Off-campus cross country runners find living together fosters team unity, carrying on a team tradition
By PJ Marcello, Staff Writer -- marcello13@up.edu
Red shirt juniors Matt Frerker and Shane Geiger, and junior Sean Thomas inherited the cross country team's "Tommy's House," this year.
"This house will always be called Tommy's house because Tommy Betterbed was the oldest of the house last year," Thomas said. "You might call him the founder."
Beyond the famed name of the house within the cross country team, the house is also one of three other cross country houses that serve as a location for weekly team building.
"The team likes to watch both football and futbol on weekends, especially the European runners, they love to watch soccer," said Frerker.
"Thursday nights we are also the host for watching "The Office" and "It's Always Sunny (in Philadelphia)" on the big screen," said Frerker.
Some special features of the cross country house are all of the different activities offered at the house.
"When you have a house there are some essentials," Thomas said. "You need a big screen, a dance floor, big speakers, Netflix and of course, plenty of spoons."
However, the most unique aspect of the cross country house is the indoor golf.
"We enjoy the occasional game of indoor ping-pong golf on our homemade indoor golf course," said Thomas.
It's also important to determine roles in the house for good team bonding and a well functioning house.
"Sean is the cleanest in the house and Shane is by far last for cleanliness," Frerker said. "But he makes up for it with his cooking."
Another key for success as a household is deciding who gets what room and scheduling times.
"Matt has the coolest room because it's big enough for two people and it takes up the entire upstairs," Thomas said. "I guess that's just seniority."
Sean and Shane share the two bedrooms on the main level of the house, which includes a living room lined with cross country posters, several couches and a giant television, one bathroom and the all important kitchen.
The downstairs holds another large television as well as more couches and a spare room.
The benefit of living with teammates goes beyond just the team bonding days and watching sports together.
"I like it because it's nice to go to practice together and since we're all runners we have similar eating habits and diets," Thomas said. "Living with these guys and being a part of the same team gives us some added respect for each other."
