League meet a good gauge for stronger Edgemont runners

Building muscle and working on different aspects of running, such as running downhill and pushing themselves instead of floating down the hill, is an area they can make strides.

“They listened and they’re striding down,” Mackenzie said. “One of the kids said they passed three people going down the hill. It’s overall how we look when we’re running, how we feel when we’re running, techniques. It’s been working for us. We’re making so much progress with just our community and that’s a great thing for us in feeling everyone is starting to get to know what it is to be a runner. We even have parents and other athletes telling us they see what we’re doing and they want to join in. They’re seeing it and the kids feel comfortable with us and our personalities.”

For the team’s last two meets, this was evident. With a small, young girls team and missing most of its veteran boy runners, coaches Mackenzie and Nathalee Young entered the teams in junior varsity races at the Oct. 8 Bobcat Run at Byram Hills.

“We decided we had the opportunity to create a JV team and compete on that level,” Mackenzie said. “We’re not trying to scare anyone away. We know what we have, we’re happy with our team, so we put them on the level they should be on.”

Then when it came to the League II-D Championship meet at Croton Point Park on Oct. 11, the Panthers had their most important championship season race in a setting and against competition that was more their level, as opposed to the upcoming Coaches Invitational, Westchester County Championships and Section 1 Class B championships.

“We’re definitely not measuring our success in terms of how many first-place medals we get,” senior David Litvak said. “We’re definitely pushing each other. There is a freshman Max who is always the loudest person on the field and I think measuring our success in terms of ourselves — that’s how I measure my success — and pushing teammates to get personal records is important.”

At leagues, the girls placed second to Hen Hud 29-47, and ahead of Ardsley (52) and Peekskill (DNS). “We’re very happy with that,” Mackenzie said. “Just being swallowed up by how small we are in a small league did play a factor.”

Freshman Kate Ruane placed third in 21:33.2, junior Nandini Singh ninth in 23:04.1, senior Julia Hu 10th in 23:05.6, junior Kathryn Koch 20th in 25:18.1, sophomore Alexandra Kabakov 23rd in 26:22.8, sophomore Talia Cohen 26th in 29:06.8.

“We’ve run with that group a lot of times at CPP, our fourth time there, so we knew the course really well and the people,” Hu said. “We kind of knew where we stood and I think everyone wanted to beat that one person ahead of them and just PR. We knew the girls’ team had a chance to place second and we were shooting for that. It was nice to see everyone cheering for that.”

With Hu being the lone senior at leagues, she hopes the younger core of runners will build the team starting next year.

“I think it’s really nice how most of our team is underclassmen,” Hu said. “Kate is a freshman and has three more years ahead of her. It’s just a really promising group of people. Everyone is determined and really cares about this team. In the future years we’ll have some really great leadership and a sense of community in the teams.”

On the boys side, Peekskill won with 47 points, followed by Hen Hud 48, Ardsley 49, Sleepy Hollow 106 and Edgemont 116.

Senior Tyler Shelton 17th in 20:03.7, sophomore Andy Wang 20th in 20:42.7, senior Alex Ashcraft 25th in 20:51.1, senior Hirdhedyal Singh 35th in 21:35.2, sophomore Arjun Rao 36th in 21:49.3, sophomore James Qian 39th in 22:10.0, Litvak 41st in 22:14.3, freshman Max Wang 52nd in 23:00.3, junior Noah Seifer 53rd in 23:00.5, junior Ted Jianqi 56th in 23:10.8, sophomore Connor Chung 74th in 26:07.0, freshman Harsh Bajaj 85th in 20:14.4, freshman Jason Chen 89th in 33:38.5, freshman Arush Anand 95th in 49:20.7.

The boys are also a small team compared to the rest of the league.

“We just had them go out and have fun,” Mackenzie said. “We know where we stand as a team and they have been PRing, they’ve been working really hard. Obviously everyone wants to win leagues, but we have a mindset of knowing our team and where we stand.

“We feel as though we could have done a little bit better, but everyone ran their race. They were nervous even though we ran the course so many times. Once you put ‘league meet’ they get nervous, but they did well for themselves. We had some PRs in the race. Those coming off being sick came and ran well, really well, better than they even anticipated running.”

The big comparison for all the runners comes from previous years and previous races at the same courses. It’s the best way to find out where they were and where they are.

“We like to do that with all of our kids and being three-season coaches we get to see them every season and we’re piggybacking off what they did,” Mackenzie said. “They know where they need to be. That really helps them. We want them to feel confident and know where they stand. If you don’t meet those expectations, that’s something you need to self-reflect on and work on. We as coaches can help you, but it’s also something you need to do on your own.”

Everything being built this season will carry into the winter whether it’s track and field, basketball, wrestling or any other sport.

“We would love for them to stay on, but we want them to know we’re here for them with their goals and we’re helping them build up to that,” Mackenzie said. “We have one athlete that lost 20 pounds this season. Twenty pounds! He said it’s all from what we’ve been doing here and he didn’t even change how he ate. It’s so heartwarming. I will prepare any athlete for any place they want to be because at the end of the day it’s that running, that strength, that conditioning, that training, the mental aspect.”

Senior Hu will play basketball in the winter and come back to do track in the spring. While the transition to the new workouts was “hard at first,” the team adjusted and supported one another.

“We see so much improvement across the board and it’s amazing to see thanks to those workouts,” Hu said. “Everyone has gotten a lot stronger and a lot faster and whatever they end up doing it’s definitely going to help them in any sport, not just track.”

Litvak joined the team as a junior after his second soccer concussion, and plays baseball in the spring. Joining a new program was a smooth transition.

“It’s been a really good experience to be part of a constructive environment like cross-country,” he said. “I really enjoyed getting to know the people and I like the environment more than anything else. I definitely like progressing. I’ve PRed just about every race I ran this year, which has been really nice.”

Athletes come to the track coaches during the off-season for advice, which thrills them. And the coaches go watch their athletes compete in other sports year-round.

“That positive relationship, that trust, they know we really care,” Mackenzie said.