By: Pooja Bala and Lori Wilichowski
Sophomore Emily Desmond shattered school records one race at a time this past fall when she ran cross country for the first time. This avid athlete also participates in indoor track and lacrosse. Formerly on the girls’ field hockey team freshman year, this past season of cross country was her first, and she ended the season as MVP for the team.
Desmond made her decision to run cross country mainly because of her fellow teammates, her coach, and the sport itself.
Desmond competed at the league meet along with her team and then proceeded to districts in which the top ten runners are pulled. She felt that those two meets were her favorites during the season since they were more of an intense race, competing at a higher level against several teams. The league meet took place at Marlborough in which she placed fourth in the league. Several sections of the course were covered with puddles of mud and consisted of steep hills, but Desmond felt these races challenged her the most.
Finally, she was the only athlete on the team who was pulled up to compete at the state level at Franklin Park in Boston. She personally felt that this was her worst race, not because of the time itself, both how she physically felt during the race. She was competing against athletes at her level, whereas normally she finishes with first or second place in most dual meets, running at the front of the pack. It was weird for her as the only one from her team running because she did not have her teammates, who had been practicing with her for the past couple weeks, running by her side.
However, she says that it felt great having her friends accompany her to Boston, cheering for her along the course. Desmond ended the cross country season as MVP with a PR of 20:08, breaking the previous school record for the home course at Veteran’s Park multiple times.
During indoor track, she often runs the two mile race and rotates between the one mile and 1000m race, usually doubling events during the indoor season. She continued indoor her sophomore year, and she remarks this is when she had her best race in the two mile. During a meet against Marlborough, she beat the athlete whom she had been pacing with and sprinted past her in an outstanding final kick. This same girl had beat Desmond in the previous year by a mere 0.3 seconds, which she did not allow again this year by finishing the race with a time of 12:23. She finished this past indoor season her sophomore year with a PR of 12:19 for the two mile.
Desmond attributes to Coach Kristin Collins, a big part in her success. “Coach Collins is a role model to me. Even though she is laid-back and understanding, she has good thought process behind our workouts and encourages me.”
Along with her passion for running, Desmond also has a love for lacrosse. Desmond made the girls’ varsity team in the spring of her freshman year at WHS. She started playing lacrosse in third grade and continued on to join a club team, the Mass Mavericks. She enjoys competing in out-of-state tournaments with this team because they are so competitive. Two of her favorite tournaments were the Colorado tournament and the tournament in Long Island, New York. She especially enjoyed the Long Island tournament because her team won the championship and they really bonded during this tournament.
Not only is Desmond a three sport athlete, she is the class of 2017 class treasurer. She also carries a difficult academic course load. In her spare time, Desmond still makes time for her friends and her family. She loves to travel and explore new things. Recently, she went to Belize with other members of the high school. She thought it was a really eye-opening experience to see such a different part of the world. As for future goals, she thinks she would like to train for a half-marathon sometime in the future. Desmond hopes to pursue lacrosse in college and continue running, non-competitively, after graduating from WHS.
