Cross country team compete to go to state championships 

As the clock struck 3 p.m. Monday, and young children filled the Shelter Island School playground, an older group of student-athletes gathered near the track. The five runners, ranging from 8th-graders to seniors, make up the school’s varsity cross-country team, which will compete in the Section XI Championships on Thursday, Nov. 5, for a chance to advance to the New York State Cross Country Championships in Queensbury, N.Y., on Nov. 14.

As the runners laced up their shoes on a sunny, 60-degree afternoon, Head Coach Erin Baskin met the group by the track. Coach Baskin reminded them that only one practice remained before Thursday’s championship, which could mark the end of their season. The runners then hit the pavement, circling the track behind the school before continuing around the campus perimeter.

I joined the runners for Monday’s practice to see firsthand their preparations and hear what a trip to the state championships would mean to each of them. “I’ve put in all the work I can these last four years here,” said Henry Springer, the team’s sole senior and captain, as he completed his first lap around the track. “I’m excited for this to either be the last race or the second-to-last one.” The rest of the athletes, running in a group, veered toward the edge of campus and looped back. 

Springer qualified for the state championship last November by placing 10th in Class D at Sunken Meadow State Park, the annual site of the Section XI Championships. The winning team in each class advances to states, along with the five fastest individual runners not on the winning team, which is how Springer qualified for Queensbury. Now a senior, Springer will have his last shot at a state title this November.

Besides his own time — he aims to break 19:30 at Sunken Meadow after running 19:42 last November — he’s hopeful that many of his teammates will also qualify. One in particular is his younger brother, Caleb, who moved up from junior high to the varsity program this year as an 8th-grader.

Halfway through the workout, I joined the second group of runners, which included Caleb Springer, Amara Goodale, and Eli Green. Caleb, who is running significantly faster than his older brother did at his age, has high hopes for the qualifier later this week. 

“It’s just trying to get out of the shadow,” he said, referring to his older brother. 

Thursday will be Caleb’s first time running at Sunken Meadow, a notoriously difficult course that includes the infamous “Cardiac Hill,” a steep incline known to take out a number of high school athletes over the years.

As the three runners passed the tennis courts and rounded the track’s corner back toward the school, Goodale pushed in front of the group. After racing in the state championship last year as an 8th-grader, she said the pressure to qualify again has been weighing on her. “It definitely feels a little stressful,” she added. But after her 9th-grade season brought injuries and slower times than anticipated, she said being able to run has given her a new perspective. “I’m just kind of glad to be here,” she said.

Eli Green, a junior who’s been on the team for several years and missed the qualifying cutoff last November, said, “It’s all about the race that you’re about to run, and not the races in the foreseeable future. Take every race at its time.”

Coach Baskin told me the goal from day one this summer was to qualify for states. Now that it’s finally a few days away, she feels the team is more than prepared. “I’ve been looking at the numbers. I crunched down to the last millisecond,” she said, adding that she expects to see two or perhaps three Islanders qualifying for states and it will be a tight finish to determine the qualifying athletes. Because the team lacks enough runners to qualify as a full team, there will be five individual qualifying spots in each of the boys and girls Class D divisions, though she feels her athletes have a good shot.

The team faced off against several new schools this season, including Pierson, a Class D school, and East Hampton, a Class B school, neither of which had appeared on the team’s schedule in recent years. “I think that helped to push us a little bit harder,” Coach Baskin said. 

But more than that, the athletes have held one another accountable, the coach said. “Having those teammates there to motivate you, push you, and help you out on the course when you’re having that moment of struggle is really nice,” she added.

The team will race at Sunken Meadow Thursday, Nov. 5, in the Section XI Championships. The Reporter will have more on the qualifiers on its website and in a future print edition.