By Christopher Hunt
Today Cornwall sophomore Aisling Cuffe is one of the top cross country runners in the state. Less than a year ago, she was a freshman race walker with no cross country experience.
“I’m very surprised that I’ve come on this fast,” Cuffe said.
She’s not the only one. In her first cross country season, the sophomore won the Varsity E race at the Manhattan College Invitational last Saturday, covering the 2.5-mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in 14:36.88, the second-fastest time outside of the Eastern States race (her time would have been ninth in Easterns). This came a week after Cuffe broke a course record, at the Carlisle Invitational in Pennsylvania. She won the girls Reebok Challenge 5K race in 18:05.91, 29 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
“She’s just an aggressive runner,” Cornwall coach Dave Feuer said. “She doesn’t hang back. She likes to run with the leaders. But she also knows when to hang back and run her own pace. She’s learned what it takes most kids years to learn.”
It’s no question that Cuffe picks things up quickly. Feuer recalled a day that Cuffe showed up late for practice. She carried a note from her teacher. Cuffe had stayed late in her math class to earn some extra credit.
“What’s your average in the class,” Feuer asked her.
“Ninety-nine,” she said.
That quest for perfection is what has made Cuffe a top-notch runner in her rookie season. She said she gets nervous before races, but mostly because she fears failing to meet her own expectations.
Cuffe joined the team last winter hoping to simply compete. Cornwall runs most of its indoor meets at West Point, where most competitions have limited entries. The faster athletes get to race. Cuffe found out that there are unlimited entries in the racewalk so she decided to try that. But one day Cuffe said that she simply walked into practice feeling great. That day she lead the second-tier group in practice.
Now she leads the fast group.
“We could actually see it in the second half of the winter season just by how she ran with the distance runners in practice,” Feuer said. “She went from pretty much just being a part of the distance crew in December to leading the distance crew in March. She’s not shy about working hard. She does what she needs to do and she doesn’t wait for anybody.”
Cuffe fell in love with running because she said it was the only sport she could do. She said she wasn’t aggressive enough for basketball or soccer. Yet she seems to find the aggression to punish hills and never back off in practice.
“It’s just relaxing,” she said of running. “No matter what pace I’m going at it just kind of makes me happy.”
And she’s immersed herself in the sport.
“I’m like a track nerd,” she said. “I’m on the websites every night.”
Cuffe has the state meet and the state federation championships on her radar with Foot Locker or NXN championship as realistic goals. The winter season is an afterthought but will she was still asked if the racewalk was in her future.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to see,” she said and then laughed. “Probably not.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com
