For our group’s project, we chose to focus on traditions and superstitions of the Dartmouth Cross Country and Track and Field teams. Specifically, we collected pre-meet traditions for these sports from both the men’s and women’s varsity teams at Dartmouth. We made sure to find pieces of folklore that were done by two or more members of the team, rather than individual superstitions, because a main characteristic of folklore is that it is shared among a group of people. We chose this topic because a few of our team members are on the cross country and track teams and because there are so many athletes that are a part of these teams, so we thought that there would be a lot of traditions and superstitions to examine. Our group had 7 members and collected a total of 30 pieces of folklore from 30 people. We interviewed current and past student athletes and coaches from both the men’s and women’s teams at Dartmouth. The interviewees spanned a wide range of years at Dartmouth, from graduates of the class of 1977 to the class of 2025. We interviewed athletes from both cross country and track and field teams because all cross country athletes are also part of the track team, so the superstitions and traditions that they experience also influence the track team culture.
The pieces of folklore that we collected spanned a wide range of customary, material, and verbal folklore. There were a few interesting takeaways that our group was able to gain from our interviews. First, because our interviews were able to span such different graduation classes at Dartmouth, we were able to see the changes in traditions over time. Although some traditions, such as the track team cheer, are exactly the same, others have been lost or morphed over time. Even since the current seniors’ freshman year, things have changed, with parts of traditions being eliminated and other traditions or superstitions being added. Another finding that we had was that freshmen didn’t know about these traditions before coming to Dartmouth, and they were taught about them by the upperclassmen. Some traditions became a “rite of passage” of sorts, such as the embarrassing stories that every athlete must tell at their first Ivy League Championship meet. Many of the traditions and superstitions we collected were created for team building, to bond everyone together before a competition. Additionally, Track and Field is an interesting sport because it is both an individual and team sport. Awards are given to the best competitors and then points are tallied up to determine which team had the best overall performance, and an award is given for this as well. This is likely why many traditions are designed to bond the team together, since everyone must want to work hard for their teammates in order for the team to win. Lastly, we believe that the origin of a lot of the collected folklore is in the fact that in Track and Field, you are unable to control what others do in the race or competition. Therefore, athletes often want to go into the event controlling everything they can, which is evidenced in their traditions/superstitions about appearance, playlist, meals, etc. on race day. This was a common theme that we saw throughout many of our traditions, though different athletes expressed this in different ways.
We hope you enjoy reading this collection! See attached for the presentation we gave in our RUSS 13 class on 11/10/21.
SM is a Dartmouth class of 2021 who is currently in his fifth year at Dartmouth. He has been on the cross country and track teams at Dartmouth for all five years and this year, he is captain of the men’s cross country team.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: The men’s and women’s cross country teams at Dartmouth are extremely close and do almost everything together. However, the one thing the teams don’t do together is run because the teams have different coaches and run at different speeds, so the teams split by gender for actual practice. This event is one of the few times each year that the men’s and women’s teams run together. Additionally, Dartmouth is one of eight colleges that are grouped together as the Ivy League. These teams are all located in the eastern U.S. and often compete both in academics and athletics. They created an athletic conference and the biggest competition each season for many sports is the Heptagonal Championships, or HEPS for short. This is called the heptagonal championships because there used to be only seven teams in the Ivy League and although some schools left and some schools joined to create a total of eight teams, the name stuck. This race is the only one all year where only all eight teams come together to race and it is a very important race for all of these teams. Lastly, “flair” is a term at Dartmouth used to describe funny clothes and costumes that people dress up in for fun events. It is common to see people wearing funny costumes any day around the college campus.
Social Context: This tradition is a fun one that brings both the mens and womens cross country teams at Dartmouth together before the biggest race of the season. It is a fun way to let the campus know about the upcoming event, especially when the teams run to ask the president of the college if he will attend. Additionally, it builds excitement within the team with a fun, silly, easy run and reminds everyone on the team why they love running and why they love to be a part of Dartmouth cross country.
Item:
The week before the ivy league championships (HEPS) race, the men’s and women’s cross country teams dress up in flair and run together around campus. The teams run through the library and show up at President Hanlon (the president of the college)’s house to ask if he will come watch the race the following weekend. This run is called Hepsoween and is a combination of the name of the race (HEPS) and the upcoming holiday (Halloween), and this combination also explains the funny costumes that the team wears during this run.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
AB: Ok so do you want to just say your name for us and give me a little bit of background about who you are?
