A Soundtrack For The Season
"Taylor Swift's Fearless album, because we're fearless," Madison Shults stated matter-of-factly when asked which album might best typify the team.
When talking music with the squad, it's clear that it runs deep - the team shared a collective Ohhh, as in Ohh, Don't Even Get Me Started when asked about favorite tracks from Swift's latest Midnights album.
The beats, like strides, have fallen in sync over time. And that exact cohesiveness has led to success on the course.
There's a profound understanding that like the interwoven lyrical dishes and beats and bass-lines, a team of seven is much like a band, or a song.
Each and every member and layer is vital to overall composition.
Your ears might not initially register Ed O'Brian's taunting guitar riff in the background of Radiohead's "Talk Show Host," but you definitely hear it. Without it, the track would lack its brooding prominence.
The perfect mixture can produce music or results that'll prompt that same Ohhh, as in Ohh, Don't Even Get Me Started response.
The perfect mixture can produce a masterpiece.
Or Midnights.
Or lyrics you search for on Chrome.
All For One, And One For All
"This year our team understood that cross-country is a team sport," Mia Prok reflected following Monday's workout. Her blue eyes searched for the words and quickly found them. "Your team is who you can fall back on. Having a team is the best part of cross-country."
Shults sat beside Prok inside Niwot High and nodded in agreement.
"It's empowering," Shults added. "Anytime it gets tough and I want to quit, I think: I can't quit. It's for the team. If I quit right now, I'm letting my teammates down - that's my biggest fear. It's not a victory or a win if we're not working together."
Their strength is their shared goal of testing their boundaries not just for themselves, but each other.
Sitting quietly behind Prok and Shults was Addison Ritzenhein, who chimed in her take on the team.
"Cross country is such a team support," she said. "It's something we can't do alone."
Like hills on a cold, dark Monday evening.
If there's any concept far from the core of this squad, it's "Alone."
Niwot has built a dynasty - a community - over the years.
They've won the 4A state title the past five-consecutive years, and had an individual win the title three of those five years. Despite being a 4A school their roster numbers rival that of larger 5A schools.
It's been that team-first concept, that community-aspect, in recent years that's helped them scorch the sky.
And if Niwot wasn't already producing national-caliber talent every year, they got yet another boost in their stride towards the top of the mountain in the form of assistant coach Katie Rainsberger - professional runner for New Balance, eight-time Colorado State Champion, and more importantly (in reference to Niwot's week ahead) - the 2015 National Champion.
Tips From The Top
"She's made a world of difference," Bullen explained. "She's good about helping us see that we don't need to change anything about ourselves, we just need to be ourselves, and work hard."
Prok added on.
"It's just having a female perspective," she said. "Having Coach Katie is super helpful. She understands that you're not always going to be at your best. The highs and lows of running. She's not just a mentor, she's a friend. She fits right in. She's one of us."
When looking ahead to Nationals, the expertise of someone who's gone to Portland and brought back a trophy of their own is vital - the squad has leaned heavily on Rainsberger's insights.
"Katie told me 'give yourself a chance to feel good," Olivia Alessandrini shared. "She said that the year she ran NXN, when she won, she wasn't feeling good initially, but she held on, and gave herself a chance to feel better later in the race."
For Coach Christiansen, the addition of Rainsberger to the coaching staff has echoed his team's words.
"She's really helped with the cohesiveness," he explained. "She really knows how to connect with them."
And cohesiveness on a star-studded team like Niwot is critical to the success of the overall performance. It's a puzzle piece of ever-moving personalities - it's managing the tessellation of a team.
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