Women’s XC Team Wins Regional Championship

By Ellicia Swedish, Staff Contributor 

It was 8:57 am and the XC teams were leaving their hotel to board the bus. They were on their way to Finger Lakes Community College to race at regionals. The girls braided their hairs and put glitter on their faces. This was the meet they had been preparing for. Coach Sarah gave us a long, heartwarming and inspirational speech before the race. We have come so far over the last three months, it was time to show everyone what we were capable of. 

The official called out on the loudspeaker, “20 minutes until the women’s race goes off.” We were one of the first teams on the line to start warming up. Knowing we had this in the bag, Olivia Skylstad was confident and excited. I, on the other hand, was a little worried. Even though we had beat Mohawk Valley at Conference I wasn’t sure what their strategy was. They were going into this race determined to beat us. This subconscious fear of losing to them was eating me alive while I was warming up. Ellie Erno and I were doing our usual pee-pee nerve dance on the line. We had less than a minute left until the official blew the gun off. I looked at my teammates, then I looked at Mohawk Valley and I smiled. Mohawk Valley was there to have fun just like us — I loved seeing them laugh and watching them encourage each other was something I was very familiar with. It was something both of our teams had in common. 

The gun goes off. It’s not as cold as the conference championships, but the course conditions were much worse. There was a huge puddle of mud, the ground was slippery, and at the end of mile 2, we had to run up this terrible hill. It starts as a slow incline and then it quickly slopes almost straight up. The turnover when you finally got to the top of the hill was killer. You still had 1000 meters plus before the finish line. It was so foggy and frigid, very fitting for Halloween. “This field reminds me of that one episode from the Walking Dead.” -Olivia Skylstad. I remember feeling worried about how we would place, as it felt like an extremely close race at the time.

It was the men’s turn to race. Their biggest competition was Broome Community College. The last time they raced against them they didn’t have as many runners. This time was different, they had recruited a whole army of runners. There was also a rumor that if they didn’t win they weren’t allowed to run at Nationals. The men raced extremely well at regionals, but it just wasn’t enough to beat Broome. Shazim was able to get ahead of the huge pack of Broome guys but their top 1-5 beat our 2-8. Trevor Dzikowicz put up an incredible fight to try to get ahead of Broome. There was nothing else the men’s team could have done — they raced their hearts out and gave it their all.

Hearing the official announce the results was an out-of-body experience. I remember Olivia Skylstad, Eva Sgambettera and I were huddled together, clenching each other tight, anxiously waiting to hear if we had won regionals. I remember the official saying “2nd place with a total score of 44 points the Hawks of Mohawk Valley.” I was so shocked. I was so excited! I was so proud of everyone, we jumped up and down and danced. We had our moment of “sweet, sweet victory.” Hickory Whelan — we are forever grateful you joined cross country, I’m so glad we were able to have a full team for all our races. 

The friendship this team shares is truly special. I’m forever grateful I had the opportunity to run this season for Hudson Valley Community College. I met some of the most incredible, strong-minded, passionate women and men. If it wasn’t for Coach Sarah reaching out to us I would have never gotten to experience all of this. Here’s a special shout-out to Coach Sarah and Coach Kirsten, the best coaches I’ve ever had! Next stop: Nationals!

Here are the results:

Women’s 5k Regional Champions:

• Olivia Skylstad ran a time of 24:17 placing 5th.
• Eva Sgambettera ran a time of 26:16 placing 8th.
• Hickory Whelan ran a time of 26:48 placing 10th.
• Jessica Wank ran a time of 28:02 placing 14th.
• Ellicia Swedish ran a time of 28:35 placing 17th.
• Elizabeth Erno ran a time of 32:56 placing 22nd.

Men’s 8k Regional Runner Ups:

• Shazim Permaul ran a time of 28:26 placing 2nd.
• Trevor Dzikowicz ran a time of 29:27 placing 9th.
• Eric Zumpe ran a time of 30:46 placing 11th.
• Garrick Smith-Growick ran a time of 31:29 placing 17th.
• Jacob Quail ran a time of 33:17 placing 25th.
• Benjamin Bulan ran a time of 35:16 placing 39th.
• Dermot O’ Connor ran a time of 38:30 placing 53rd.
• Martin Benoit ran a time of 39:18 placing 56th.