Previously running for Bowerman Track Club when he was in third grade, freshman Ben Crimin’s journey to cross country at La Salle was natural.
Inspired to run this year by his sister, Maya Crimin ‘25, who also ran cross country at La Salle, Crimin said that his biggest supporters are his “friends, coaches, [and] parents,” who have shown up to cheer him on at every team meet so far.
Even though running cross country can be physically and mentally challenging, Crimin has found the sport enjoyable due to his teammates’ support and the connections he’s made with them, noting the sport being “good for making friends,” especially since he is new to the team.
“The running is kind of hard, but the people are great. [They] make up for it,” he said. One of the ways that he has gotten closer with his teammates are the bus rides, referencing them as great for building community.
Cross country, for Crimin, is a sport of commitment and willpower. “It’s all run, everything’s run,” he said. “You run before; you run after.”
The way he pushes forward through this consistency is his coaches.
The general advice that Crimin has received from them has been to push himself in order to improve his running time. One way he follows through on this advice has been warming up before practice. Before he begins racing, Crimin’s warmup consists of drills and stretches, as well as a warmup run before the race, lasting around ten minutes. He considers this element of practice extremely important to ensure that he can start his race at a good, fast pace.
Crimin considers his running pace a vital technique to stay consistent during meets. “You go fast in the start and then slow, then fast,” he said, highlighting the middle section of the race as the best part because it is easy to get into a “groove.”
Ultimately, Crimin said that the most rewarding feeling of cross country is simply “finishing the race [and] water afterwards.”
So far, Crimin hasn’t found a problem having practice every day after school and his homework load, but he acknowledges that might change as the year goes on and his classes become more challenging.
His favorite class so far has been Mr. Larson’s English class. Crimin mentioned he has a good sense of humor and said “he’s funny” during class.
Along with English, Crimin has also enjoyed La Salle’s new Robotics class taught by new Director of Computer Science and Robotics, Mr. Aaron Milam. “Robotics has been fun so far, hard, but fun,” he said, when referring to how challenging the class can be. Crimin mentioned that in the class so far they have been making robots and coding them; however, the coding is the piece he finds difficult about the course.
As the school year continues, he plans on joining the La Salle swim team in the winter as he participated in CYO swimming from second to eighth grade at his middle school, Franciscan Montessori Earth School. Having taken a break after the pandemic, Crimin is looking to start up again.
He considers it a great pastime, and is excited to potentially join the team.
