By: Sadie Hertz

Everyone understands the feeling of competition. The drive to do better than someone else. Competition is present throughout every aspects of our lives. In the classroom everyone is vying for that grade, in extracurriculars people want to be seen “doing the most” and create a long resume for the dreaded college process, and of course in athletics competition is a given. While the competition in sports is already present in competing against other teams, here at Hathaway Brown every sport competes with another.

When in season it’s common to hear about different practices and compare them to your own. The funniest is when runners hear people complain about the amount of running that happened in their sport and how dreadful it was. Consistently, the cross country team is underrated and not thought of, as we leave HB for a run and don’t return for an hour or so… out of sight out of mind apparently. Cross country is commonly said as just a sport to stay in shape or not even referred to as a legitimate sport.

 

“Running isn’t a sport…”

A common phrase heard over my cross country and track seasons. It’s more than just stepping onto a line to hear a gun sound the start, it’s a mentally and physically taxing event that includes strategy and competition. With that being said, how good is HB XC? I mean a common question because it is often overlooked. And I can say this year it was one of the best team seasons, including immense talent within the underclassmen, proving that it won’t be the last good season anytime soon.

In one of the hardest districts the team placed seventh overall and sent one senior, Jessica Young, to the regional meet. The team acquired many team wins (and instead of beating one team we have to beat up to thirty) in meets like the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival—which is one of the largest meets in Ohio. Within that major win, the hardest thing to do in cross country is either single handedly win a race or flat out lost, and sophomore Emma Esteves cruised into a first place finish against over 300 girls. While the cross country team did not advance past districts and regionals, we accomplished much more within the regular season that shows the power that lies within these runners.