Carsyn Koch of Washburn is the 2x defending Class C State XC champion, she'sll be aiming for her 3rd straight individual title this fall. Koch a former soccer player is focusing on running for the first time this fall. Track her journey as she shares her experiences.
Hello everyone!
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Carsyn Koch. I’m a junior this year at Washburn High School and a third year member on our cross country team. I won’t spend too much time talking about myself, because I’m sure there are much better things to read about! I’m outgoing, extremely talkative, and I have an acute weakness for anything that contains chocolate. As far as school goes I absolutely love to read/write, and calculus is kicking my butt. In my spare time you can almost always find me pinning on pinterest.com, experimenting with different cooking recipes, or socializing. Okay now that we know each other, or at least you know me, let’s talk running.
This year has been very unique for me. I was used to juggling both soccer and cross country, all while keeping up with my schoolwork. Although I knew I could do it again this year, I also knew it was not in my best interest to continue doing both. I make the choice to drop soccer, and focus solely on cross. This was literally the hardest decision I have had to make in my short sixteen years of life. I felt torn between the girls on my soccer team, and my need to find my true potential in running. Even though a lot of people questioned my decision, I had the support of my family and my coach.
While it is definitely fun to win individually, nothing speaks volumes like placing first as a team. When the season first rolled around, all I could think was, “Wow I’m old…” There was a huge group of freshman, who were completely new to the sport and very spontaneous about racing. I found myself answering a plethora of questions and reassuring the younger kids before races that I was nervous for myself. This made me realize that despite the fact that I had only been running for two previous seasons, I was a veteran on the team. The girls have worked so hard this season , and we have really bonded together as a team. Our latest highlight was during the Presque Isle meet last week. Our girls were able to come in first as a team, beating class B Caribou High School for the first time! This was a big deal for us because Caribou has always had a very strong team for both the boys and the girls.
As the season goes on, I’m predicting huge improvement for our team. I’m hoping to improve individually as well, since I don’t have the physical toll of soccer on my body. I think my biggest fear is that I made the wrong decision when I stopped playing soccer. I’m hoping that I won’t think this when the season is all over. Hopefully I will be hitting the right times, and seeing the improvement I want. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope your day is fabulous from here!
~Carsyn Koch~
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