Saturday, September 7th was a day of triumph for the 2024 Blanchet cross country team. It was the day of the annual Greenlake Race. The top times ever run during the Lake Race hang in Ernie Rose Gym, daring the top runners to try and surpass them every year.
Senior Vince Recupero arrived at Greenlake with determination–to break his old running mate’s current first place record of 12:38. “I knew I could do it with the level that my training had been at so I was mostly focusing on staying relaxed and confident” Recupero said.
Entering the race with a similar motive was senior Lily Laporte, who was looking to beat her own previous record of 15:02. She shared that throughout her race she was telling herself to seize the moment. “I’ve been trying to break my record for three years, this is my last chance, it’s time to follow through,” said Laporte. Both runners shared that they prepared for the start of the season by starting early and doing cross-training throughout the summer.
At the end of an exciting boys race, Vince emerged with a new course record, running the 2.64 miles in 12:18, beating the previous record time by 20 seconds. The next weekend, the team raced at the Bellarmine Invitational in Tacoma, where Vince broke the course record of 9:40 by almost 10 seconds by running the 2 mile course in 9:31:8, and taking first place by 17 seconds.
“I want to keep the same energy going throughout the season, so the most important thing for me is remaining happy with myself and allowing it to encourage me to push my training further and further,” Recupero said.
When it came to his feelings after crushing the Lake Race record time in his senior year, an achievement he had been working towards throughout high school, Recupero stayed humble. “It was encouraging and certainly motivates me, but I try not to focus on momentary success too much.”
At the end of a hard-run girls race, Laporte and senior Zoe Louis both finished with remarkable achievements.
Zoe Louis beat Lily’s old record with a time of 14:44. Also breaking her own record and setting the new girls Lake Race first place time, Laporte crushed the course with a time of 14:32. When asked to share her thoughts on breaking her own record by 30 seconds, she told us “Honestly, during the race I did not think I was going to break the record at all, so when I crossed the finish line and heard the time I was shocked.”
After these two opening races, it is clear that the Blanchet cross country runners have been working hard and they will be an exciting team to watch this season.
