By Alex Frazier
Throw down the gauntlet and Alex Gervais will take the challenge.
The Central Bucks West runner returns for her junior year after a very successful sophomore year in which she was the only person on the team to qualify for states.
Gervais is a study in opposites.
As coach Kiki Bell explains, “She’s hilarious. She’s a really funny and sweet girl, which might be off putting to some of the people she competes with because she throws down once the gun goes off. She gets the job done. There’s a quiet confidence to her when she runs.”
For Gervais, it’s a simple explanation.
“You put so many hours in during the week,” she said, “you might as well as try your hardest for the race.”
Which she’s been doing since fourth grade.
Gervais started running track for the Mt. Carmel CYO team, where she ran the mile and the 800.
In seventh grade she began cross country.
“A lot of my friends were doing it,” she said. “I enjoyed it. It started to become my hobby. I started doing it (running) for every season from then on.”
When she arrived at West as a freshman, she made the varsity team.
But it was an eye opener for her.
Instead of running three days a week, she was running five or six. Instead of being casual, it was focused.
“It was definitely a lot harder and more intense,” she said. “We had practice every day for a much longer time. Once you get into high school, you can’t miss practice. It was a bit of a shock because we did so many more miles, but I improved a lot more.”
She managed to move up from No. 5 and 6 at the beginning of the season to second or third runner at the end.
Coming back as a sophomore last year she knew what to expect.
“I knew the group of girls and knew Kiki better,” she said. “I had a feel for what was going to happen. I was familiar with the different places where we had invitationals.”
And with that experience, she took over the top spot.
By the end of the season she ran a PR of 19:06 at districts, dropping 35 seconds from her league race to finish 28th and qualify for states.
Bell, for one, wasn’t surprised Gervais made states.
“She’s a determined girl,” the Bucks’ coach said. “She might have surprised herself. She got into it well. She’s extremely focused and diligent. When she knows there is a job to be done, she rises to the occasion.”
Unfortunately, the balloon of joy she felt at districts deflated at states when she came up sick and finished 120th with a depressing time of 21:58.
“States was not good,” said Gervais. “I was very, very sick. I was throwing up all day. It was a very hard, hilly course.”
As with most runners, Gervais competes year round, running indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring.
Though distance is her forte, she is also very capable at middle distance as she demonstrated on last year’s indoor and outdoor 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams.
“She’s versatile as well,” said Bell. “To make that switch last year, coming from a distance background and to be able to fill the hole in the middle distance and a sprint event, she just ran her guts out.”
After being the only Lady Buck to travel to the state meet last year, Gervais hopes to help her team qualify for states this year.
“We have a really good chance this year,” she said. “We lost a few girls, but we have a lot of returning girls that are good.”
Personally she’s shooting to break 19 minutes. And of course, there will be something to prove at Hershey too.
“She comes back in a unique position with two more years ahead of her and the experience of running at the state championship meet,” said Bell, “so she can undertake that leadership role.”
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