Close Was Good Enough

BARRE – Ava Frost was close. To be more specific, she was only 45 seconds away from breaking the Quabbin Regional High School’s cross country course record.

The 3.1-mile course team record is 22:56. During the last home meet against Tyngsboro, Frost, a senior captain, came the closest to breaking the Panther’s record with a time of 23:01.

“There were faster runners on the course from other teams, but that time is the fastest a Quabbin runner has ever gone on the course for our school,” Frost said, who hopes to run for the Scripps College cross country team in California next year. “I think that would be a good fun title to have before I’m finished.”

She has broken the 22:56 time on other courses. For instance, during a recent meet against Bromfield on that school’s 3.1-mile course, she placed fourth overall with an impressive time of 21:48. However, Quabbin coach Brian Young said “it’s difficult to compare times on a variety of courses. That is what makes our sport unique. Every course has its own challenges. Most everyone has gone to 3.1-mile courses, but (different) terrain is the key.”

Unfortunately for Frost, she will have to settle for the fastest time for the season, because she fell short during the last dual meet on Wed. Oct. 6 against Hudson with a second-place time of 23:10.

Young said Frost is a kid who has a “bubbly personality.” He also said as the top runner for the team, at time’s she has had to do practice runs with runners on the boys’ team to help her improve. “Ava is a good runner,” he said. As a top ten runner in the league, “Ava should be a league all-star.”

Win or lose, record or no record, Frost said she just enjoys spending her senior year running for Quabbin. “The season has been good. We have a lot of really reliable girls, I’d say. They’re consistent and they work hard every day. It’s been fun.”

Fellow senior captain Emma Gatulis has enjoyed spending the last four years on the varsity team with Frost. “(Ava’s) running well and she’s been fun to be around,” she said. “I just love our team. We all are just nice to each other and we have a good time together. I don’t even look at personal best times. I just wanted to be on this team.”

As captains, both Frost and Gatulis said they try to encourage the younger members of the team to work hard and try their best.

“When we practice, we go in groups based on our level of running,” Frost said. “But we stick together basically. Sometimes if someone falls behind, we don’t leave them behind. I think that convinces them to try and keep up with you and to keep going.”

Gatulis is a member of the National Honor Society and hopes to attend the University of Hawaii next year to study marine biology. She said she tries to lead by example. “I try to show up every day and work hard. I’m also there for the younger kids. I offer rides home and I am just friendly with the whole team. We’re not above anyone. We are together.”

They especially try to make the middle school runners feel part of the team. “Just last year we started pulling up the better middle schoolers so they can see what varsity is like,” Gatulis said. “They’ve done well to fit in.”

“We just talk to them like they are all like the other girls,” Frost said. At one of the meets, “we were congratulating them and making jokes with them as well and they fit in pretty seamlessly.”

Both captains remember what it was like to be welcomed as freshmen. “We had these three juniors when we were freshmen that were our captains for two years,” Frost said. “I feel like they guided us in the sport and we want to be just as welcoming. Cross country was always easygoing, so I wouldn’t say I was stressed about being a freshman, but I was a little bit nervous and they definitely made us feel at home.”

“I agree with Ava,” said Gatulis. “I mean, I already knew a lot of the girls because they were like older siblings of my friends, but they all made us feel totally normal. We did not feel any different. As captains, we wanted to continue that for the next group coming up.”

The Panthers do have a bright future with some talent coming up through the ranks, particularly with the emergence of eighth grader Liberty Osowski. In three races with the varsity, Osowski has been Quabbin’s fourth best runner on the team in just three meets. She even had a huge improvement in her time during the final meet against Hudson with a finishing time of 26:26, nearly three seconds better than her previous best (29:05).

“Libby is an eighth grader and she is an amazing runner,” Gatulis said. “She’s also super friendly. She started running a few meets ago and she’s been finishing really well.”

“It’s so encouraging to everyone to see her run so well at meets even though she’s not at our practices,” Frost said.

Despite finishing with a 1-5 record as a team, Young said his goal at the start of the season was for his athletes to continue to improve over the season. “Times are going down every race,” Young said.

Another important senior is Madison Whitney who had a personal best time of 25:25 for the season, good for second on the team. She was initially picked as one of the captains on the team, but due to her commitments as a company commander for the ROTC, she decided it would be best not to serve in the captain’s role for the team. Young said “she is a great teammate.”

Some of this season’s other key contributors are a mixture of underclassmen and seniors, including sophomore Emma Masser with a personal best time of 26:04; Gatulis at 26:16; junior Zoey Lenahan at 27:51; senior Jessica Forsyth at 28:57; and junior Katherine McMenemy at 29:29; Madison Leroux at 32:35; eighth graders Mia Ducos (36:37) and Annie Howe (38:37).