Interhouse Cross Country: The Definition of Grit & Joy

10 October 2020Freya P, Hope ‘21; Photo by Bright A, Privett '21

As Eco-Challenge highs (and lows) began to settle, the interhouse captains began preparing for our second event of the year: Cross Country. To race on foot is one of the oldest and most classic ways of settling something, and in this case, Hope-Privett came at it with a vengeance. Nike!

After losing Eco-Challenge by a few minutes, the interhouse captains began searching for the fastest runners right away. Hope came up with Peyton H, ‘24, Katelyn M, ‘24, Neve M, ‘23, Ella B, ‘22, Adrienne R, ‘21 and Emilee N, ‘21. Privett had Jacob H, ‘22, Eamon R, ‘22, Avik B, ‘23, Ankit B, ‘21, Nathan O, ‘22 & Sebastian M, ‘22. As every house arrived at the Foote Centre decked out in house colors with pom-poms, flags and hair dye, the runners warmed up for, as Zosia S, ‘21, Co-Interhouse Captain of Hope House said, “[this is] the most important race of your life.”

As Peyton and the others lined up on the starting line, every house stopped shouting for a split second as the horn blared: they were off! The crowd cheered as everyone rounded the first field and down the driveway for the start of the run. The run consisted of one course around both fields, then tagging off the next runner at the end of the driveway for a handoff. That runner would run behind the Ross Building and boathouse, around the Head’s residence, past Ellis House, and around half of the field run from the first runner. They would then tag the first runner who would do the first route all over again. Though the spectator zone could only see half of each run, screams of encouragement could be heard even when the runners couldn’t see or hear the spectators.

As each runner passed the Privett-Hope zone, the flag went up and every student’s face would light up. Most runners couldn’t help but smile, despite the difficult track they’d just run. In the end, Whittall’s final runner narrowly beat Privett’s finisher, and Mackenzie’s narrowly beat Hope. However, the way points worked out, Hope-Privett won the event, even if most students in the house had lost their voice because of it.

Two days later, both houses are still bustling with excitement about the outcome of the race, and house standings put Hope-Privett 5 points behind the reigning champs of interhouse for the past four years, Mack-Ellis. As Rico X, ‘22 says, “That was intense, but I’ve never been prouder of our girls.” Anticipation now builds up for Airband, the next, and arguably most highly-anticipated interhouse event, worth the most points, of the whole year.

Freya P, Hope ‘21

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