Forever Foxes: Farewell to the XC Class of 2012

I love this photo. I absolutely love this photo. Senior XC team member Erin O'Reilly emailed me a bunch of GREAT GREAT photos. But this one, to me, sums up Saturday's IC4A/ECAC meet the best: The back of a Red Foxes' singlet, heading toward the finish line at Van Cortlandt Park, and the finish line of the cross country careers of our wonderful senior class. We will miss this class, as we miss them all, when they graduate. There is something poignant about the end of the cross country season that differs from the end of the track season.

Track is special, and the end of track at the MAAC meet at Rider is truly the end of the line for our seniors. The finality of that bus ride home in May hits even a grizzled old guy like me. But cross country is more poignant in that it is one team running the exact same event on the same day. It forges a different kind of closeness and intimacy. It is why the finish line area on Saturday was a hug-filled, emotional area. I could write a long post about what each and every member of our graduating XC class has meant to us as a program. But given the team nature of the sport, I will just leave it at that. We will miss them greatly. This was a memorable season; most importantly, we had fun -- each and every day of practice. There were no issues -- and amazingly, no injuries! -- this year. That is truly rare.

As Thanksgiving approaches, we can all be thankful for what was a great fall season.