The clock projected in the top right-hand corner of the smartboard reads 3:15 p.m. The academic day is over, and the athletic one begins. Most students pack up, grab their bags at the rounders, and head to the locker room. The route buzzes with guys catching up with friends at the end of a long day, ready to take on the sweat on the field, track, or court that awaits.
If you’re a cross-country runner, you walk through the double doors and change with your teammates in the second row of lockers: the square pod on the left and the longer pod on the right. Make sure to go to the bathroom—you can’t battle today’s chili-in-a-bread-bowl during a tempo run at Haverford college, or be stranded on the infamous Rose Lane in need of a toilet.
Be warned: if you’re not on the turf underneath the Scoreboard by 3:30, you’re late, and will receive gifts at the end of practice. For not wearing an acceptable watch or forgetting your water bottle, you will also receive gifts. Congratulations! You must complete 100 pushups, and the penalty grows by 10 for each week after preseason. So, by now, you’re faced with about 200 pushups. But don’t worry, you can always deposit the pushups you don’t complete in “The Bank of Long”—it’s only a 30% interest rate, compounded daily.
Willys Silvers ’23 deposited in “The Bank of Long” one pushup at the beginning of preseason. By EA Day, he had accumulated 2.8661455519 x 109 pushups. Do the math: that’s a lot. So show up with a water bottle, your watch, and laced-up shoes, and you’ll be merrily on your way.
[They] are not subject to the Geneva Convention, outlawing group punishment
Coach timothy lengel
This year marks a record-low number of team push-ups, or “Lengel-shups” as they are called. Cross-Country Coach Mr. Timothy Lengel has a hard time counting. This character flaw is often self-exploited to the dismay of the athletes trembling on the ground before him, their bodies glazed with sweat because “[They] are not subject to the Geneva Convention, outlawing group punishment,” as Coach Lengel says.
This Saturday, November 9th, the team will enter the lion’s den that is the Episcopal’s EA-Day cross-country course. It’s so tough that the team doesn’t even train on it, preferring the easier “Liseter,” the housing development next to the EA campus. The course is uphill, there are countless hills, the finish is essentially 400 meters straight uphill, and the course is so confusing a Third Former always gets lost.
“That was me. I was that freshman,” Fourth Former Keith DiMarino said.
Sixth Former Mathew Yerger looks forward to EA day, but not to EA’s course.
“If I am being honest, I will be relieved to be done with the course,” Yerger said. “I think it’s the hardest one we run all season.”
The Fords will have to give it their all if they want to stand a chance against their “Date with Destiny,” as Mr Lengel calls it. Sixth Former Jay Rogers has been running since Third Form and knows just how important this race is.
This race means the world to me as I look to earn the respect of the Haverford community and give it all I have, one last time
Jay rogers ’25
“This race means the world to me as I look to earn the respect of the Haverford community and give it all I have, one last time,” Rogers said.
“It will be weird knowing that EA Day will be my last race. I don’t think the emotions have fully sunk in for me. But I am mostly excited to run with my friends and brothers one last time and leave it all out there,” said Yerger, who has been running cross country since he was a Fourth Former.
Many runners look forward to the race because it’s the only race that draws a student fan section.
“While there will be some nervous emotions, they will be outweighed by the excitement the race entails,” Fourth Former Ray Kresge said.
“This team always feels tight-knit, and there’s no one who isn’t supported by other runners,” Sixth Former Kai Degenhart said. “Cross country is a sport where we work hard and love each other, just as the coaches say before every race.”
“EA Day is by far the most fun race of the year for a couple of reasons. Not only do we finally have a student section,” Fourth Former Lucas Crutchlow said, “but the environment just makes it feel so much bigger.”
As the season ends, Coach Barbara Ledford notes the impact of the team’s Sixth Formers.
“This was probably one of my favorite seasons of cross country. We had really great leadership and I want to commend the captains for their hard work and other senior leaders for taking the underclassmen under their wing.”
Whether the Fords win or lose EA Day doesn’t matter. The race symbolizes 59 years of inter-scholastic sportsmanship, one that builds the brotherhood we cherish here.
