By Stella Bryson, News Editor
After being separated from each other for a month, running buddies Tatum Dermatas and Lily Snow reunited once again on the cross country course.
As competitors.
In late September, First Flight participated in the annual Adidas Cross Country Challenge Invitational in Cary, North Carolina. Runners from schools all over the state attended the meet.
That list included students who attend the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham, a team that now includes Snow, a former FFHS student.
“I was running by myself in the meet and then Lily came out of nowhere and ran beside me,” Dermatas said.
Although the juniors now live halfway across the state from each other, in some ways, the meet was just like old times.
Snow and Dermatas were used to running together because they had been teammates since middle school and they both run the same events, so neither of them was surprised to end up next to each other in the race.
“I did get to talk to the whole team at one point, but I ended up running the last mile and a half of the race with Tatum,” Snow said.
Snow and Dermatas didn’t go easy on each other. They couldn’t forget that they were there to compete.
The duo stayed together the entire race. Dermatas crossed the finish line in 21 minutes, 15.30 seconds, good for 44th place. Snow was less than three seconds behind at 21:18.20. Both placed in the top 50 competitors at the invitational.
But, Snow’s team had bragging rights: NCSSM placed fourth overall, while FFHS finished 19th. There were 200 students from 21 schools at the meet
“This meet was a big deal because there were a lot of people there and it was the first time it was happening since COVID started,” Dermatas said.
Snow ran track and cross country at First Flight Middle and FFHS as a freshman and sophomore before getting the chance to finish her high school career at the prestigious residential school. Two other former Nighthawks – JoJo Morgan and Colin Tran – also are running with her this year at NCSSM.
The two teams have very distinct dynamics, according to Snow.
“There are a lot of differences between the two teams,” Snow said. “I would say that the main (difference) is that not only do we all run together and go to school together, but we all live together, so the team is quite close.”
Still, all those years with her Nighthawk teammates made the reunion at the Cary race a unique experience.
“It was really weird to be competing against what used to be my team,” Snow said. “But on the other hand, it was really nice to see them all because I’ve missed them.”
Junior Stella Bryson can be reached at 23brysonst69@daretolearn.org.
