Milton Cross Country Speeds High Spirits to Campus
By Molly O’Brien ‘26
One of the most unique (and infamous) sports team traditions on campus is the boys’ cross country team’s Friday cart run. As Teddy Choe ‘26 describes it, the cart run involves pushing “a really old shopping cart around campus while playing music and cheering on the practices and games.” The cart is filled with various fun, random objects, such as hubcaps, a Thayer dog collar, and the original Burger King crown. Though arguably one of the most underrated sports on campus, cross country may perhaps have some of the most unique sets of team traditions that make it worthy of much attention.
Emmett Burghardt’s ‘27 favorite tradition is the annual “McDonald’s run at the end of the season where [the team] runs about 2.5 miles to Quincy.” Chowing down the McFlurries, Happy Meals, and Big Macs, the team eats as much as they can before promptly racing back to campus, and whoever returns first—without feeling sick, of course—gets the reward of a day’s worth of bragging rights.
Meanwhile, the girl's team is building their own repertoire of precious traditions. Senior captain Molly Sheehan ‘25 tells about the return of spirit days. Along with wearing “red or pink colors” every Tuesday, they are bringing back spirit days on Fridays before their meet, such as groutfit, runner fit, and ruby Friday. Sheehan added that the entire team is “very loving and supportive in part because of our traditions, but also just the nature of the sport.” Rhia Patel’s ‘26 favorite tradition is at the end of the season where “all separate grades get together and rewrite a song to match cross country spirit and person for the coaches.”
The teams also have a tradition together. Each week, the girls’ team attempts to steal the boy's team's cart and flag. Most recently, two weeks ago, as the boys dashed through the entrance of Ware Hall during the cart run, they found themselves running straight into the girls. Though the guys had thought that they had lost the girls, the tussle continued—the girls came storming back in a second attempt to steal the cart on the track!
Sheehan believes that the girls' and boys' teams are much closer to each other than other community members would expect, with Burghardt adding that “both teams show up to support each other at meets and practices.” Specifically, Sheehan cites the fact that the two teams travel to meets and often practice and do core workouts together. She also said that because a lot of the runners on both teams also compete on the track team in the spring, the teams will be able to remain close throughout the year.
So far this season, the boys’ team has competed in five meets. Although the boys’ team’s performance has not been as successful as past years, Choe remains hopeful: “This year we’ve received a lot of promising and incredibly hardworking new runners.” The girl's team looks to repeat their Independent School League (ISL) Championship from last season with Sheehan stating that the entire varsity team is “still very strong.” So far, they have competed in five meets and have picked up a couple of wins. Despite the inconsistency in this year’s record compared to last year’s, Sheehan feels that “we still have a good chance to do well and be competitive at [the] ISLs this year.” The team lost a number of core seniors, but many members have stepped up to support the team’s needs.
In high spirits, the cross country teams will compete this Saturday for their last home meet of the season versus Governor's Academy. The boys’ meet will start at 1:30 pm, while the girls’ meet will start at 2:15 pm. Be sure to show up and cheer them on!