It’s not the norm to have a freshman runner lead your team on the cross country course meet after meet, but Norwood Coach Aimee Worcester was lucky enough to have such a runner last year with Olivia Beaudet. Beaudet has already set the school course record with a time of 19:21, medaled in each Invitational that Norwood participated in throughout the year, finished 12th at the Eastern Massachusetts Division 4 Meet, and was 43rd in the MIAA All States, all as a freshman running varsity cross country for the first year.
“She had an absolutely fantastic season, where she was our number one runner all year long,” Coach Worcester said. “I knew that she could run, I just didn’t know that she could be this good. Qualifying for the All States was a really big deal as Norwood hasn’t been represented by a female runner since 2002.”
Beaudet first got involved in running during the seventh grade when she began taking part in some 5K races around Norwood. One year later, she began to really push herself with running and started to look up 5K races with her mother and take part in them as often as they could.
“I really enjoy running,” the sophomore said. “It’s a good way to help with stress and get things off my mind. It’s also a fun way to exercise.”
Norwood’s cross country team is on the smaller size so there really wasn’t any tryout period for the incoming freshman to try and make the team. Instead, the then freshman just went on a run with the rest of the team. And despite not having to try out, Beaudet was still nervous as well as excited as she had never run on a team before.
Her very first cross country meet luckily came at home on the Norwood course where she was used to running, but unfortunately it was a very hot afternoon.
“It was hot, but I didn’t let that bother me, I was there to have fun,” Beaudet said. I finished the race with the course record and was excited to see what I could do to shave time off the record, so I went home and looked up all the cross country records at Norwood and wrote them down as I wanted to beat as many of them as I could.”
“Olivia is a very hard worker and extremely confident in her running,” Worcester said. “We have a very small team, but I’m not sure how many other teams can say that they had a freshman as their number one runner all year.”
In order to get ready for her initial season on the Norwood cross country team, Beaudet attended the Berkshire Running Camp where she got to run with athletes outside of her hometown area. At the camp, she was able to compete against some very talented runners. She competed with girls who ran at the same pace as she did and those girls pushed the Norwood resident to a higher level.
As this season gets underway, the sophomore would like to get back to the All State Meet once again, but this time she would like to improve upon her 43rd place finish.
“Last year, I was kind of disappointed with my finish at All States as I had run better times consistently up until that race,” Beaudet said. “That race I ran over 20 minutes and am very excited to see what I can do this year.”
The sophomore would also like to improve upon her times, hopefully posting a sub 19 minute time by the end of this year and a sub 17 minute by the end of her high school career.
“I’m looking at the big picture,” Beaudet said. I eventually want to run in college so I’m going to focus on running that sub 17 even though it will be tough. If I can’t get my time below 17 minutes, I should be at least in the low 18’s.”
Having Already taken a strangle hold on the course record as a freshman, her Coach believes that her young runner can do anything she puts her mind too.
“She is a very coachable individual that listens to criticism and responds immediately,” Worcester said. “She always stays positive. There are so many wonderful things that I could say about her.”
If the sophomore continues to work hard while putting her mind to the task at hand, there is no doubt that by the time she departs Norwood High School she could be the most decorated runner the Mustangs have ever had.
Issue Date:
October, 2018
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