Coach Budd IS really proud of what this team accomplished this year.
East Longmeadow High School girls cross country: TRUE CHAMPIONS
Published: Monday, November 29, 2010, 5:00 AM Updated: Monday, November 29, 2010, 12:43 PM
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East Longmeadow High School girls cross country team didn’t win any championships this season.
But in some people’s eyes, coach Michael Budd and his Spartans are true champions.
And next season, Budd wants other teams to become champions as well.
After spending hours and days with each other at practices and meets, East Longmeadow spent hours and days with each other away from the cross country course, and the benefactors of that time were various people and groups in Greater Springfield.
“I can’t pinpoint one thing (that was my favorite) because we did so much this season and we truly had so much fun and did a lot for giving back,” senior captain Jocelyn Kane said.
When Budd took over as the girls cross country coach this season, he didn’t want to be just another coach and he didn’t want his team to be just another team. He wanted more.
“I realized when I took over we weren’t going to have a very powerful team,” Budd said. “And one of the things I learned from watching (cross country coach) Art Keene at Amherst was he did a lot of community-effort type of things, and they did those together. I had been away from cross country for six years and I wanted us to be like Amherst.
“We wanted to be more involved.”
That “more involved” started in September when Budd took his 17 runners and two managers to the
Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Anti-Bullying 5K Road Race and 2-Mile Walk in Springfield. The event was in memory of Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old from Springfield who committed suicide in 2009 after being repeatedly.
Kane, an honor roll student said, “Getting out there and running it, and afterward seeing all these people from different towns all coming together to celebrate somebody’s life . . . We were line dancing, and there was a song we didn’t know so we were going to get off (the dance floor), but a couple women told us to stay and said they would show us how to do it.
“There was so much love and togetherness. It was great.”
The Spartans had held a few car washes prior to the Walker event and planned on buying a new tent for their big meets. But the team instead donated their funds to the foundation in Walker-Hoover’s name.
“We had a great time there,” Budd said. “We saw a lot of people. We figured ‘What more can we do for the community?”
And they did more. On Oct. 30, with the players dressed in Halloween costumes, the team collected canned goods to donate to the open pantry in Springfield. Budd made the delivery last week.
“Instead of going unnoticed this year, coach Budd really told that ‘I know this is our growth year and I know we’re not going to have the best record, but why don’t we do what’s best for our community so we don’t go unnoticed’,” Kane said.
The Spartans hope they, as well as other teams, don’t go unnoticed next season. Budd is already planning on have teams participating in the Ted Dutkiewicz Memorial Races to bring canned goods to the 2011 event. He’s also tinkering with challenging other teams to a canned goods collection at a different point in the season.
East Longmeadow was selected as this year’s winner of the Ted Dutkiewicz Award, a statewide award which goes to the cross country team which best exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship.
Sure sounds like a true champion.
East LongmeadowGirls Cross CountryRoster Coach: Michael Budd Runners: Jocelyn Kane, Ashley Madison, Julianne Downie, Kristina Pioggia, Giorgi Bengston, Hannah Bernard, Anne Leighton, Meghan Salvon, Carly Driscoll, Kelsi Ford, Breanna Hobbs, Liann Simonds, Nicole Howell, Meredith McGowan, Catherine Merton, Nina Pham, Sarah VennManagers: Alexandria McMahon, Candace Kasper
