They may be new to high school, but their times are already making a mark. Most high school cross country teams rely on upperclassmen to lead the way, but this year our freshmen are taking their place as the top runners on varsity.
Eleanor Pilsner ’29, had started running in middle school and quickly fell in love with it. Which led her to joining South’s girls’ cross country team this fall. Although she may be a freshman, she quickly showed everyone what she’s made of and landed the top spot on varsity.
“It was kind of nerve wracking at first, just because I was new to it,” Pilsner said. “But I’ve kind of gotten used to it.”
She is one of two freshmen on varsity and Stephen Zaranek, the head coach of the girls cross country team, is beyond excited about how the team has been doing this season.
“We’ve met the coaches’ expectations and beyond,” Zaranek said. “Because we shifted to a much younger team this year, we were not expecting the success that we’ve had already.”
Pilsner has been doing extremely well this season, but she’s not the only freshman that made their debut this fall. Oscar Resnick ’29 has also secured the top spot on varsity this year, he had also started cross country in middle school and began to adore the sport.
“I had nothing to do after school, and I never ran before, and I wanted to see what it was like,” Resnick said.
Although there has been fluctuations in the top spot for the boys cross country team, Resnick successfully secured his spot at the top of the list after his most recent meet. Mark Sonnenberg, the boys cross country head coach, has been pushing the team to help them all reach their potential.
“We generally have two tough workouts every week, and then a race,” Sonnenberg said. “Doing that repeatedly throughout the season requires you to have a lot of base miles to be able to handle that kind of thing, and we had a lot of guys do that.”
Pilsner has led the way for the cross country team consistently from the first meet of the season. She has her goals set and she’s ready to dominate the course at the last couple meets she has, while still staying as humble as ever.
“I’m very grateful to have this opportunity with a great team and have amazing coaches,” Pilsner said.
Both Resnick and Pilsner have gone above and beyond any expectations from their coaches, and they’re only getting better. They both have great attitudes towards their teammates and love having teammates to support them and cheer them on as the season comes to an end.
“It’s a lot more of a team sport than people really realize, and just being able to run with other people is really great,” Resnick said.
