“Everyday I’m working with these girls, seeing them in races, over the winter some of us run together. These are my best friends, and in a race I’m thinking I can’t let them down. It’s easier to motivate yourself when you’re running for other people. I can count on them, so I want to believe they can count on me, too.”

We recently caught up with senior Natalie Crocker. Last fall the girls varsity cross country team won its fourth consecutive Founders League title as Natalie led the way, finishing third with a time of 19:10 for 5 kilometers. She will attend Quinnipiac University in the fall, where she will participate in cross country and track. Natalie knows a thing or two about how to get around a track. And not just with her feet. She raced cars at Stafford Motor Speedway for a few years before attending Loomis Chaffee. She comes from a long line of auto racers. Her father Seth raced locally, and his “trophies in the basement” were among the things that piqued her interest. Her aunt Erin had a long career, from quarter midgets to NASCAR, and married Roy Evernham, the former crew chief for Jeff Gordon who also owned his own NASCAR team, Evernham Motorsports. Mr. Evernham was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2018. There is, of course, a huge difference between the two types of racing for Natalie. “When I am running, I only have to worry about myself. I don’t have to worry about the other cars on the track.”

 

Year: Senior

Hometown: Suffield, CT

Clubs/activities: Cross country, track & field, tour guide, leader of Connecticut Children’s Club (supporting Connecticut Children’s Medical Center). Her mother, a nurse at Loomis Chaffee, once worked for Connecticut Children’s. Natalie also was a Founders Prize recipient as a junior.

On the Founders Prize: She said she had no idea she was receiving the award. And then Natalie knew something was up. When she walked into the Olcott Gymnasium her parents and grandparents were in the front row. “It was humbling to see the people I was with on the stage. I know them as the pillars of our class.” Her teacher in College-Level U.S. History (CLUSH) said of her at the time: “Natalie is really fun to teach, willing to push back and ask excellent questions of her classmates, her teacher, and the text and sources she examines.”

Favorite place on campus: Olcott — and not only because she is an athlete. She finds it a very good place to get work done and study.

Favorite meal: Grilling with the family in the summer “for the bonding experience.”

Favorite snack: Oatmeal, which she prefers with peanut butter.

Is there a moment in your life that changed you? Natalie said that moment came when she had a severe hamstring tear that required surgery and extensive rehabilitation in her junior year. “That taught me to rein it back a bit. I was going overboard. I always felt more is better, but it is more about the quality of the work ... in everything in life. I used to spend too much time on my homework making sure I read every little detail. But that was hurting me [in seeing the big picture]. So I’d say the big lesson would be quality over quantity.”

What is it about running cross country and track that you enjoy: “Everyday I’m working with these girls, seeing them in races, over the winter some of us run together. These are my best friends, and in a race I’m thinking I can’t let them down. It’s easier to motivate yourself when you’re running for other people. I can count on them, so I want to believe they can count on me, too.”

If you could have dinner with anyone past or present, who would it be? Marathoner Eliud Kipchoge, the 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion. “I feel he’s mysterious and kind of keeps to himself, which makes him even more interesting. And the way he carries himself, humbly, I think there are lessons in that. And I could get some training insights.”

Is there a homework assignment or course that particularly stand out to you? She said she took public speaking as a freshman, which “brought me out of my shell.” She said the 16-page CLUSH research paper her junior year was a lot of work and “for it to come together was really rewarding.” She wrote about the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where two black U.S. medal winners, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the national anthem and wore human-rights badges on their jackets as a civil rights protest.