The sucess of the 2014 Flying Dragons

Lucian Ramnarase / T. Henning

The HSMSE Cross Country team has developed into one of the 20 elite Cross Country teams in the New York City area. The team reached the PSAL Cross Country City Championship of 2014; their success was greatly attributed to their ambition and focus on high paced running.

Coach Tom Henning prides himself on his recruiting skills and applauds the student athletes for their drive to be faster runners.

“I think we’ve been successful because MSE students work hard in anything that they do,” Henning said. “I’ve been very persistent in recruiting students.”

One prime example of an MSE student working hard is varsity runner Lucian Ramnarase. Ramnarase had a breakout season this year, finishing in 39th place out of about 200 other runners in the City Championships,  well above most of his fellow Flying Dragons.

Henning believes the success of his team is also due to coaching changes he made this season. Instead of increasing the mileage the runners run each week, he reduced the miles ran each week in order to develop faster runners instead of slower runners.

“I think I focused on more fast running, more high paced running with rest in between; I certainly took that from my track and field training,” Henning said.

Henning’s unorthodox quality over quantity approach has led to a team that reached the PSAL Cross Country City Championships for the first time. The accolades the team earned in the past year was a result of the enthusiasm the runners had, and the different approaches Henning used this past season in contrast to other great Cross Country teams.

                                          Authors: Bruce Mayfield, Harry Smith