October is coming to an end, which means cross country season is wrapping up. Just two meets remain for the varsity boys team that has had a season filled with new records and accomplishments. In the first four races, the team finished in the top five on the leaderboard. That is not all. Senior Brendan Alfonso broke the school 5K record not once, but twice this season.

On Sept. 14, Alfonso ran a 15:41.1 at the Forest Park XC Festival. Breaking the previous record of 15:42.8, set last season by senior Alex Moresi. Just two weeks later, Alfonso broke his own record at the Gans Creek Classic running a 15:32.1.

“I saw the screen, I was crossing the finish line,” Alfonso said, “I was like, oh nice. It’s a school record.”

For most runners, breaking the school record would come as a nice surprise, for Alfonso, it has been an expectation.

“I kind of expected it to happen, because last year I was probably able to break it, but I didn’t. So I kind of knew it would happen. So I wasn’t so surprised.” Alfonso said.

Although breaking the school record is a big accomplishment, Alfonso has his eyes set on bigger goals.

“At least for the rest of the season, my goal is to hopefully have a team that wins state and maybe also win state individually. That’d be cool,” Alfonso said. “For college, I’ve been looking at Benedictine college, and I’m pretty sure I might run there.”

Cross country is just as much of a mental game as it is physically. Alfonso talks about how he mentally prepares for a race.

“I’ve focused a lot more on keeping my mind clear before the race,” Alfonso said. “I noticed that if you start thinking about the race a lot, then you start doubting yourself. So I try to keep myself as calm as possible for the race.”

Another big part of Alfonso’s mindset is his relationship with God, which pushes him to give his best effort, every race.

“If I’m able to do anything, it’s because God allows me to,” Alfonso said. “I need to perform well, because if he gives me a talent, I should honor it and use it to its best extent. So that’s definitely a big part of it in my mind as well.”

While Alfonso has a lot of experience running on varsity and competing at a high level, sophomore Noam Buch is in his first year running on varsity. For new runners like Buch, it can be difficult adjusting to a higher level of competition.

“Last year, I didn’t really understand cross country a lot,” Buch said. “I just kind of ran to see where it goes. I feel like this year I have higher expectations, because I want to actually succeed, so I’m trying harder and I’m giving more than I did on junior varsity.”

Buch speaks about how running can be a very painful experience, but he believes that the reward at the end is worth the struggle.

“Doing my workouts, and running in meets, it really hurts,” Buch said. “But after the race you just feel good because you feel like you accomplished something and you are proud of yourself because you pushed so hard.”

How you prepare for a race can have a large impact on your actual performance. Buch describes his routine that helps prepare him for every race.

“The night before, I try to get eight hours of sleep,” Buch said. “I wake up and just tell myself you got this. I eat healthy food that will carry me throughout the race, I also drink a lot of water and electrolytes to be ready.”

No team is complete without a coach. The boys varsity team has called science teacher Jennifer Meyer their coach for the past two years, and she strives to create an environment where everyone on the team pushes each other to give their best effort.

“My goals as a coach are to build a good team community,” Meyer said. “I want to build a team in which the runners take ownership of their own success and also push themselves and each other to reach their potential.”

It is easy to think of cross country as an individual sport, but Meyer speaks about how the team supports each other throughout the season.

“From the outside, cross country seems like a very individual sport, but it really is a team sport in that they push each other in practice,” Meyer said. “Also in races, they race together. They are running right next to each other. Having somebody running next to you helps you run faster and helps you push through those times where your brain is saying this is too much.”

Being a teacher is hard enough as it is, but having to balance teaching, coaching, and being a mother at the same time is a true challenge. Meyer talks about how she manages to do all three.

“It’s a super challenging balance because teaching is a big job, it’s a hard job adding coaching on top of that.” Meyer said. “I have small kids at home, so balancing all that is really challenging. I try to be as efficient as possible in practice so that I can get home to my kids.”

Meyer takes advantage of the summer months to spend time with her family, but once cross country starts, she has to sacrifice a lot of time to get her work done.

“Summer is a time where I can spend a ton of time with my family, but the months of the season are really challenging,” Meyer said. “I am putting my kids to bed and working after they go to bed and working on the weekends. It is a challenging balance.”

Even though there are few meets remaining on the calendar, you can still expect an entertaining end to the season throughout the final weeks.