Christiansen looking to improve
By: Justin Feil
The Hun School boys’ cross country team will run against Peddie and Steinert on Friday.
That’s newsworthy because the Raiders have run just twice this season, once in the Gill-St. Bernard’s Invitational and once against The George School in a dual meet. Other meets have been cancelled due to poor course conditions, including Saturday’s scheduled meet against Blair and Rutgers Prep. It’s left many of the Hun runners frustrated with the lack of racing.
"It seems more like running club than a cross country team," said Will Christiansen, a Raiders junior. Christiansen finished his sophomore season of cross country on a high note with a personal best of 18 minutes in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League Championship last year. He was looking forward to building on that finish this season.
"It has been frustrating, just having two meets when we should have had five," said the Pennington resident. "I’m speaking not for myself, but for the team. We haven’t had as many meets to get our times down more.
"I don’t know what other guys’ goals are. I wish I could be under 18 minutes. Our coaches are doing a good job training. Besides what we do in practice, we just need more competition."
Particularly Christiansen, who seems to thrive on competition and find more motivation for faster times from competition.
"To me, I think you need that competition to really improve and to reach your peak," he said. "In competition, for me, one thing I told the team is you do need that competition. Since we don’t have that much, I try to keep that (though of competing) in my head. The best races I’ve run I’ve thought, I have to do something."
Christiansen won’t have to think hard for motivation Friday. He’ll be taking on a Peddie team that the Raiders saw at the Gill Invitational.
"Last year, Peddie came to our home course and we got 1-2-3," Christiansen recalled. "This year at Gill, the first Peddie kid whizzed past me and went way ahead of me. I have that incentive, just to beat this guy. If I have something stuck in my head that I want to prove, I do a lot better. When I have something to prove is a lot of the time when I have my best races."
Hun head coach Geoff Evans knows his runners are frustrated at not having more chances to prove themselves. There is only so much inner motivation they can get doing hill repeats with no race in sight. Christiansen is looking forward to seeing the workouts pay off Friday.
"He’s one who has vocalized frustrations about not having improved times," Evans said. "He’s said, ‘I wish I could show how much I’ve improved.’ It’s tough for our guys."
Christiansen hasn’t had any luck finding a race. This weekend, he missed the Run for Kate hosted by The Hun School due to taking the PSATs. Sunday, the Race for the Cure that he considered doing was cancelled for safety concerns.
Even the Raiders’ training has been thrown off because of having so few meets. Evans says it’s been difficult for runners to know where they are without a race to gauge their development.
"The experienced guys want to see their times go down," he said. "Our long endurance runs, we’re basing it on race time. So they don’t know, am I not pacing myself fast enough or am I going too hard? We want to improve our training times too. Kids that could be doing seven-minute miles for a half hour, maybe they’re only doing 7:30.
"It’s annoying to them because they don’t know if they’re going too fast or if they could be going faster."
The Raiders have found encouragement in a pack that was within 30 seconds of each other. If the weather cooperates, Hun should have a chance over the next three weeks to see some improvement as a team. It still has meets scheduled with Princeton Day School and Lawrenceville as well as the Prep A state meet and the MAPL meet.
If absence makes the heart grow fonder, the Raiders should love their next chance to compete. With a week of clearer weather predicted, that chance should come Friday. It’s an opportunity to see where they are and what they can do by the close of the season.
"I still need a better final kick in the end," said Christiansen, whose father Carl was a standout runner for the Raiders as well. "I’ve already seen if I had a little extra speed, my times might be a little better. In the final kick, if it’s close it can be the difference."
The finish will be big for the Raiders cross country team. It has to be for a team that barely has had the chance to get off the starting line.