SM: Yep, um, so I am SM. I am a ‘21, 5th year here on the team and also the captain of the men’s cross country team.
AB: Perfect! Um, and then do you want to give me a piece of folklore about the men’s cross country and track teams?
SM: Yeah, one thing that comes to mind is hepsoween, um, which is basically a run where the men’s and women’s cross country teams get together and wear flair. They run through the library, they show up at Presiden Hanlon’s office and make him come out and ask him if he is coming to HEPS, which he never is, um, and yeah it’s right before HEPS and I guess, kind of a reason that it’s such a big deal is because, one, it kind of gets people excited for HEPS. It’s like right before, um, right around Halloween, which explains the costumes and flair and um, this team is kind of steeped in tradition and that kinda just, you know, kinda adds to the list of traditions that this team does and what gets people excited about being part of Dartmouth cross country.
AB: Perfect thank you!
Informant’s Comments:
Though the teams go to the president’s office every year, and he always tells the teams good luck, he never agrees to come watch the ivy league championship races. However, it is still always a fun tradition to send in two of the freshmen, one guy and one girl, to ask him if he will be in attendance.
Collector’s Comments:
This is probably my favorite cross country team tradition! The energy on the run is so fun and although I can get stressed leading up to such a big race, having this fun event to look forward to allows me to relax a bit and remember why I love being on this team!
This is a piece of customary folklore because it involves many actions that the men’s and women’s cross country teams do together, such as running through the library, though it has a bit of verbal folklore when every year, the teams ask the same question to the president of the college.
LA is a Dartmouth College graduate of the class of 2020. She was a mid-distance athlete while at Dartmouth, but ran both cross country and track for all four years. She majored in economics at Dartmouth, is originally from Florida and now lives in North Carolina.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: All cross country runners on a team must wear the same uniform top and a pair of team issued bottoms at a race. However, anything else that the runner chooses to wear is up to them. Some women’s teams wear matching bows or hair ties in their hair to continue the matching outfits, but this is not a requirement. Another important thing to note is that cross country is unique because it is both an individual and team sport. Individuals run on their own, but in the end, the points are tallied for an overall team score, which makes it especially important for teams to be cohesive and work together to do well as a whole.
Social Context: Dartmouth is a school steeped in tradition and one tradition for the women’s cross country team to wear ribbons in their hair during a race. LA explained that for her, the meaning of wearing these ribbons was to continue these traditions and run for both current and previous teammates. This knowledge of those who came before her gave her strength during races. Additionally, the matching element of the ribbons allowed the team to feel united on the starting line because even though each person runs alone, in the end, cross country is a team sport.
Item:
The women’s distance athletes at Dartmouth would always wear ribbons in their hair for both cross country and track races. These ribbons are some combination of Dartmouth colors and are made by the sophomores for everyone else on the team.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
AB: Ok, here we go! Um, yeah so do you want to give a quick background on who you are?
LA: Sure! My name is LA…that seems very formal but um…..I am a Dartmouth ‘20, and was on the cross country and track teams and studied economics at Dartmouth, originally from Miami, Florida.
AB: Perfect! Um, and then do you want to give me this piece of folklore or any piece of folklore about the women’s cross country and track team?
LA: Sure! Um, something that our team was…kind of a team tradition that we always did on race day, whether it be cross country or track….we had ribbons that we’d wear on race day. And this is something that we had the sophomores make each year, sometimes they were….some years they were green, and then a different year it was green and white, and then a different year was black. And, essentially they would just get…they would write the names of each person on one side of the ribbon and then, I think on the other side we would just write DXC, Dartmouth cross country, and um maybe draw a lone pine or something like that. But, we would, you know, put those in our hairbands and um, wear them with our uniforms on race day and I think this is, you know, just something that really brought us together and kinda allowed us to share in the moment in the same way and kind of have that uniform look. But also, just feel ready to go on race day and have that kind of team tradition to carry on, it really helps you think about all of the women that have run on the cross country team, um on the Dartmouth team, throughout the years. To see pictures and um, hear stories about previous teammates, to kind of know that you carry on that tradition and um, that kind of strength going into a race is pretty special.
