COMPETING WITH CHARISMA

Faint cheering is heard as around a hundred girls race to the mile mark. Feet thunder against the ground as a line of parents, teammates, and coaches stand in anticipation. A group of jade green screams as wheezing runners with West High cross country pasted against their chests pass them. Their voices go hoarse before taking off to the next mile mark, pride glowing on their cheeks. 

Among them is Marie Stier ’25, a runner on the cross country team. Stier values her team and the relationships she has made along the way, even above running and competing. What sets her apart from many athletes' minds is her ideals on competition. 

“I didn't want to do it to win, I wanted to do it to meet people,” Stier said. 

And meet people she did. One of Stier’s best friends, Sidney Tranel ’25, had their relationship grow ever since running in middle school together. “She's definitely very hard working, and she has a lot of talent and spirit.” Tranel said. 

Growing up Stier considered herself to be quite competitive, but as the years went by, she believes she’s lost that competitive edge. She sees more worth in collaborative work and doing it together. “And I, like I think, trying to beat the game as a team is much more rewarding than, you know, beating your family or something at a game,” Stier said. 

Stier’s admiration of hard work and preservation over competitive values stems from her family as well. She tells a story of her dad running somewhere around 100 miles per week in college. All he did was study and run, to Stier’s amusement and admiration. 

“He took it upon himself to motivate himself to keep running, which is something that I think it's more admirable than just trying to win,” Stier said. 

She believes that running has to be something she enjoys rather than competing to win. Stier hopes to run after high school, similar to her dad. “I can definitely see Marie being influenced by that, and having that to influence her running and make her want to be better.” Tranel said. 

Stier constantly reaches out and spends a great deal of time growing and preserving friendships. She is consistently encouraging and helping out teammates, which does not go unnoticed. “Even though she can't run, she still shows up to all the meets,” said Tranel, “and she's there for us and helps with the timing and everything.”

Most of all, Stier’s values of friendship is something that she holds close to her heart. She prides herself in sustaining relationships across multiple groups of people, and hopes to build a community with the cross country team. 

“For me, sports are more about building something that I can like, sustain.” Stier said.