yourself,” Harris said. “That’s the driving factor for me. At the end of the day, an individual championship might make me feel good, but the entire team feeling good is so much more important. Our girls fight hard. They fight with their hearts. I knew that our seniors and our entire team would give everything they had, and I wanted to give everything I had for them.”

 

The Cougars’ victory was another way station in a one-step-at-a-time, one-rep-at-a-time journey that culminates Thursday with the VISAA championship competition at Panorama Farms in Earlysville near Charlottesville.

 

“Our girls ran well today,” said Coach Matthew Richardson in the aftermath of the LIS meet. “Every day, they show up and give their best effort. It’s not about what place people are in. It’s about competing well. Today was a tough day to run because it was warmer than usual, but that’s something we train for.  This group really cares about each other. When things get tough, that’s when they’re at their best.”

 

Collegiate’s boys team, which graduated three of its top five in May, placed fifth in the Prep League with 93 points behind St. Christopher’s (40), Fork Union (48), St. Anne’s-Belfield (77), Woodberry Forest (88) and ahead of Trinity Episcopal (170).

 

Senior Liam Moore, who finished eighth in 17:53, earned his third All-Prep citation. Underclassmen Preston Sutherland (18th in 18:56), Justinas Petkauskas (21st, 19:03), Thomas Gallahan (22nd, 19:04), and Ben Thalhimer (24th, 19:28) rounded out the Cougars’ Top 5.

 

“We haven’t really talked about it being a rebuilding year,” said Richardson. “We lost some guys to graduation, but we have a lot of talent in this group. They’ve been working hard. It’s exciting to see the potential. We’re looking forward to the last six days of the season and seeing where we can improve between now and states.”

~Weldon Bradshaw