Ram & Lady Ram x-country harriers learn lesson about 'pulling the cork' too soon in opening meet
September 18, 2024 at 10:09 p.m.
In long distance running circles, experienced competitors have learned the hard way about what "don't get your cork pulled too soon" warns them about once the starter's gun goes off.
Simply and not so simply put, it means don't let the adrenaline of the early part of the race fool you into going out too fast when there is still a long way to go because you will pay the price with a staggering finish.
In other words, pace yourself at the start so you will have something left at the finish and your conditioning will take care of what happens in between as the miles go by.
The knowledgeable coach
That is something Port Chester head cross-country coach Cindy Reyes Martinez, a former Lady Rams distance running record holder, tries to convey to her team.
And the results showed in her team's rewarding first competition of the season last Tuesday (9/10) at Croton Point Park.
What she calls her "mostly young and inexperienced" team ran creditably in the multi-school competition against traditional powers like White Plains, Horace Greeley, Yorktown Heights, Ossining and Fox Lane.
In the 3.1-mile varsity x-country race over a hilly course, Rams junior All-League x-country runner Santiago Marquez finished in eighth place with a time of 17:43, which may not sound like a great feat until you do the math and see that that averages out to under six-minute miles for over three miles over hill and dale.
Already running faster
And that shows substantial improvement over where Marquez was at this time last year when he made the All-League team.
Christopher Zamora hit the finish line in 23:43 (under eight minutes per mile, a well-conditioned pace) while Ethan Cabrera completed the course in 25:15, just over eight minutes per mile.
And Anthony Delgado, Chris Evans and Aaron Abraham all successfully completed their run over the arduous course, quite an accomplishment in running the distance for the first time over the notoriously difficult Croton Point course.
"Our freshman boys—Evan Eski, Jayden Avelar, Jeancarlos Contreras and Oscar Morales—all went well above and beyond what could be expected, and I am extremely proud of them," said Martinez, a language teacher in the Port Chester School District who knows what she is talking about in any language because she still holds the Lady Rams record for the mile in 5 minutes flat.
So she recognizes how hard it is to complete a freshman 1.5-mile race for the first time.
That helps explain why there are no freshman Lady Rams out for the x-country team this year.
The leading ladies
But the team has some impressive female runners nonetheless.
Junior Alexa Aguiriano finished in the top 15 runners during the varsity race followed by talented returnees including Abigail Pesantez, Camila Ramos and Katheryn Espinosa with newcomers Angela Oliveros and Karla Sigua also doing well to finish the 3.1-mile course in their first try at the distance.
"Despite the majority of the team being young and inexperienced, all our student athletes are showing incredible determination and resilience," said Martinez. "Their hard work and commitment to finish every race, no matter the challenge, speaks volumes about their potential and the bright future ahead of them."
On the run again
She was referring to the daily after school practice runs up and down the hills at Crawford Park as well as the distance runs that will be part of their next meet Wednesday (9/25) at 4:45 p.m., a multi-school meet at Blind Brook against the Trojans, Rye, Rye Neck and Keio. And if they don't learn anything else during those 3.1- and 1.5-mile runs, the Port Chester harriers will get another lesson in what "don't get your cork pulled too soon" really means.
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