Queens!

Katie PS, Katie D (with Queen shirt), and Abby have all received and worn the T-shirt so far this season.  

Smith XC has a traveling T-shirt tradition. The shirt itself is just a white, cotton, Nike tee with the word "Queen" on it and a funky picture of a woman doing something - a jig? ice skating? help me here...I admit I've never really thought about what the figure is doing before.  (Take a look in the above pic and see if you can figure it out.)  After the first meet, Coach Ellen gives the t-shirt to a runner she thinks has earned the t-shirt for effort, spirit, improvement, grit, or over-all awesomeness during pre-season and in the first race.  That runner then wears the T-shirt during Tuesday's hard workout.  The following week, that runner hands off the (clean!) T-shirt to a teammate she believes has earned it for the past week.  In this way, the T-shirt goes from one runner to another and gets worn in every Tuesday workout of the season by different members of the team.  It's just one more way the team stays connected during workouts.

The first bearer of the Queen T-shirt this year was Katie Paulson-Smith, a senior who spent last spring and summer in Geneva through a Smith Study Abroad Program.  Despite being away from home, she kept up her training and arrived on campus for preseason ready to go.  In the first race of the season,  Katie set a huge personal record for the course.  Since then, she has stepped up to every challenge the coaches have given her - way to go, Katie!

Katie handed off the T-shirt to another senior, Abby.  Katie said that the quote that best exemplifies Abby is "Go as hard as you can for as long as you can, and then take one more step."  Abby spent most of the summer healing an injury and started the season still needing to spend more time cross training and less time running.  Bit by bit, though, Abby has come back strong.  Despite low mileage, she has been in the thick of every workout, pushing herself and pulling her teammates along with her.  We are excited to see Abby race for the first time this season on Saturday, Sept 28.

Abby handed off the T-shirt to junior Katie Dempsey.  Last year was Katie's first year on the cross-country team, and it was a transition year for her as she dealt with a few nagging injuries.  This year, however, she has proven herself to be an unstoppable force.  When Abby handed off the shirt she mentioned how much work Katie does not only at practice, but on her own time, too.  The extra effort is definitely showing, as Katie's season is off to a fantastic start.

The team races this Saturday, 11am, at Franklin Park in Boston.  We hope to see you there!