Hood’s runner of the week

By Josh Wagner//

Hood College senior Aylene Noy was named MAC Commonwealth runner of the week in cross country for her record-breaking performance during the week of Oct. 13-19. 

Noy finished with a record-breaking time of 21:57:40 and placed fifth overall out of 300 runners in the meet. 

With the fastest 6k in Hood College history, Noy is the first woman in the program’s history to run a sub-22-minute 6k.

Noy also received the Blazers of the week honor, recognizing her same record-breaking performance at the Aubrey Shenk invitational hosted by Gettysburg College. 

Noy reflects on being named runner of the week. 

“It took me by surprise, but I was very grateful to be named runner of the week,” Noy said. 

Before every meet, Noy keeps her focus on mental preparation and stays positive before meets. Confidence is a key to success at meets, according to Noy. 

“Going into meets, I’m prepping myself to just go for it and be confident,” Noy said. 

Running may be perceived as an individual sport, but Noy says the support from her teammates has made all the difference. 

She’s surrounded by runners who motivate her to keep improving her performance each week. The group’s shared focus during practice days helps her stay consistent through challenging workouts and long training days. 

“My training group at practice has definitely helped me a lot,” she said. “Since I now have a group to run with during the hard days. Coach Will has also made changes to my training plan that are yielding greater results than last year.”

After weeks of training and consistent results, Noy is setting her goals higher. With each meet and as the season progresses, Noy’s attention has shifted towards postseason competition. 

Noy is working toward qualifying for regionals. 

“This season, I’m hoping to place at regionals and hopefully make regionals,” Noy said. 

As a senior from Frederick County, Noy reflects on her time at Hood College and shares one of her favorite memories as a Blazer student athlete.

“My favorite memory at Hood definitely has to be the Hoodies Awards,” Noy said. “Since all of the athletes are together in one space, recognizing each other.”

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