I coach varsity cross country at the school that I teach at, and as an athlete I qualified for the state cross country finals twice, so I am going to explain what Holling does with some technical jargon.
When Mrs. Baker tells Holling to "pass those boys," Holling surges. A surge is not a sprint. Cross country runners should not sprint mid race. It is too much energy being spent for too little pay...
I coach varsity cross country at the school that I teach at, and as an athlete I qualified for the state cross country finals twice, so I am going to explain what Holling does with some technical jargon.
When Mrs. Baker tells Holling to "pass those boys," Holling surges. A surge is not a sprint. Cross country runners should not sprint mid race. It is too much energy being spent for too little pay off. A surge is an increase in speed and tempo for a certain amount of time. It is not a sprint because a cross country runner can be expected to hold the surge pace for several minutes.
Holling surges in his run when Mrs. Baker says "pass those boys." I know it is a surge and not a sprint, because the text is very clear that Holling does not immediately pass the 8th grade runners in front of him. It takes him significant time and distance. Before Mrs. Baker said something, Holling was close to the 8th graders, but not on their backs. After Mrs. Baker encouraged Holling, he began surging and had to enter a narrow trail through some woods. Once the trail finally widened, Holling was on the heels of the 8th graders. In order for him to have closed that gap, his tempo had to have increased. The 8th graders then tried to block Holling, so that he couldn't pass. Holling continued his surge right around them on a rougher section of the trail. At the end of the race, the 8th graders tried to out sprint Holling to the finish, but his lead was already established at that point, and they could not out sprint Holling. Mrs. Baker's words triggered Holling's inner drive to dig deep and push hard for the win.
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