Frank the moderator: Wednesday, Nov. 9, 8 p.m. join Carolyn Thornton and members of the Coventry girls cross country team.
With Lindsay Paiva leading the way, the Coventry girls cross country team upset five-time defending champion North Kingstown to win the R.I. Interscholastic League State Championship on Sunday at Ponaganset. Paiva's 20th place finish, along with strong performances by Kaitlyn Grimshaw (11th) Laura Schmitz (17th), Kristen Walker (26th) and Samantha Eagleson (27th), gave the Knotty Oakers a seven-point margin of victory over the Skippers, 95-102.
Submit a question for the chat now...

Carolyn Thornton: Hello everyone. This is Carolyn Thornton and I am with the Coventry girls cross country team. We are speaking to you from the West Valley Inn where the R.I. Girls Cross Country Coaches Association 2005 Recognition Banquet is currently taking place. In between accepting their awards, the girls are ready to answer your questions. So feel free to start sending them in.

Carolyn Thornton: First of all, congratulations on winning the Team State Championship last Sunday at Ponaganset. At what point that day did you realize that your team had won the title?
Coventry girls cross country: Captain Ashley Buglio: When they announced "Second place goes to the five-time defending champions, North Kingstown" It was obvious that my teammates and I felt nothing but excitement. I had watched my team strive for their best, and they had definitely achieved their goal! Michaela Connelly: I first realized my team had won the state title when I finished my race and returned to our team tent. When I saw how spent my teammates were, I just got this feeling that we had definitely won. No one wanted to get their hopes up because it sounded too good to be true, but in the end, I was right!

Carolyn Thornton: Can you describe what it felt like to be declared the champions?
Coventry girls cross country: Samantha Eagleson: When we had first found out that we had been declared the 2005 State Champions, we were ecstatic. The feelings that we had felt went from being completely shocked, to being completely happy to almost crying because of joy. Our team had worked really hard this season, and to be declared state champs was something that had made our commitment and dedication pay off. The feelings that we had felt were indescribable. You can't put into words what had been going through our heads when we were standing on the podium that day. We are all still in shock of the final outcome of that day, and we are excited to be running this weekend in New England’s. Amanda Sanocki: When they had finally made it down to the top five places, we all sat in anticipation, squeezing each other's hands. We were very nervous and excited at the same time. When they announced us the cross country state champions, we all jumped up and started screaming. The feeling was indescribable. Most of us were crying. We couldn't believe we had won. All of our hard work paid off. We were just in a state of shock. Being declared the champions was amazing. All I can remember is jumping up, screaming and crying hysterically. It was such an emotional day for all of us and I'm very proud of the team for everything that they have done.

Carolyn Thornton: Laura Schmitz, I understand you are an exchange student. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What was your first cross country experience like? Did you ever think you'd be part of a state championship team?
Coventry girls cross country: Laura: Talking about myself; I'm 17 years old, and I'm from the western part of Germany. I had the idea to spend my 11th school year as an exchange student in the US. So I applied at an exchange-organization, and now I'm here in Coventry since the end of August. That I came to Coventry and not to any other city/state in the US was pure chance; I couldn't choose where to go, I could have ended up anywhere. Before I joined the cross country team, I had never run XC before; at home I play basketball. So as the basketball season does not start before winter here at the high school, I decided to try out a new sport. I didn't know what XC was exactly like, I just knew it was about running, and I always kind of liked running, so i just wanted to try it out. But I have to say, I had no idea what would expect me here. My first race was really exciting, I didn't even know the course, and the race was pretty tough, but it was a great atmosphere and a lot of fun, especially because the girls in my team and the coach are all very nice. Getting to know more and more about this sport, the different courses, and our team was a great experience, and I had never imagined anything like this before I came here. XC was something completely new for me, and I can't compare it to a sport like basketball. Although every runner kind of runs on his/her own, the team is very important, and I like that very much. When our team got state champions last weekend, it was just an amazing feeling! Our coach told us before the race that she expected something around place 5, but she also said we were kind of underdogs. So after the race at the award ceremony, everybody was really excited, and when we finally heard that we got first place, it was really cool. It's a great feeling to be part of this team.

Carolyn Thornton: Knowing who your team had coming back and knowing who your competition had coming back, how realistic did you think your chances of winning the state championship were this season?
Coventry girls cross country: Samantha Eagleson: When we had first started practicing, we had only lost one of our top seven runners and we had known that we were deep from last season. We always have a surprise freshmen runner and this year we had a few. Most of them we hadn't realized until halfway through the season, when our top seven would change after every race. When we had also known that we had been getting an exchange student we weren’t sure of how she was going to do, and she had told us she didn't even know what cross country was. When we had finally been doing all of the workouts during the middle of the season, we then realized how much potential we had this year. What we didn't know was how we could use it. This season, the competition had been rough. We knew that North Kingstown and Westerly would still be our rivals, but then as the season progressed, La Salle, and Cranston West had also been knocking at our door. We knew that we had to toughen up and try to accomplish what we had last season. At the beginning of the year we had said that we wanted to get nothing less than top three in the state again. As we were going into states that day, we had been seeded fifth, and we were the underdogs. We knew what we could do, and we did it. Ashley Buglio: Everyone knows North Kingstown is an awesome team. They are very strong runners. To be honest, when we talked about our goals as a team, North Kingstown always seemed unreachable. We just wanted to place at least third, last year's accomplishement. We continued to work hard all season keeping our goals in the back of our mind. With hard work and dedication, our season ended with an overwhelming surprise.