AB: Perfect thank you so much!
Informant’s Comments:
LA also used to wear bows in her hair for workouts as well, but these bows would be a variety of different colors and patterns and weren’t limited to the Dartmouth colors of green, black, and white. She said that wearing these would get her excited for workouts and made her feel fast!
Collector’s Comments:
A saying that I have heard throughout my time as a runner is “look good, run fast”. I think that wearing hair bows is a similar idea to this, where we dress up a bit for race day so that we are going to run fast in the race!
This is a tradition that has also been kept alive for all of my time at Dartmouth and I have loved wearing these hair bows while I race.
This is a material piece of folklore, since it is something physical that the athletes wear on race day. Additionally, it is a bit of a superstition in the form “If I do A, then B” because LA believed that if she wore the bow, then she would race well.
JS is a Dartmouth graduate of the class of 2020. She is originally from New York but now lives and works in San Francisco. While at Dartmouth, JS was a distance athlete on the women’s cross country and track teams. Additionally, she was a team captain her junior and senior years.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: Dartmouth is one of eight colleges that are grouped together as the Ivy League. These teams are all located in the eastern U.S. and often compete both in academics and athletics. They created an athletic conference and the biggest competition each season for many sports is the Heptagonal Championships, or HEPS for short. This is called the heptagonal championships because there used to be only seven teams in the Ivy League and although some schools left and some schools joined to create a total of eight teams, the name stuck. This race is the only one all year where only all eight teams come together to race and it is a very important race for all of these teams.
Social Context: Although cross country rosters can be quite large throughout the normal season, only twelve female and twelve male athletes are allowed to compete at the cross country heptagonal championships. Therefore, selection into this group is an honor based on whoever has been racing the fastest throughout the previous races that year. These notes and gifts are a symbol that the upperclassmen and leaders on the team recognize the efforts put in by the rest of the women to do well enough to make the team. This is a way to get everyone confident and excited to race the next day and bring everyone together as a team.
Item:
The night before the Heptagonal Championships cross country race, the captains of the women’s cross country team give a little gift and personalized note containing kind words of encouragement to each of the twelve female athletes who will be competing the next day.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
AB: Ok, here we go. Um, so do you want to give us a little bit of background, you know, what your name is, who you are, about your time at Dartmouth?
JS: Yes I would love to!…My name is JS. I graduated from Dartmouth in 2020, um, I was a runner and a captain on the women’s cross country team. Right now, I am in San Francisco, I am from New York originally and I am doing diabetes research and applying to med school.
AB: Perfect! Um, ok so can you give me the piece of folklore that we talked about?
JS: Yes, so one piece of lore from the women’s team was that the captains would kind of give a little gift and personalized note to each of the twelve athletes competing at HEPS for cross country at the end of October/early November. So that would normally be something that the night before the race, the captains would distribute kind of a little personalized note or gift and kind of words of encouragement to each of the women who would be competing the next day.
AB: Perfect, um, and then do you want to give me just a little bit of like, you know, what this tradition meant to you, why you continued it as a captain?
JS: Yeah, so I remember when I was a freshman in 2016, I kind of scraped my way onto the HEPS squad in the fall. I was I think our 11th out of 12 who was competing and I was introduced to the tradition when our captains, Helen and Jennie, gave us little pendants that they had made in the jewelry studio. So they, like, stamped out, kind of pieces of metal and they stamped HEPS 2016 onto them and gave them to us along with a little kind of note. And the physical side, kind of died out over the years, where we didn’t really continue doing the jewelry or like the physical gift, just because of — it was, you know, pretty time consuming. But it was definitely memorable to me as kind of a marker, you know, of what the significance of competing at HEPS is, um, and I do think that even, you know, even when it was the physical token along with a little note, it was really like the words that someone who was a leader on the team shared that kind of meant the most. And I think, you know, especially for a freshman, or someone who is on, you know, the tail end of the twelve, just kind of hearing something — hearing that, you know, the leaders that I was looking up to were like noticing particular things about like the work I had put in and that they believed in me really meant a lot. So over the years, that was something that was really cool to kind of continue and be the person that was writing those notes and you know, maybe finishing them on the bus to the meet. Um, and I do think that it was also important that even though HEPS wasn’t necessarily even the biggest or like most competitive meet that we did…we always had the NCAA northeast regionals the week or two weeks after, and then a couple years the team did go to nationals, um….HEPS was always like the only race where we did kind of, you know, give those letters and those words to the roster that was competing. And I think that kind of speaks to how that was an opportunity to, um, like represent oneself and also represent Dartmouth and you know, kind of an event where there was extra meaning assigned to wearing the Dartmouth jersey, um, and everything that that stands for. So, hopefully it’s something that the team continues even now past my time. But that is what it meant to me.
