For cross country, team is what matters

What constitutes a team?

Is it several individuals working together toward a common goal? Is it a group of athletes who are organized into a coalition to compete against similar groups from other schools, dorms or what have you?

Is it nothing more than a catchy lead-in to yet another article on a sport you don't know too much about, but read anyway because you know someone involved or really enjoy the writing style? From what I've seen and heard from the cross country teams during this season, it's a combination of them all.

Something that I think a lot of people don't realize about cross country is that it is at once phenomenally individualized, while at the same time being a team endeavor," junior Medora Lytle said. For her and her fellow runners, it is this combination that makes this a sport they love.

Senior Cindy Lai perhaps said it best, "The effort we put into the sport and the camaraderie we get out of it is what brings us exhilaration."

Like the student body they draw from, the team is a diverse bunch. Training methods range from normal endurance practices to gnawing on the innards of small furry creatures. Responses to the questions I have put forth to team members garner responses that are normal ("I'm really enjoying my time on the team," first-year Hans Petersen said), heartfelt (Lai's promise that she will return from wherever she goes following graduation to see the team again), and head scratching ("Running is like stealing a souvenir from a dancing baseball team mascot: it seems easy enough at first, but it can turn ugly fast," sophomore John Rogers said).

But come 4:30 p.m., this spectrum of personalities sets out onto the local roadways together. It's rare enough to see just a pair of runners together, and a solo practice is virtually unheard of. Petersen recalled one such practice where several upperclassmen paced alongside him to ensure he could complete the drill in the required time. And in each e-mail I receive from a member of the team, the pronoun 'I' seems to be extinct, replaced instead by the stronger, and truer 'we.'

"From day one, we had a strong core of returning runners who helped the newcomers along," head coach Tom Mulligan said. "Their encouragement of one another has helped them and will continue to help them overcome the injuries and mishaps that are bound to occur along the way." And hardly a session with Mulligan went by without the phrase "They're continuing to run as a team," appearing somewhere in his sentiments.

The runners, like the members of other sports teams on campus, are a different breed of athlete. As with any sport where people want to succeed, the Yeorunners spend hours practicing and working out, building up strength and endurance in preparation for competition. But they do this despite small turnout for meets, being outnumbered by other teams and gripes from other students about poor results.

"People here seem to forget that Division III athletics are not primarily about winning, but more about people who love a sport enough to devote time to it without the incentive of scholarships," sophomore Rachel Sims said.

Perhaps it's that ingrained love for the sport that brings the team closer together. Maybe it's the solitude of the run that creates a sense of family on and off of the course. This team takes trips to thrift shops and does potluck dinners at members' homes together. Maybe it's just summed up in the team shirts from last year stating '7-4-1'.

Seven runners for one goal.