Bo Sheng
On Saturday, September 28, Nobles Girls Cross Country (NGXC) and Nobles Boys Cross Country (NBXC) emerged victorious in three out of four races at the St. Mark’s School in their first regular-season ISL meet of the season.
The St. Mark’s course is just short of five kilometers, allowing for many athletes to attempt personal records. The first portion of the course consists of flat, grassy fields, while the second has more hilly terrain, including what NGXC Head Coach Kate Blake described as a “vertical hill.” This jarring change in landscape comes right after a fast first mile.
“I was surprised by how much the hill took out of my legs,” NBXC Captain Alex Cheng (Class I) said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be that hard, so it was just kind of a shock, just feeling the lactic [acid] in my legs and knowing that I still had two miles left to run.”
Saturday was 75 degrees, and the course boasted little shade. Despite the treacherous hill and the heat, both Nobles teams saw many excellent performances.
James Fair (Class II) and Cecilia Lakdawala (Class IV) won the boys junior varsity (JV) race and the girls JV race, respectively. Cheng placed second in the boys varsity race, and Clara Trautz (Class IV) placed third in the girls varsity race. Additionally, Nobles won the boys’ JV, girls’ varsity, and boys’ varsity titles by one point.
NGXC Captain Christina Hall (Class I) attributes Nobles’ success to the energetic support taking place off the course.
“I saw people saying ‘good job,’ really congratulating each other, and people bringing water to one another, [all without] being told to,” Hall said. “That’s what the sisterhood is all about.”
Hall commends Alexa Zhou (Class II) and Yiling Ding (Class II) for not only cheering for their teammates running in the girls’ varsity race, but also for positioning themselves at difficult parts of the course and throwing water on NGXC runners passing by to cool them down in the heat.
While fervent intrateam support was on display, an incident during the girls’ varsity race proved that interteam support and sportsmanship were not altogether present. Roughly a half mile into the race, Vera Zatlyn-Weiner (Class III), approaching the front of the pack, heard a runner on a competing team shout, “You guys are going the wrong way!”
“I didn’t want to get disqualified or anything, since I was already working so hard,” Zatlyn-Weiner said. “I stopped, I turned around, and I ran a little loop around the bush. The girl who yelled at me continued to run the same way that I was running before.”
In addition to adding a few seconds to her time, Zatlyn-Weiner believes the debacle also had intangible effects on her performance.
“It knocked me off my mental game,” she said. “It made me feel like I’d already lost the race.”
Blake notified the assistant coach on the other team, but ultimately knew that disqualifications were not on the table, as there was no eyewitness.
Overall, the day was highly triumphant for Nobles XC, setting the tone for races to come. NBXC Head Coach Dave Ulrich said, “I’m just really proud of the squad, boys and girls, and I am looking forward to a successful end of the season.”