AB: Perfect thank you so much!
Informant’s Comments:
During her freshman year, JS was one of the last people to make the Dartmouth women’s heptagonal championship team. Therefore, she was nervous coming into such a big race and yet also excited to be selected for this team. The team captains at the time gave her a stamped piece of jewelry made in the jewelry studio at Dartmouth.
She continued this tradition as captain on the team for two years and although it was sometimes rushed and she had to finish the notes on the bus ride to the race, she always made sure to keep doing it.
JS also commented on the fact that our team is also competitive on the national scale, so heptagonal championships are no longer our biggest race. However, she felt that the reasoning for only writing notes for HEPS is that it is the race where wearing the Dartmouth uniform means the most, since it is in direct competition with the other Ivy League schools.
Collector’s Comments:
This is a tradition that has been carried on for all of my time at Dartmouth as well. As a captain of the cross country team this year, I will be giving out notes to the team when we go to the heptagonal championships at the end of October.
However, the physical gift part of the tradition is something that was lost before my time at Dartmouth, and I think it is interesting to find this out just before I must continue on the tradition. I will talk to my co-captain about potentially bringing this part of the tradition back!
This is a material piece of folklore because it involves gift-giving from the team captains to the other athletes at the race.
BH was a Dartmouth class of 1977 graduate. While at Dartmouth, he was a distance athlete on the men’s cross country and track teams for all four years. After graduating college, he became a track coach, first at other schools, but eventually back at Dartmouth. BH coached at Dartmouth for 28 years before retiring last year. He is still a big team supporter and comes to cheer on the mens and womens teams at any races he can.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: The day before a big cross country race, many teams will arrive at the location of the race. The teams arrive a day early so that they can run through the course and see what it is like. In track meets, a track will always be the same or almost the same, so there is no need to do a “run-through”. However, cross country courses can range wildly, so it is important for teams to know what the course is like so they can make their race plan accordingly. During this course run through is where the superstition detailed below comes into play.
Social Context: This is a superstition that is passed down through the team as seniors warn freshmen of the potential dangers of crossing the finish line before race day. Additionally, as BH pointed out, this is likely due to the runner’s focus on performing well and crossing the finish line on race day, not the day before. Due to the effort that runners put into each race, it can sometimes be difficult to even reach the finish line, so focusing on putting the effort in there may require going easier on days leading up to it, but this is an important aspect of the sport that upperclassmen remind the underclassmen.
Item:
When doing a course run-through the day before a cross country meet, you should never cross the finish line or else it will be bad luck and cause someone on your team to have a bad race the next day.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
AB: Ok, um, so yeah! Do you want to give a quick background on who you are?
BH: Yes, um, my name is BH. I am a Dartmouth class of ‘77 which I am quite proud of. I share that class with President Hanlon. I was a college track coach for 40 years, 28 of which were at Dartmouth College. I am still an active runner myself, I still live in Hanover, and I still follow the Dartmouth teams very closely, so I like to stay in touch with the students!
AB: Perfect! So do you want to give me the piece of folklore that you told me?
BH: When I came back to start coaching at Dartmouth back in 1992, one of the things that every coach does is the day before a big race is they have their team jog the course the day before. So that was pretty straightforward, however I noticed something really unusual, like as we were nearing the end of our run. As we were approaching the finish line, a couple of the seniors pulled everybody to the side and said, “Remember, nobody crosses the finish line”. So instead of going down the normal path, everybody veered off the line at the end there. I asked one of the seniors about it and he said, “Well, we never cross the finish line during warm up because it is bad luck-it will be a bad race for somebody tomorrow”. So I kind of thought about it and said, well, no harm no foul, so we’ll just keep on doing that.
