It might seem hard to believe, but the past two undefeated season for Northwestern's girls cross country team are the products of something that happened four years ago, maybe longer.

It started with the Tigers' 2009 team that went 26-0, led by seniors Lindsay Kerr, Ramzy Burns and Megan Handwerk.

This year's seniors were freshmen on that team and they learned from those upperclassmen.

"Those seniors were just incredible," said senior Lauren Alden. "I don't know where I'd be without them. They really were a model for me as a freshman coming into cross country. They made running seem fun, which is insane."

"If we didn't have them when we were freshmen," said senior Erin Ondush. "We wouldn't be where we are now."

An infectious work ethic permeates the program. It started a long time ago and each year's senior class feels the responsibility for keeping it going. It brings the team together.

"We're all going through so many tough things," said senior Katrina Hartman, who joined the team last year. "People just get closer through tough times.

"If the seniors weren't as welcoming as they were, I probably would have quit the sport. It's a tough sport to get into to. Unless you have those friends to support you, you aren't going to make it. These two girls (Ondush and Alden) are my best friends because of cross country."

"I feel that the dynamic is always going to be the same," said junior Haley Yost. "We're always going to work hard and do what we have to do individually to push ourselves.

"We all just keep working hard. We have the senior group that is that good and we have the freshmen that want to be that good. We're very mentally tough."

One thing that motivated this year's team were reports by local media that had Notre Dame (Green Pond) as the league favorite.

Northwestern graduated a few runners out of it's top seven, but the returning runners knew they could fill in the holes left by graduation and keep the program on top.

"No one wanted to give us any recognition at all," said Hartman. "Last year we were undefeated and no one thought we were going to win leagues."

This year's Lady Tigers line up turned out to be just as strong as last year's. Yost has been healthy this year and has led the team the whole way, a clear No. 1 runner for the team.

Sophomores Rachele Cerrone and Carly Pierce fill in the next two spots and are usually among the top five in the seven-team Colonial League regular season meets.

The seniors fill in the next three spots. Hartman and Alden trade off the fourth and fifth spots on the team. Ondush is right behind.

As much as they've proved by going 26-0 for the second straight year (26 x 2, as they are calling it), the Lady Tigers have even more to prove over the next three weeks at leagues, districts and states.

"All those wins don't really matter," said Ondush. "We've got to keep proving ourselves. No one ever expects us, even when we win. It's is just another chance for us to prove we're the best."