Competition and Community Quotes

Jacob Gaba ‘18
“My first experience with the team was at the Alumni Challenge run back in 2014. That’s when I met Anthony and many of my future teammates. I never had imagined before that moment that I would run every season of high school, become a team captain, and go on to run in college, but the people that greeted me there, and in turn continued to actively get to know me the next week at pre-season camp, laid the foundation for my newfound love of running and for this team.

“After missing the event for two years, it felt like everything had come full circle when crossing the finish line for the first time as an alum last weekend. The same people that were upperclassmen when I was an incoming freshman were there—Zeke Cohen ‘15 and Tristan Colaizzi ‘16 to name a few—felt not only like the mentors they were when I first arrived at GDS, but in that moment, as true friends. Talking with them about college, and the future of running for me (I’ll be running at Haverford College this fall), as well as just general college life and what the transition was like, made me feel showered with the same support that they had given me a few years before. I hope that as I head off to forge a new stage in my running career that I can do the same for one of the underclassmen that was on the team when I was a senior.

“The 16th annual Alumni Challenge run provided for me a look back on my GDS running career and my role on this team, but it also allowed me to look forward towards great things to come. This event is emblematic of why everyone that’s ever been on this team will feel like they are a part of it forever.”