As junior and captain Caleb Berman navigates his way through the 5K course, he accidentally takes a wrong turn, leading him into an area blocked off by tape that indicates the presence of a hornet’s nest.
Even with a few wrong turns, the O’Connell XC Invitational, which took place on Sept. 18 after being pushed back a day due to rain, turned out to be a successful race for many JDS runners. The JDS girls team placed third overall, and the boys team placed second overall.
Sophomore Isaiah Segal-Geetter placed highest out of the JDS boys in the meet, placing fifth with a time of 16:59. Freshman Rayut Weiser-Rosenbaum placed sixth for girls with a time of 23:19, closely followed by junior and captain Mali Osofsky, who ran a 23:52 5K. With the meet being out of league, the runners felt less stress than at other championship meets, according to Berman.
“At this one, I just felt the competitive energy, everyone cheering me on,” sophomore Isaac Janson said. “I felt like I was just going so much faster, and going the fastest I’ve ever gone in my life.”
Both Berman and Janson set personal records for the 5K. Berman improved his time of 18:55 to 18:32, while Janson, who joined the team this season, improved his time of 22:04 to 20:35.
Berman, a veteran on the JDS team, describes running cross country as a mental challenge, especially when his body hurts and when he is out of energy.
“Some things that I try are I’ll either stay right next to someone and just make sure to stay right next to them, or I like to count strides with a person in front of me, so I’ll match their stride and try to keep their pace,” Berman said. “But it’s very difficult, and I think one of the hardest parts of cross country is to race your hardest race every time you get out there.”
This is the second year JDS has attended this meet, and last year was the team’s best meet of the season, with the boys team coming in first place. This year, according to the runners, the meet was more of a challenge for the team because some key runners were missing, especially for the girls.
During the High Holiday season, Jason Belinkie, Head Coach of the cross country team, encourages his runners to keep training on their own. In his eighteen years at JDS, he has grown to appreciate that this is an opportunity for them to take personal responsibility to continue their training.
“We’re always trying to look for new opportunities for our runners outside of the PVAC and because of the holidays, limiting us a lot of the time, it can be difficult to find meets that work with our schedule,” Belinkie said.
In the week leading up to the meet, Janson followed a strict regimen in order to be successful on race day. Throughout that week, Janson tried to hydrate and eat more protein. On the bus, Janson took a nap and listened to music to prepare for the meet. Once Janson got home, he stretched and took an ice bath.
“We’ve all seen ‘Finding Nemo’, where when [Dory’s] lost she says, ‘just keep swimming’,” Janson said. “I mean, how I view it is that I can run a 5K at the max in 25 minutes. And it only takes 25 minutes, so I’d better put everything I have on the course, no matter how bad I’m feeling.”
