Shelter Island cross country teams to compete in State tournament
The Shelter Island School boys and girls varsity cross country teams are set to compete in the New York State qualifying tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at Sunken Meadow. (The tournament will take place after the Reporter’s print deadline this week, but we’ll run the results on our website and have a report for the Nov. 14 edition)
This year has been one of improvement and hard work for the runners. Leading the varsity boys is Coach Toby Green, while Erin Mulrain coaches the varsity girls and the junior high runners. We sat down with the coaches to get their reflections on their successful season, and hear their expectations for the upcoming State qualifying tournament.
At the junior high level, the team was made up of six athletes, with four boys and two girls. Unlike the varsity level — which requires six or more athletes to compete as a team — the junior high runners are scored on individual wins, meaning all six athletes were competing in each race.
At the start of the season, Coach Mulrain expressed concerns about the runners’ times, explaining that, “Both the runners and I agreed that their times were too long,” but since then, “some athletes have taken more than 11 minutes off their time.”
The team’s brave efforts led to very competitive results, and Coach Mulrain highlighted the girls on the team as a major cause of their success.
“The girls showed up to practice every day, ready to work. Their positive attitude reflected on the rest of the team, as other athletes tried to match their mindset, further boosting the team’s success,” Coach Mulrain said.
While the team can’t compete in any State qualifiers, their success this season will translate when they move up to varsity in the upcoming years.
On the varsity level, sophomore Henry Springer and freshmen Eli Green, Nathaniel Overstreet, Lily Potter, and Danielle Rasmussen make up a young team but a “promising one,” Coach Green said.
Coach Mulrain explained that the girls’ focus at the beginning of the season was adjusting to the varsity level. Now, runners run a 5K instead of a mile and a half.
“We have been working hard since the first day of practice,” Coach Mulrain said. “We’ve put them through drills that they’ve hated, drills that they loved, but they always come out with a smile.”
This corresponds to their approach on race days — the team has faced some difficult courses — their home course at Goat Hill is no exception. However, going into the State qualifier this week they face a difficult track, but they’re familiar with it, having run it already this year.
“We know the course, what areas we can run faster, where to conserve energy, and the intensity we can run at,” Coach Mulrain said. “I feel like we are mentally prepared, and it just comes down to how fast we run,”
On the boys’ side, the team started the year off strong. While the lack of players meant that scores weren’t officially tallied, the runners were scoring individually, which definitely motivated them. “We started the year at 20-25 minutes, and everyone on the team has taken 3-5 minutes off their times,” Coach Green said.
Coach Green added that the team has been diligently working all year long, but his focus right now is to keep the athletes from burning out.
“The end of the year is difficult, since athletes are often playing multiple sports,” he said. “Academic workloads are starting to increase, and it feels like the season is over — but it’s not. We have a shot at States, we just have to keep pushing.”
While they are a young team, “It’s anyone’s day, so long as you run fast enough,” Coach Mulrain said, in hopes that the teams will qualify for the State Championship.
Our best wishes are with the runners in their hunt for State qualification.
