Varsity Cross Country: Season Outlook

With its robust squad for the 2022 season, the St. Luke’s cross country team hopes to have another successful fall.

Head Coach Corliss Spencer, returning for her 14th year in charge of the program, is excited to have so many runners again. Spencer is joined by Graham Foster and Ryan Kohl, as well as honorary guest Coach Chris Carter.

Spencer expects a lot from her captains, seniors Kaan Savasoglu and Josephine DeMarco. “I anticipate our two captains learning a lot in the first few weeks. We want them to establish a feeling of community among our runners and to set the right example by working hard. They can do that by establishing workout routines for the team, including dynamic warmups.  We are also working with the Bluestreak trainers twice a week.” 

Brain Gall ’23, Danny Gall ’23, Hannah Gunn ’23, Laura Haley ’23, and Alexander Holtzapffel ’23 complete a group of seven seniors for the Storm. Spencer is excited to see what each of them will achieve: “Both Brian and Danny are extremely strong runners, but our other seniors are doing great, too. Laura, who is new to the team, has been awesome so far. We look forward to seeing her compete more.”

During preseason, the staff worked the runners hard to build up base mileage, since a lot of the team didn’t arrive with the summer mileage the coaches would have liked. Spencer admitted they had to get creative at times to cope with the hot weather: “The first week was very hot, so we did mileage, but it was broken up into short distances. After  the runners completed six or eight hundreds, we had them drink water, because it was just so hot. Even when we did some longer distances, we made sure the runners had access to water after every mile. 

The Storm competed in the Wilton Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17, before its first Fairchester Athletic Association race of the year, which took place on Wednesday, Sept. 21. SLS had a fantastic event at Sherwood Island Park, finishing fourth overall in the boys’ race.

Spencer hopes that strong form continues but also looks to develop a lifelong love of running among the group. “The first few meets will give us a good sense of where we are as a group. We expect our top runners to be challenging for first place every time. However, our main goals are to establish a community and to cultivate a passion for running among our runners, which they can take with them when they leave St. Luke’s.”