Sport running a new way
Meets mostly limited to two teams that don’t race at the same time
The Section II cross country season is underway and though the campaign will largely feature two-team dual meets, all involved with the sport seem pleased just to be out running and competing in any form.
The sport fell under the New York state guidelines as a low/ moderate risk sport and began practice on Sept. 21 with Suburban Council teams opening the dual-meet season last Saturday.
Section II has spent time on the guidelines to ensure the safety of all its runners.
“We are doing a lot of social distancing procedures and instead of a competitiveness to the season, it is more about getting the kids out and enjoying running and getting a sense of normalcy back,” Section II girl’s cross country coordinator Ashley Gansle said. “The Suburban Council schools that are running, one team runs and then the other team runs after. There isn’t a head-to-head competition but we take all the times at the end and figure out who won the meet that way.”
The traditional three-team dual meet has been reduced to two teams in the Suburban Council and all runners must wear a mask at the beginning of the race and whether the mask remains throughout the race is determined by each individual school district.
“Dual meets are two teams unless CBA is involved, then it is three,” Gansle said. “Each runner is spread out on the starting line, six feet apart.
They all have masks on and dependent on your school district, you are either able to take your mask off after the start if you aren’t able to tolerate it or some school districts, you have to have your masks on the entire time. Bethlehem and Guilderland require masks at all times, the rest are up to their district, it all depends on what your district policy is.”
Gansle, in her second year as head coach at Columbia, has proceeded
with caution during her team workouts.
“Every workout I have, I socially distance my kids 12 feet apart, one person goes and 20 seconds later, next one goes,” Gansle said. “That way, they cannot come in contact with anyone if they can’t tolerate wearing a mask.”
Gansle believes running with a mask on for the entire race can be a hindrance unless the athletes have been preparing.
“I think it all depends on how you’ve been training,” she said. “Some kids might have been running all summer wearing a mask and it doesn’t take a toll on them. Other runners that haven’t been training, wearing a mask might take a toll.”
The Burnt Hills boys’ team trains with its masks on, though they are not required to wear it during the entirety of the team’s competitive races.
Junior standout Ryan Allison, the top runner in Burnt Hills’ dual meet win over Shaker on Saturday on the 2.5-mile course at The Crossing, likes training with the mask on and feels it helps him come race time.
“We have to have them
on during practice. The first week was different to wear them, it was harder,” Allison said. “We all got pretty used to it and I think it has made us stronger in a way because it is like making our training a little bit harder. The races have been hard mentally to not be able to see other teams. You don’t know what they are going to run, you don’t know if you are winning or not, especially if you are up front.”
Shaker freshman Leonni Griffin, the winner in the girls’ varsity race, overcoming a late-race cramp as she crossed the line, is happy to be running though the circumstances are very different than prior years.
“It’s a lot different because we don’t get to go against other teams,” Griffin said. “It is a lot better than not running. Obviously, times aren’t going to be as fast as last year because we haven’t raced in so long. We are just trying to get into a groove of racing again.”