THE ECHO

By Fred Wittman // Reporter

Throughout the cross country season, athletes participate in a pre-race ritual known as pasta parties. Pasta parties are a gathering between both the boys and girls teams that include carbo-loading before a meet but also include socializing with teammates.

Senior Eli Crowe, a senior leader on the team, is sharing his thoughts on what makes pasta parties unique, emphasizing the team bonding and community aspect.

“It’s a great team bonding experience,” said Crowe. “A lot of people get to know their teammates better at pasta parties, you can actually sit down and talk with them, it’s a way to step back from practice.”

Crowe said pasta parties give teammates the chance to really get to know each other and get away from the shared chaos of running, but they also focus directly on running, however, working to prepare themselves as much as possible.

“They help race because its carb loading: pasta, breadsticks, fruit all that, all the necessary nutrients you need to race the next day, its energy to help you” Crowe said.

Besides the food, there are many games and events that are played at pasta parties. The events range from games like “Guess Who,” which require the whole team, to games like ping pong that you can one-on-one battle your friend in.

“There was this one party with a family feud event, I played Steve Harvey and it was way more fun than I would have thought,” Crowe said. “I was in a suit that was way too short, I had a fake mustache on and I had a fake mic, and we played family feud with all the people on the team. Me, being Steve Harvey, asked the questions.”

Crowe said after all the games are over, you can find runners just hanging out with their friends and enjoying the moment.

“My favorite moments are just eating and hanging out with the guys and yeah really just eating,” said Crowe.

The team has been built on pasta parties and pre-meet rituals for years, creating a team with a unique culture.

Crowe said the team wouldn’t be the same without them, “Pasta parties bring our team together in so many ways, they allow for people who don’t normally talk to each other to become great friends and that leads to them improving over the season, so they bring the team together in more ways than you can imagine.”

Pasta parties are something the cross-country team prides themselves on. A sense of community is formed, from the pain and struggles in practice to the anxious but exciting feeling of racing, everyone is on the team together and Pasta Parties are the embodiment of the team’s unity.

“You can have the fastest runner on our team be friends with the slowest runner on our team,” said Crowe. “It doesn’t really matter how good you are, as long as you come in and have a good attitude and have some fun with your friends at the pasta parties.”