Carolyn Thornton: Kristen Walker, did you set a personal best, as well? If so, did you do anything differently in terms of strategy or pacing that helped you turn in such a good performance?
Coventry girls cross country: Throughout this season, I was in kind of a slump. I doubted my potential and never put up times that were close to where I should have been. I had some good races, but the times didn't always reflect this. Coach Thompson has been stressing throughout the season that we needed to learn how to pace. Most times I would go out too fast in the first mile and then break down for the last two. At state's I came in with a positive attitude and knew that it was for the team. The girls I run with are my best friends, and I couldn't even imagine letting them down. I also think that I do much better under pressure. The whole competitive atmosphere helped to push me.

Carolyn Thornton: Samantha Eagleson, I understand you've had a tough season because of an injury. What was the injury and how tough was it not to be able to run until two weeks ago? Back during those weeks when you weren't able to run, would you ever have imagined being back in good enough shape in time to help your team win the championship?
Coventry girls cross country: Samantha Eagleson: The injury that I am recovering from was my IT Band. I had found out about this right before the start of the season, and I wouldn’t be able to run for a few weeks. I had thought I would be able to run some of the season, but the injury wasn’t healing as quickly as I had hoped, and I had to take more time off because of it. I had started to attend physical therapy two times a week and that had helped me greatly. My coach had told me that I would be able to run in Class and State Meet, only if I had been doing better in therapy. I had been working out at therapy, and I had known that all I wanted to do was race. I had been sad that I wasn’t able to race and help the team out, but I had known that I needed to recover first before I could help my team out. I enjoy racing and watching everyone else race had made me want to recover more quick than I was doing. I knew that just being there for my team and talking to them would help them. We have a young team, and just being able to talk to them about the race and different strategies, had calmed them down. When the season started dwindling down, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to be back in time for Class and State Meets. I had then asked my therapist I could start doing the workouts the team had been doing, because I had been doing different ones because of my injury, and he had finally said yes because my injury had been improving. I had never seen myself actually running on State Meet day, and helping my team to the championship. To be able to come back and help my team in those last two races meant everything to me. Being part of the team again felt amazing, and then winning the state championship had been even more of a dream come true. It felt so good to be able to go up to the podium that day and to say that I had helped the team become the state champions.

Carolyn Thornton: Lindsay Paiva, you had a big day Sunday. Was your time of 20:33 a personal best for you? What do you attribute the big jump to?
Coventry girls cross country: Sunday's time of 20:33 was in fact my personal record and landed me in 20th place. I feel that my improvement at state's compared to class meet was due to the goal that I made at the beginning of the season. Coach Thompson had us all write a goal for the year and mine was to make All-State. I was really disappointed about my performance at class meet, and I was determined to make up for it at state's. I prepared mentally and physically all week by getting to bed early, relaxing, listening to music and hydrating myself. By Sunday I was ready and I pushed myself the whole race. Anytime I wanted to slow down, I thought about those I would disappoint - my friends, my family, myself and most importantly, my team. I pushed for my team and with a combination of my parents' encouragments, Miss Thompson's coaching, some Coventry pride and a little confidence, I achieved my goals.

Carolyn Thornton: Kaitlyn Grimshaw, your coach said you shaved 2 minutes off your time. What did you do differently on Sunday and to what do you attribute the big improvement in such a short time?
Coventry girls cross country: Kaitlyn Grimshaw: I tried really hard and put a lot of effort into it. In the race, I just tried to pick a couple of people to stay up with - Lyndsay Paiva, Michaela Connelly and Amanda Sanocki - at the beginning. And then I tried to stay up with Laura Schmitz. During the races, especially on Sunday, I just kept telling myself that the faster I go, the quicker the race will end.

Carolyn Thornton: After how well you did at the State meet, have you readjusted your goals for the New England's this Saturday?
Coventry girls cross country: Kristen Walker: At first, we didn't expect to do well at States, so Miss Thompson said that we didn't have to put too much pressure on ourselves at New England's. But now it's not just Miss Thompson telling us to take it seriously. We want to prove that we truly earned that title.

Carolyn Thornton: What do you think is the biggest misconception about runners?
Coventry girls cross country: Michaela Connelly: That it's easy and that anyone can do it. Captain Ashley Buglio: The arguing over whether running is a sport. Amanda Sanocki: People say how can it be a sport when there's no contact. I say, you go run 3.1 miles and tell me how you feel. Lindsey Brisson: People say that it's the easiest sport. My response to that is, it's not easy running 30 miles a week after school. It takes a lot of dedication and heart.

Carolyn Thornton: Well, our hour's up, guys. Thanks so much for taking part in our chat tonight. Congratulations again and good luck this weekend in Vermont.
Coventry girls cross country: Ashley Buglio: Thanks for having us. And I just want to thank the girls for making my last season the best. Kristen Walker: Thanks for all the support. Peace out, girl scout.