Fighting Through Grief Over Fallen Teammate, PHS Girls’ Cross Country Shows Toughness

Bill Alden

The black and white T-shirts were all over the course last Friday as the Mercer County Cross Country championship meet descended upon Washington’s Crossing Park.

“Princeton Cross Country” was emblazoned across the front of the T-shirts while the back delivered the messages “Godspeed” and “Nobody Tougher” with the name “H Cody” inscribed within a winged foot.

The shirts were honoring the memory of PHS sophomore cross country runner Helene Cody, who died tragically the previous Sunday at age 16 due to a brain aneurysm.

Living up to the message on the shirts, the PHS runners displayed a rare toughness as they fought through their grief to finish fifth in the team standings at the meet which was won by WW/P-S.

The toughest Little Tiger, by far, was Helene’s younger sister, freshman star, Jenna, the 13th place finisher in the individual standings.

With his voice cracking, PHS head coach James Smirk said his runners were determined to honor the memory of their fallen teammate.

“There is nothing harder for a team to endure than a loss of a teammate,” said Smirk, whose team ran with six competitors rather than the customary seven as a further tribute to Cody.

“It was real important to everyone involved that we race today; we decided that it was important for us to maintain the commitment to each other and to the sport. We also wanted to maintain our commitment to how our team runs which is whenever we step on the line, whenever we come to practice, we are giving our best mentally, emotionally, and physically.”

In Smirk’s view, his runners achieved that goal and more with their inspirational effort.

“Today was real simple for us; we had to be here and now,” asserted Smirk.

“Our school colors are blue and white but we went with black and white for the T-shirts. That’s what today was about, there were no shades of gray; all in or nothing. We were all in so you hope these girls can overcome this and deal with it and they did a beautiful job.”

During the days after Cody’s death, the team did a good job of supporting each other as they dealt with the tragic situation.

“We made sure our girls were taken care of; we looked out for each other,” added Smirk.

“They talk about the importance of teammates and a lot of times it feels like lip service when you have got one kid who is doing something against the grain. That wasn’t the case here.”

The Little Tigers went out of their way to look out for Jenna Cody. “Jenna would stop in and check in with us, she made sure she poked her head in,” recalled Smirk.

“It was important for us; it gave us a good opportunity to take a collective sigh and for us to say, you know what, we are here, we are still standing. We are going to do the best for each other that we can.”

It was not surprising to Smirk that the younger Cody did her best under trying circumstances.

“Her performance was amazing on so many levels,” said Smirk of Cody who smiled between hugs after finishing the race.

“The Codys are amazing people. Jenna just falls in line with her family. We wanted to make sure we were there for her and she wanted to make sure that she was there for us.”

Smirk, though, was careful not to push Cody to the starting line. “We had a really long discussion about that; there wasn’t any pressure from us for her to run,” said Smirk.

“We talked about it the other day and, as expected, she was very reserved about it. When we finally came to the decision about it, I said you are going to warm up and we are going to put you on the roster to race. She had a huge smile; that was the answer I really needed. It wasn’t what she said, it was that look of let’s do this for all the right reasons.”

PHS also got courageous work from senior captain Molly Lynch, on and off the course.

“Molly has really taken a lot on her shoulders and has performed just absolutely fabulous,” said Smirk of Lynch, who placed 16th with teammate Alicia Fenley leading the way for PHS with an eighth-place finish.

“I mean that in the physical sense; she had a great day today but I also mean in the sense of being there for her teammates. It’s tough; Helene was an underclassmen and most of the varsity are upperclassmen. That relationship is different; they take that on as an older sibling relationship and not a peer relationship. So this hurt on a different level for them. For them to to deal with it as they did and make sure they took care of their teammates and themselves; it’s phenomenal.”

The runners also took care of their coach. “I have really just stuck to what our core beliefs are which is be a teammate first and commit to it,” said Smirk, whose team will next be in action when it competes in the Central Jersey Group III sectional meet on November 8 at Thompson Park in Lincroft.

“There is nothing wrong with hard work; this is as hard as it get. To face this and do that; those are our team philosophies and that stems from my athletes as much from me. I would love to say I am a good enough coach and a strong enough person to carry this team but they carried me, there is no doubt.”

And there is no doubt that the PHS runners lived up to the words on those black and white T-shirts.

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