The Middlesex girls’ cross country team began to compete in ISL competition in 1977 and NEPSTA divisional championships in 1987. Since that time Middlesex girls have won numerous ISL and New England Championships. Our competitive success has always derived from taking a team approach. We train in compatible groups, with girls choosing to switch from group to group depending on how they feel on a particular day. We favor long runs through beautiful Concord conservation land and on National Park trails, a resource that allows the more able runners to pass through three towns along the historic battle trail of 1775 –past colonial houses, working farms, meadows, forests, and marshes –chatting most of the way. We are also blessed with a one-mile uphill that begins after a two-mile trail run from school. At the summit the girls look down 390 feet on the golden steeple of our chapel poking through trees three miles distant. We have frequent picnics at the scenic spots where these trail runs end. Our approach to training not only provides runners with a deep conditioning base, it also promotes lasting friendships.
These friendships often play a role in our competitive strategy, as well, as Middlesex is known for its team ‘pack’ running. Such a strategy results from a program that encourages trust between teammates, runners who refuse to let their teammates down when the race gets tough. Middlesex has also fostered the careers of elite runners, such as Adeline Azrack ’99 who placed 10th in the 1998 Northeast region of the Footlocker National Cross-Country Championship and Emily Stark ‘12, who won ISL and New England titles, was twice named Boston Globe All-Scholastic, and completed her senior year season undefeated before finishing 15th at the Northeast Footlockers. Even without a national-level elite runner, though, more often than not, Middlesex finds a way to win many more races than they lose, thanks to their determination and dedication to each other.
Middlesex runners have gone on to run varsity at colleges such as Duke, Stanford, Cornell, Trinity, Oberlin, Smith, and Yale. More significant is the number of graduates who continue to run and compete, many of whom are now in the late 40’s, such as the two graduates, a banker and doctor, who bumped into each other in San Francisco while on their 5:30 a.m. run –neither knew the other was in the city. For many of these graduates, their fall afternoons running with their Middlesex teammates through piles of leaves on beautiful New England trails are among their happiest memories.
The coaches’ primary goal, then, is to create a healthy and supportive group of girls with diverse backgrounds and interests that genuinely care about themselves and their teammates. If you have any questions about our team, please email Emily Teevens at eteevens@mxschool.edu for more information.
