School. Run. Sleep. Repeat. But in reality: School. Hype House. Sleep. Repeat.
For Girls’ Cross-Country, the sport is much more than just running and adding up miles; running with the other girls, its members said, is what makes the team truly special.
The team lost 12 seniors last season, so despite a strong performance last year, a resurgence was unexpected. But running in the first meet against Middlesex and St. Mark's on September 19, six of the meet’s top ten runners had Milton Academy across their chest: Elizabeth Thompson ’28, Avery Gaffney ’27, Grace Banning ’30, Margot Murphy-Hara ’28, Phoebe Quinn ’27, and Rynn Wilson ’29.
On the Thursday leading up to the meet, Girls’ Cross Country Assistant Whitney Naslund conceded that they lost a lot of runners, “[but] the special thing about this year is [that a] new group of leaders [is going to] take over and basically change the whole [team environment].”
“There's that many vacant personalities that people are filling and just bringing their own vibe to the team,” she added. “I think this year, in particular, is a rebuilding year, and [the girls] can define [their] own culture.”
Even if the people on the team change, the team culture remains consistent. That consistency comes with the support and friendliness of the entire team culture, which you can see evident in the returning runners’ spirits, including Murphy-Hara. She said, “This team is one of the first places where I truly felt at home on campus, and just my favorite thing about Milton because I feel really safe… It's the place that taught me who I want to be as an upperclassman.”
Adair Johnson ’27, a runner struggling with severe asthma and tachycardia, admitted, “I probably should not have come back to the team [and even] my doctor does not like that I run. But also because this team feels like sisters to me, it feels like family. So I could never really leave them.” Murphy-Hara and Johnson both share a similar experience with finding family in the Girls’ Cross Country community, enough so that the team pulled them back to run another year so strongly.
Along with the returning runners, the team culture has definitely welcomed the new runners in with open arms. Sage Kramer ’29 ran on her old high school’s cross country team, but when asked about Milton Academy’s team specifically, she said, “It's a lot more supportive.”
A new freshman, Evelyn Landis-Arnold ’30, added, “Everybody is so kind and caring and open to encouraging you, and I was really worried that because I'm not a great runner, people would be judging me, but everybody's very open and very happy to invite new people to the team.”
Anyone can run a lap around the block, but Johnson said that, “I run super slow on my own and in the summer because there's not that same sense of motivation that there is with, like, a bunch of sisters by your side and people just pushing you to be better every day.” Girls’ Cross Country captain Avery Gaffney ’27 highlighted that a focus this season has become “injury prevention [because we had] a lot of them [injured]. Like, a lot,” she continued, “we've started doing more weights, weightlifting, and strength training that's really helpful. And that [also] helps me come back after my stress fracture from track season.”
In addition to focusing on specific challenges such as injury, when asked about her role as a coach, Naslund reflected, “The way I think is basically focusing mostly on getting to know the personality, the cares, the wants, [and] the desires of the athletes that I'm coaching.”
Gaffney and her co-captain, Phoebe Quinn ’27, are already excelling as fun captains, organizing spirit days before meets, Ruby Runs on Tuesdays, carrying on fun team traditions, and even hosting three team dinners.