Mikayla Bartholomay, a senior at Bowman County High School, has been running cross-country for six years. She has been there for the team’s worst and best moments. She knows her teammates strengths and weaknesses, and they know hers. One of the main things that she has learned through the years is that they run for each other.
By CHLOE JANOVSKY
Bowman County Pioneer
“You need to push through for your team,” Bartholomay said.
Bartholomay was in seventh grade when she began her first season of cross-country, in August 2011. Since then, the girls’ team has placed higher at the regional meet every year, and if they keep their streak up, they will get first at state in a couple weeks.
“That has always been our ultimate goal,” she explained.
Cross-country is just as mental as it is physical.
You need to always talk in a positive manner and have confidence that you can do it, she says.
“It’s important to strategize how you want to run, and to be tough at the spots it’s going to hurt most,” she explained.
The first thing the team does when arriving at a meet is walk the course, making a metal note of the spots where they’ll have to push a little harder, and the areas where they can push ahead. After that, they do warm-up jogs, stretch and pray as a team.
“I don’t get as nervous as I used to because I’ve been doing it for so long,” she said. “I know what to expect.”
Bartholomay knows, however, that the younger runners may be nervous or excited because she was in their place not too long ago.
She tries to carry on words of encouragement that she once received as an underclassman: “It’s definitely not the running that’s kept me in it for this long,” she laughed, “it’s having a team that I can count on and a community that supports us through the good and the bad.”
Along with the support of the team and coaches, it’s simply a great feeling to hear families, classmates and other community members cheering on the sidelines, according to the student athlete.
“The fans get so intense sometimes, which reminds us why we are here and what we came to do,” she said. “When I get back home, I can count on my family being there for me. They help me look at the race in a different perspective.
“I have learned so much from them.”
Bartholomay said she has had an amazing six seasons and is very grateful for her cross-country family. “I knew that I would make many friends, but I never expected to be this close with them,” she added.
One main piece of advice that Bartholomay would give to younger runners is to set a goal, and never quit working for it even if it takes awhile, or seems like it may just be too hard, “seek support from peers and try again.”
“At the state meet, I won’t be running for myself,” she said. “Instead, (I’m) running for my teammates and my coaches.”
Chloe Janovsky is a junior at Bowman County High School and a freelance writer for The Bowman County Pioneer.
