by Nicholas Schade ‘23

The cross country team has prepared for a challenging meet on September 21, running against both Northwood and Whitman on their home course. The meet, which sits in the middle of the cross country season, will not only demonstrate how much Sherwood’s runners have progressed but whether or not they can compete against some of the highest-performing teams in Montgomery County.

With three different schools competing at the cross country meet on Tuesday, the coaches have decided to record the results like a “double dual meet.” Instead of using a unified score, teams will receive scores in three pairs: Sherwood vs. Northwood, Sherwood vs. Whitman and Northwood vs. Whitman. Additionally, students will also run in two separate races divided by gender, granting Sherwood four chances to prevail against the opposing teams.

However, both Northwood and Whitman have firm bases of top runners who are close in time, a crucial step for winning meets. In a scrimmage on September 14, Whitman’s top five boys all finished within a minute of each other. Their top five girls also finished within a minute and 15 seconds of each other. “The sum of the top five runners on a team create the team’s score … The strategy then, is to have your runners run as a pack and finish as a pack,” emphasized Sherwood cross country coach Daniel Reeks.

So far, Sherwood has not performed as well as it has in past seasons. Many of the highest scoring runners in the last few years graduated in 2019 and 2020, leaving the majority of the team’s underclassmen with less running experience. Sherwood’s top five boys and girls this season have achieved personal records individually, but do not run efficiently in packs like Whitman or Northwood. “It appears the most experienced runners on this season’s cross country team didn’t train as hard last summer as they should have,” Reeks remarked. “I’d say we’re doing mediocre is the best way to put it,” added senior Noam Tuchman, captain of the boys team.

Despite tough competition and mixed results from prior meets, the cross country team captains share optimism about their ability to at least keep up with their opponents on Tuesday. “I think we’ll be able to crack their top five,” said Tuchman, referring to Whitman’s male runners. “They can definitely pack it a little more upfront … [but] I think our top girls can place well,” agreed senior Katie Kaneko, captain of the girls team. 

Furthermore, the meet on September 21 will not stand as the ultimate determiner for how Sherwood’s cross country performs this year. “We have a training process through which we try to help our runners run their fastest times late in the season, at the Montgomery County Championship Meet … the regional meet … and, hopefully, the state meet,” Reeks explained. Even if the boys and girls both lose to Northwood and Whitman, they will race them again in late October at the countywide meet, granting Sherwood another chance to prevail against its rival schools.