In a sport that values consistency above all else, two Penn athletes have stood out. Kush and Kale Grewal have been very successful in cross country for the past couple of years. With Kush having a PR of 16:01 and Kale a PR of 16:10, they have proven that they can greatly benefit the Kingsmen week in and week out. However, this success wasn’t easy to get to. It took training year-round to reach this level of success.
One of the things that they had been training for before they even began running cross country was Spartan Races. They have been competing at these painful obstacle courses since 2016.
Kush says, “My dad found out about Spartan Races and they have been a tradition ever since”.
Since then, they have been a tradition maintained by the Grewal brothers even with the year-round training schedule they have now.
When asked about the benefits of Spartan racing Kale adds that, “Spartan races build upper body strength. They generally just help you stay fit.”
Kales’s best performances in Spartan racing came when he got 2nd and 3rd in 10k trail runs. Kush believes his own best performance was when he podiumed in the adult races Super and Sprint, which are 6K and 3K respectively.
In high school, however, they are only able to compete in Spartan races during the summer because of their athletics schedule. When school begins, they put all their focus into cross country. During the winter they compete for Penn’s swim team while also getting in training runs. After swimming ends, they focus on track until the next summer.
Kale sees this busy schedule as a positive saying, “Staying fit all year can be difficult for many people, but because of swimming it is a lot easier to stay in shape all year”
To handle their difficult training, they focus heavily on nutrition.
“For breakfast, I usually have Oatmeal. For lunch, I have beans and fruit, followed by a variety of foods for dinner,” Kale said.
They are also vegetarian which helps them to eat less processed foods.
Kush adds, “I have been taking beet juice since middle school when I started running track too and it helps with preventing cramps.”
In addition to their good nutrition, they have become a great example for young runners on the cross-country team because of their great work ethic. Varsity Runner Jack Ryan agrees.
“Kush and Kale have helped me because I can compete with them. Having a friendly rivalry is fun, and it pushes you to go faster,” Ryan said.
Thanks to their consistent effort and dedication, the twins are in a good position to perform well in the upcoming state tournament.
