2011 Season
Head Coach: Gail Huster
Assistant Coach: Janeen Bonner
Assistant Coach: Kim Johnson
Adrenaline rushes through their bodies. Looking around, they only see more runners. Hearts are beating faster and faster, louder and louder. When all of a sudden all they hear is the pop of the starters gun. The adrenaline rush releases and each runner is for herself, yet seemingly working together as a team to get through the race.
"Running really is an individuals sports. It's very independent, running is just you," sophomore McKinsey Hultmark said. "Mentally you have to have somebody to run with, otherwise you're just going to die running. Running is like ninety percent mental and like ten percent physical ability."
The team consistently put an emphasis on having each other's back. Although cross country is mainly an individualistic sport, the teammates refused to leave any of their teammates hanging.
"Pain was the reason we were always there for one another," senior Lena Biedrzycki said. "But friendships and family-bondingly love was the reason we always stayed together."
The team used various ways to come together as one united team.
"Pasta parties are always fun," junior Anisha Chinwalla said. "At one pasta party we went around talking about the season and our favorite moments."
Along with pasta parties, the team used various ways to add humor to get through the season.
"We do silly things on runs, like finding huge sticks for our coach Mrs. Bonner," Chinwalla said. "We have a mascot named John Smith (who's a Barbie) and we saw his better dressed twin at one meet, which made our day."
The team agreed that without the coaches the team wouldn't have bonded the same way. Coaches Gail Huster, Janeen Bonner, and Kim Johnson gave the team support that made them bond together, as a family.
"(The coaches) are fun because you can crack jokes with them and they don't mind, because you really know them, it's such a small team they're like your mom," sophomore Alivia Blumenstien said.
With the team coming together, as a family, many new friendships were made between running, eating pasta, and humor.
"You make a lot of new friends. People I'm friends with now I wouldn't have been if I didn't join cross country," junior Anisha Chinwalla said.
Although cross country is considered individualistic, the team broke the stereotype this season by creating unity making the team strong in the end.
"We had a seriously strong team this year, and not just in the physically fit sense," Biedrzycki said.
- 2012 Hinsdale South Vespa Yearbook
Season Schedule
Hornet/Red Devil Invite - September 3, 2011
Reavis Running Rams Invite - September 10, 2011
Tri @ Addison Trail - September 12, 2011
Minooka Flight Invite - September 17, 2011
Oak Park/River Forest Invite - September 24, 2011
Home vs. Downers Grove South & Morton - September 26, 2011
Pat Savage Invite - October 1, 2011
Home vs. Leyden & Willowbrook - October 3, 2011
West Suburban Gold Conference - October 15, 2011
IHSA 3A Regional @ Lyons Township - October 22, 2011
IHSA 3A Sectional @ Dellwood Park - October 29, 2011
Roster
Alivia Blumenstein
Allie Thiel
Anisha Chinwalla
Brenna Budaitis
Casey Eilbert
Danielle Slowik
Emily Ferrando
Emily Fung
Erika Thiel
Gianna Vanchieri
Hannah Oh
Holly Johnson
Karina Prado
Katie Guth
Kaysaw Tuy
Kelly Flem
Kirsten Zeman
Laura Martinez
Lauren Bruckhauser
Lena Bierdzycki
Leslie Zeman
McKinsey Hultmark
Megan Bruckhauser
Natalie Lyster
Nicole Blumenstein
Renata Dauksa
Samantha Kazlauciunaite
Sarah Leganski
Stacy Mo
Tayler Mancuso
