Freshman Juliana Mihalopoulos stood 400 meters away from the finish line. Head pounding, heart racing and sweat on her forehead. Surrounding her were many of her fellow cross country runners, both her teammates as well as other competitors. Feeling good, Mihalopoulos increased her speed and practically sprinted to the end. After crossing the finish line, Mihalopoulos sank down to her knees, a grin on her face.
Mihalopoulos placed 11th out of 75 other girls on Saturday, Oct. 24,at IHSA Girls’ Cross Country Regional at Loyola Academy in Glenview. Running an 18:40 time for a 3 mile race, Mihalopoulos helped secure a 2nd place finish for Prospect. Prospect scored a total of 54 points. Losing to New Trier by only 14. This finish qualified the team for IHSA sectionals on Saturday, Nov. 1 and state on Nov. 14th.
After recovering from an ankle injury in the summer, Mihalopoulos calls this her “breakthrough race of the season.” After months of heavy cross training, her hard work paid off.
“It is so easy to get down on yourself and depressed when you’re injured. ‘Everyone is in front of me, I’m not going to catch up’,” said Mihalopoulos. “I always think, ‘I was with all these people before. I can be with them again.’”
Mihalopoulos and her teammate Ashley Skelton have matching bracelets to keep them motivated through these tough times. With quotes like “you got this” and “keep going,” Mihalopoulos wears them to every race.
Her way of making it through the race was looking at the cones on the ground. Making a goal of getting to the next cone helped her run one stride at a time.
This strategy seemed to work very well. Mihalopoulos had a 32 second difference from her previous race times showing extreme improvement and a PR (personal record).
Of the seven Prospect runners who competed at the regional , three of them were freshmen. Milhalopoulos, as well as Ashley Skelton and Erin Collins, each ran a sub 20 minute time. Coach Pete Wintermute believes the Class of 2029 may be the best freshman cross country class the state has ever seen.
Senior Meg Peterson placed first overall in the race with a finishing time of 17:45, giving the Prospect cross country team plenty to celebrate before sectionals and state . Prospect has been ranked first in their 3A league by MileSplit50 these last few weeks, causing pressure to build on the team.
The mental game of the runners as well as the team has become an equally important part of their training for state. In a race, runners can face challenges, both literal and mental. Weather and temperature can affect the outcome of a run just as much as the athlete’s attitude and mental state.
“In our sport, there is no time out,” said Wintermute. “They just have to keep running and persevering through the good parts and also the bad parts.”
Debatably more important than your speed, the mental side of the sport is a determining factor in one’s ability as a runner. For some athletes, it can be very challenging. Wintermute believes that you quickly begin to see how many kids want this ability and those who don’t. The hard work and dedication of runners who truly want to improve this makes all the difference in the performance of a runner.
After learning how to deal with losses, the cross country girls are able to grow as runners. While the ability to not let poor races define them is a skill that takes time to master, it is a large part of their improvement over time. It’s this hard work that sets them aside from average runners.
“They understand what it takes to be great. A lot of them come here with dreams and aspirations of running on a team that can win conference or get a state trophy,” Wintermute said. “I think that’s just kind of what the kids here dream of.”
Through both tough times and a previous state win in 2022, the Prospect cross country team has seen it all. While the team is made up of girls with different backgrounds and grades, they all connect with each other in their love for running.
“Knowing that you have a friend and a teammate that cares about you and supports you and you can cry on their shoulder about something good or about something nervous or about a bad race knowing that you’re gonna be okay,” Wintermute said, “Tomorrow, we’ll wake up and it’s another day. I think it’s something that’s special and important about feeling like you’re part of a team.”
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