For a lot of seniors, fall is the most stressful season of the year. Seven cross country senior girls, however, had even more in common than the stress of college applications and homecoming.

Last fall, Julie Elfin, Anna Ryba, Caroline Guiot, Sarah Zeichner, Alexandra Phillips and Elizabeth Frank led the team to the county, regional and state championships. Under the guidance of these seniors, the team performed well at all three postseason meets this year and finished a close second at states.

Although many of the girls joined the team at different times, they still meshed together as a team.

“Our senior group [was] strange in that none of us actually completed all four seasons of cross country,” Frank said. “Last year it all came together and we ran at the state championship without any missing pieces and we were successful.”

The team’s high level of talent was beneficial to all of the runners because it made them to work harder, Phillips said.

“We [pushed] each other during practice and are also really close friends,” Phillips said. “It definitely motivates you to work harder. You really feel like family by the time you’re a senior.”

Competing alongside teammates in meets was also a challenge of being a part of a talented class, Elfin said.

“Racing against your teammates can sometimes feel strange, because you want them to do well, but you want to do well also,” Elfin said. “In the end, it’s a team sport, and if you push harder and they see you doing that, they’ll be motivated, too.”

Changes in the top seven runners can lead to conflicts, Frank said. At the start of this season, Guiot switched places with Ryba, last year’s state champion, as the team’s fastest runner. Guiot came in first out of all runners at the state meet while Ryba was fourth. At first, people had trouble adjusting to the changes, but everyone became supportive of each other’s success, Frank said.

Head coach Stephen Hays stressed to his runners the importance of performing their best to benefit the team as a whole. With this attitude, he said conflicts regarding the rank of runners could be avoided.

“You’re trying to run your best every race,” he said. “Each of the girls knew that what mattered most was having everyone do their best regardless of where they placed on the team.”

The girls valued their leadership role on the team. Elfin said the seniors acted as role models for the underclassmen in many aspects of high school.

“Everyone on the team looks up to you and expects you to do the right thing–­or know what the right thing is, for that matter,” Elfin said. “We [gave] advice about things from injuries and race prep to homework and teachers.”

Junior Helen Rosenthal said that an important contribution the seniors made was planning team-building activities that were open to the entire team.

“The fun events they [planned helped] bring the team closer together,” Rosenthal said. “I think our close relationship as a team [was] what [made] us so successful.”