Cross country’s spirit unique among high school sports

I never watched a cross country race before I began working at The News-Herald.

Suffice to say, I’ve learned a great deal about the sport in the 2 ½ years since. The fortune to watch a pair of state champions, Chagrin Falls’ Annie Zimmer in 2017 and Beachwood’s Leah Roter in 2016, surely aided that process.

Among other facets of the sport, I know for sure that place, not pace, is what counts the most in a given race. I know a runner requires a plan to run a high-caliber, competitive race. Successful runners and teams aren’t simply training to put one stride in front of the last.

I also know the vibe surrounding a cross country meet on a Saturday morning is unique to the sport.

Assuredly, I have much more to learn.

But my time spent covering the sport on Saturday mornings has cultivated a definite appreciation for cross country — and not just for the ability of the runners and teams who finish atop the standings at a meet.

I’m fascinated by the

team spirit fostered between student-athletes who, from the outside looking in, appear to participate in arguably the most individually oriented sport.

Cross country meets aren’t quiet. Near the finish line, teammates, coaches, parents and other spectators are raucous as they encourage runners to find a final push or pass one more opponent. As runners grab water and, sometimes, collapse after completing their race, they’re embraced or congratulated by teammates.

After races and cooldown runs, runners retreat to team camps. It’s hard to find groups of people having a better time on a Saturday morning before noon than runners eating bananas and re-hydrating under canopies emblazoned with their school’s logo.

And, just as intriguing it is to watch a winner emerge from the lead pack among the finish, that’s not when a race ends. Some of the most compelling moments in a meet arise when the race clock creeps past the 25-minute mark and a race’s final runners near the finish line.

At those times, encouragement reverberates the most along those lining a course’s sidelines. Then, when the finish line comes squarely into view, a runner pushes through his or her exhaustion to finish and maybe vie for a new personal record.

Whether a runner breaks 16 or 26 for a first time, the accomplishment merits recognition for a runner’s ability to push him or her self to a new achievement. Cross country establishes self-motivation, an invaluable life skill — especially in the years following high school.

I may not yet understand cross country’s minutiae to the extent of basketball’s or baseball’s, but I do know there’s meaning in a teammate’s encouraging words and significant value to passing a few runners in a race’s final 200 meters as the fifth runner in a team’s pack.

More importantly, I know cross country is a unique sport filled with unique people who own a unique bond.

Columnist Nate Barnes