AB: Perfect, um and then yeah do you have any like thoughts on, you know, maybe where this came about or what this meant to the team or anything like that?
BH: If I was going to try to analyze it, which is probably difficult to do with a lot of superstitions, I would say that it kind of goes back to the idea that the important thing is the day of the race, not the day before the race. So hopefully it makes people think about, “I really want to focus on crossing the finish line when it counts”, which is on race day, not just on the day before where we’re just kind of warming up and doing something very easy and everything there. So hopefully it’s a superstition that’s rooted in the fact that races are more important than practice.
AB: Perfect thank you so much!
Informant’s Comments:
Cross country coaches often have the ability to stop superstitions or allow them to continue based on the requirements they set for their athletes. BH explained that in his mind, this superstition was relatively harmless, so he allowed it to continue on his team.
Collector’s Comments:
This is a superstition that I have also heard throughout my time as a cross country runner, so it is not something that is only done by Dartmouth men’s cross country team. However, I have been on some teams that are adamant about this superstition and some that don’t care, so it is interesting that the men’s team at Dartmouth is so strict about this tradition.
This is a superstition in the form “If I do A, then B”, where in this case, B is something bad that will occur if the athletes cross the line the day before the race.
CP is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2015. While at Dartmouth, she was a part of the Dartmouth cross country and track teams, competing as a distance athlete for her 4 years of college. CP was originally from Los Angeles but she now lives in the Bay Area and works as an engineer for a medical device startup company.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: Before every cross country race or track meet begins, many teams will huddle together and do a team cheer. Not every team has to do it, but it is a very common practice. This will often be done on the starting line a few minutes before the starting gun goes off as a final team send off. Additionally, the words of the cheer can range widely between each team.
Social Context: CP explained how this cheer was used by her team as a way to pump everyone up before a race. Something that is important to note about cross country races is that team scores are calculated by adding up the finishing place of the top 5 athletes for each team. In order to go to more important national meets, teams as a whole must do well, not just individuals on the team. Therefore, team cohesiveness is extremely important in cross country. This is why CP explains that this cheer brings the team together and reminds everyone that they are not alone and instead are working together, even though they may be running alone throughout the course of the race.
Item:
The women’s team cheer was: “Who wears the black and white and green? Who is the best you’ve ever seen? What describes us best? Team. Go who? Go green!”
Associated audio recording:
Transcript:
AB: Ok do you want to just give a little bit of background like who you are, where you are from, your relation to Dartmouth, and that kind of stuff?
CP: Sure! Um, my name is CP. I was a Dartmouth ‘15, since then I have graduated and live in Bay Area, working. But, when I was at Dartmouth I was on the cross country and track teams, which I think is what we will be talking about today.
AB: Perfect. Ok, and then, let’s see. Yeah so do you want to just give me, like just say this piece of folklore that you’ve told me about?
CP: Sure! Um, yeah so when I was on the Dartmouth cross country team, um, I was on the women’s team and before every race that we had, we had a special cheer that we would say before we started racing. And that cheer, it went, “Who wears the black and white and green, who is the best you’ve ever seen, what describes us best, team. Go who? Go green!” and we would kind of alternate who said each part, but yeah. We would do that before every race and that was over my full four years on the team.
AB: Perfect. And is there anything, you know, that you can say about how this made you feel; how this got you pumped up for races; anything like that?
CP: Yeah, I definitely think this was kind of a way to pump the whole team up, just kind of like encourage everyone, get everyone excited, and get everyone in the–in the mood, um, ready for the race. And I think a lot of running cross country is about being on a team and you’re working together, you know, it’s very team-oriented. So even though you are running on your own, I think it’s, um, all the points are collectively put together as your team and that’s really how you go far in that sport. So, um, I think, yeah doing the cheer really kind of just brings you all together and makes you feel more like “yeah I’m not on my own here, I am with the rest of my team here” and really gets you ready to race.
AB: Perfect! Okay, thank you so much!
CP: Yeah, no problem.
Informant’s Comments:
This cheer was used before most races and over the course of all of CP’s years at Dartmouth.
Collector’s Comments:
The Dartmouth women’s cross country team cheer has changed in recent years since CP attended Dartmouth. However, the use of a team cheer to bring the team together pre-race is the same.
This is a piece of verbal folklore, since it is something that was said by the women’s team before each race.
