Roxanne Henningson has combined talent, inspiration and an extraordinary work ethic to forge ahead in school and sports. Like most high performers, Roxy is less an “overnight success” than a steady, consummately receptive learner.

Prior to her arrival at GCS, in September of 2007, Roxy was already an accomplished student. She had also been a selectively classified junior high athlete, playing soccer and basketball on high school teams. While attending the Fastlane Running Camp, at GCS, Roxy came to realize that Greenwich Central would be an especially great fit for her.

On paper, Roxy was a fine student with athletic ability, but an unremarkable running resume’. No one other than perhaps Roxy, herself, might have imagined her rise to such academic and athletic prominence at GCS.

Roxy presently ranks 1st in the junior class and will graduate having completed four AP classes and University French, Her average has exceeded 97 in every quarter of this year and she has earned effort grades of “1” (excellent) in every class, every quarter. Advanced Placement Biology teacher Tom Manera’s assessment is telling: “Roxy is the ideal student. Whether it’s written assignments or study, she’s always on-time and prepared. In class, she is attentive and engaged and when she has a question, she asks it. She maximizes her learning experience”

In the fall of 2007, in her first season of cross country, Roxy typically ran between second and fourth on a Witches team that won the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C championship and was ranked as high as 13th in the United States. As a result of her summer training, Roxy posted outstanding first-year times, including a Spa Park 5K clocking of 17:43.7. She
continued to excel in indoor track, running a 10:13.99 3000M at the Yale Invitational and opened the outdoor season with a 10:12.48 3000M victory at the Lady Eagles Invitational, in Bethlehem, NY, elevating her to #2 on the all-time GCS list in the event. The promise of the outdoor season ended in disappointment, as Roxy suffered an injury and missed the rest of her season. What followed captures the essence of what has made Roxy so special.

After meticulous adherence to a treatment plan and cross-training around her injury, she re-established her steady, quiet passion in the day-to-day of summer workouts. By the fall 2008 cross-country season, she was back, stronger than ever. She bettered her Spa course time with a 17:25.4 and led the Witches to a third straight State Championship, finishing second in the State Championship race. The team again earned a top ten (all schools) New York State ranking and Roxy earned a berth to the Nike Team National Cross Country Meet, in Portland, Oregon. She once again showed her resilience in this race, rising from a fall and painful trampling to finish in the middle of an elite pack. Her indoor season led to an appearance at the Nike Indoor Nationals, in Boston, where she finished 9th in the two-mile run. In the recently completed outdoor track and field season, Roxy set personal bests in the 3000M (10:06), 1500M (4:41) and 800M split (2:20) on the new, school record-setting 4x800M relay team.
  Henningson rounds the turn, third in photo, in the Penn Relays 3000M

Cross-country, indoor and girls’ outdoor head coach Steve Patrick regards Roxanne’s ‘coachability’ as simply “…the best. Whether it’s Bob Lane (Fastlane summer camp coach), Dena Lane (assistant GCS coach) or me, Roxy listens to directions and advice and applies what she learns. She’s incredibly reliable, too. Much of the work of a great runner involves independence and individual responsibility. She takes no shortcuts and her willingness to be coached and to practice perfectly are very rare assets.”

On a more personal plane, Roxy is family-oriented and humble. Meeting Roxy, one is struck by her genuineness and lack of pretension. Her parents, Bill and Diane Henningson triple as loving beacons, enthusiastic fans, and tireless supporters. Sister Alisa Henningson, a student at SUNY Cortland, is Roxy’s closest friend.

Given her high academic and athletic goals, Roxy admits to feeling some stress over the dizzying array of college choices and academic directions. She is being heavily recruited by dozens of NCAA Division I college coaches, but she intends to wait until after cross country season, next fall, to narrow her list. She has already visited the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, High Point University (NC), Villanova, Wake Forest Duke, North Carolina State, Princeton and the University of Virginia. She will also be visiting the College of William & Mary, the University of Richmond, Georgetown and a few Boston area colleges.                                                                     "Enough with the photos!"                  

In the meantime, Roxy has already begun to prepare and train for her senior year at GCS. As always, her continuing rise will likely appear more inexorable than meteoric, but the heights she reaches will be no less celestial.