Committed to striving not only to improve his own running, but also to lead and motivate his teammates, Julian Iverson works hard as the co-captain and top runner on the Bromfield boys varsity cross-country team. “He is the ideal role model for his cross-country teammates,” coach Marisa Steele wrote to the Press
Julian Iverson leads the pack for Bromfield, finishing sixth overall in the pod championship race at McCurdy Park Nov. 11. (Photo by Tim Clark)
Iverson is a junior on the team and has been participating in cross-country since he was in seventh grade, coming a long way from when he first began. In an interview with the Press, Iverson explained that he started cross-country after deciding he no longer enjoyed playing on the town soccer team, but he had always found the sport “intimidating.”
“I didn’t see myself as a very athletic kid. Especially with soccer, there were a lot of kids who were a lot better at it than me, and so, I felt a little bit intimidated because I wasn’t very fast and [cross-country] was kind of like a new thing for me,” he said. “I think that … was the hardest thing for me to overcome and sort of just saying to myself, ‘This is something that you can get better at as you continue to put in the work.’ ”
Over time, however, Iverson said that he has overcome the challenges he once faced in cross-country and has steadily improved in his performance, gradually building up his confidence and the strength to run more and more often. “In order to improve, you have to start by thinking you can improve,” he said. Steele shares the same philosophy.
Steele said that Iverson has worked especially hard this year. “In distance running, it takes several months to get in shape by building up basic aerobic fitness. … There’s a saying, ‘Champions in November are made in June,’” she wrote. “Julian understood this concept and was able to come into the season in excellent aerobic shape, which was demonstrated by his performances this fall.” Steele said that over the course of the summer, Iverson ran about six days a week and logged over 400 miles of running, the most recorded miles of one of Steele’s students in the past five years.
“Not only was he our top runner this fall, he performed well consistently each time he toed the starting line,” Steele wrote. “Consistency in races usually develops with more consistency in training and is a sign of a mature athlete.”
Iverson explained that cross-country is both an individual and a team sport, noting that this aspect is one of the things he enjoys the most about running. “You can put in as much or as little work as you want to put into it,” he said. “It will affect the team in some ways, but whatever you do benefits you the most. So, if you are committed to the sport, then you’ll see yourself go a long way.” He added that he also enjoys how each run is unique, as there are so many different paths to take through the woods and on the roads of Harvard.
“Even though [cross-country] is more a ‘run your race’ kind of sport, it’s also a team sport because everyone trains together and everyone [prefers] to run in a group,” Iverson said. As a team captain, he described his role as “leading the group more in a quieter way,” explaining that he has to set an example for the rest of the team and motivate his teammates to try their best as well. “I sort of see the team as a big group, and everyone is pretty good at following the rules and being leaders in their own ways,” he added. Often, team captains are the oldest members of the team, but Iverson is leading students a year ahead of him in school. He said, “It’s been interesting because I’m not the oldest on the team and some of the people have been running a lot longer than I have.”
A tightknit group
However, Iverson and his teammates are a close group, and he likes getting to know them better during practices. He said they always have fun together and that there is a lot of time to talk with one another during warm-ups and runs–– “Because we’re like a tightknit group, it’s more fun for everybody.” Not only is Iverson friends with the others on his team, but the younger runners, in particular, look up to him as well. “I think the younger guys saw all the hard work and preparation that Julian did during the off-season and will take that to heart for next year,” Steele wrote.
Due to the pandemic, this has been an unusual season for every sports team, but Iverson said his cross-country team has adjusted well to the changes and worked hard. He described one of the races this season that particularly stood out to him as the team had to adapt to less-than-ideal circumstances. The race was supposed to be at home, but it was switched to an away race in Marlborough at the last minute, and the windy and cold weather made for poor running conditions. “It just felt like a very sudden and abrupt meet,” Iverson said. He continued, “I felt like there was sort of like a nervousness at the beginning, but once the race started, everyone just started working really hard.” Iverson explained that he and his teammates were worried that racing against Marlborough, an MIAA Division 1 school, would be especially challenging and competitive. “It was very close,” he said, “but in the end, we were able to pull through and win the race which was, I think, a great moment.”
