The boys’ cross country team has plenty of underclassman superstars such as sophomores Steven Sum and Andrew Harter. However, even they still look to the senior captains for guidance.
One of those senior captains is Kabir Chandrasekher, who has been on the team since freshman year, exemplifies the spirit of cross country. Teammates say he is a leader who pushes himself and his teammates to their limits.
“He’s more of a captain to us [underclassmen] than a runner,” sophomore Rohith Krishna said. “He pushes me to run at my best. He makes sure we never slack off.”
Chandrasekher also realizes his role on the team.
“It’s important for me to work hard at practice and help guys keep their heads up push them to their best,” Chandrasekher said.
Chandrasekher started running in sixth grade with a 10:37 mile. He often ran five miles each day, slowly getting better with each run, managing to improve his mile time to 7:00 by the end of middle school.
When Chandrasekher first joined the team, he was almost last in every meet. Since then, he has reduced his two-mile time by two minutes and his mile time is now 5:21.
Coach Dan Ambrico thinks highly of Chandrasekher’s work ethic and progress.
“He’s not the fastest, but he’s a student of running,” Ambrico said. “He’s very self-motivated, and exactly what we need on this team—a great role model for the freshmen.”
Although Chandrasekher did not make it to state last year, he thinks that the team has an excellent chance of making it state again.
“We probably would do well in state,” Chandrasekher said. “We’ve got [sophomore] Steven Sum, an amazing junior class, and lots of talented sophomores, so the deck is pretty stacked.”
Chandrasekher thinks that the team’s decision not to cut anyone this year was a good one.
“I don’t think cross country should be a cut sport,” Chandrasekher said. “Everyone tried their hardest, and it maintains a less competitive atmosphere.”
But Chandrasekher also has the not-so-glorious duty of admonishing those runners who aren’t really trying.
“They’ll get an earful from me, [senior captain David Zarrin], and coach [Ambrico],” Chandrasekher said. “I don’t like it, but [the runners] have to try.”
Chandrasekher hopes to run in college.
“[Running] is therapeutic, you know, to just get everything out of my head,” Chandrasekher said. “I don’t think I’d be able to survive too long without going for a run. Depending on what college I go to, I might not be able to run for the [college] team, but my love for running will never die.”
The cross country team had their home meet on Sept. 18, where sophomores Steven Sum and Andrew Harter raced to victory in the junior-senior and frosh-soph races, respectively. The next race will be at Sept. 25 at Central Park.