As the only freshman on the girls varsity cross country team, Claire Norquist has had a strong start to the season, setting a personal record every meet thus far since middle school.
“That was a big achievement for me,” she said about making the team.
However, her path to the starting line wasn’t always straightforward.
In sixth grade, Norquist’s mom wanted her to pick a fall sport. Volleyball didn’t appeal to her at the time, so she turned to cross country instead. “My mom was a runner when she was a young girl, so I was just like, ‘You know what? I’ll try running,’” Norquist said.
Throughout middle school, she eventually took up volleyball and even track and field, telling herself at first, “‘Oh I’m totally a sprinter,’” she said, later finding out, “I was not.” Her mom believed she would inevitably get into long distance instead Norquist explained — and she guessed correctly.
One major turning point came in eighth grade when Norquist placed sixth at a CYO meet, earning a medal. From that moment forward, she set her sights on continuing with the sport.
As high school approached, Norquist debated trying out for volleyball, but her mom’s positive high school experience with cross country settled the decision.
“After hearing how my mom was saying how she loved cross country, how inclusive it was,” she said, the choice became clear.
Her experiences with volleyball and cross country were starkly different. She started volleyball in sixth grade, “and after doing it for a while, I just wasn’t really improving how I wanted to improve — I wasn’t reaching the goals that I wanted to achieve,” she said.
Cross country, on the other hand, offered her consistent progress.
“After achieving those goals in running, PRing every meet, just getting faster and better, I was just like, ‘You know what, if I’m going to achieve a goal, I think cross country is the better sport,’” she said.
Now, running has become essential to Norquist’s life. “I have to run,” she said. “It’s just part of my routine … It’s like brushing your teeth … you have to do it.”
That dedication showed itself over the summer when she committed to the team’s training program. “I showed up almost every single day, all summer, for those cross country runs at nine in the morning,” she said. “At the beginning of the year, I was so glad because I was in shape, and it just felt like a relief … it paid off.”
Norquist estimated she dedicates about 15 hours per week to practice and training. Two-hour practices combined with a half-hour drive home can leave limited time for staying on top of school.
“It does come in the way for homework, but I’ve been able to manage it so far,” she said, noting that end-of-class work time is especially helpful.
Being the only freshman girl on varsity could have been intimidating, and at first, it was. But after the initial fear washed away, she felt welcomed by her teammates immediately. “They treat me as if I’m their age,” she said. “I’ve made really good connections with the girls on varsity.”
Before meets, the varsity girls have a ritual during warm-ups where they listen to music together and share some words of encouragement.
“We’ll go around and each say positive things,” she said. “We’ll each be hyping each other up and just changing our focus into more, locked-in, ‘we got this’ [and] ‘we’re all strong.'”
With bigger meets coming up, Norquist said she feels confident about the team’s chances, as well as her own performance.
“I think I will do pretty good if I keep doing what I’m doing: staying positive before meets, hyping myself up, getting good rest, eating well — all the things,” she said.
