After running together for 10 years, senior cross country runners Emily Blakeslee and Nora Colligan bicker like siblings.
Their roommate, senior Jessica Rush, described a common dinner scene in their apartment: Blakeslee sets the fire alarm off while cooking, bringing about a stream of banter between the two girls.
“Emily’s food is really good, but she makes a lot of smoke,” Rush said. “Nora will make the joke, ‘Uh oh, Emily’s cooking, we’re going to have to take the fire alarm off the wall.’ Then Emily gets mad, and says that at least her food is a lot better than Nora’s frozen ravioli.”
Although they know exactly how to annoy each other, they really do have a strong friendship, Blakeslee said.
“There’s an underlying love — we just don’t express it often,” Blakeslee said.
Two of NU’s top cross country runners, Blakeslee and Colligan have run together since they joined their Rockford, Mich., middle school cross country team in seventh grade.
Blakeslee said the two bonded when they joined the Rockford High School varsity team, since they were both quiet freshmen. Their high school team was very strong and earned national recognition.
Colligan’s best cross country memories from high school involve Blakeslee.
“Emily was there when we won the state championship for the first time junior year and when we set the record in the 4 X 1 mile relay senior year,” Colligan said.
Blakeslee and Colligan were both recruited by NU and signed early. Blakeslee said that when they came to visit the school, people asked if the two were best friends, and if they wanted to go to college together. This was definitely not the case.
“Our decisions to come to Northwestern were made independent of each other,” Colligan said. “But it was nice to come in knowing someone on the team.”
Both pointed out that they liked NU for different reasons. Colligan is a material science and engineering major and Blakeslee is a social policy major.
Teammate senior Nicole Kalogeropoulos said that Blakeslee and Colligan are two of the most dedicated girls on the team.
“They run off of each other,” Kalogeropoulos said. “One will be working hard so the other starts running harder. They know each other’s style so well that they help each other out.”
The pair said they don’t have a competitive relationship. After bad meets, Blakeslee said, the roommates don’t take their disappointment out on each other.
“We know when the other has had a hard race,” Blakeslee said. “By the time we get home from a meet it’s blown over. We’re not competitive, so it’s not like I’m going to poison her food.”
After graduation, the two have divergent plans. Colligan is searching for an engineering job while Blakeslee is applying to continue on at NU for graduate school. And because she redshirted one season, Blakeslee has one season of eligibility left.
Colligan, in her typical fashion, was not torn up about leaving Blakeslee’s side.
“We’ll probably still see each other in Rockford,” Colligan said. “I’m sure we’ll see each other after this year.”
But as their last cross country season together nears the end, Blakeslee said she will miss running with Colligan. She, however, would never actually say this aloud to Colligan.
“I’ve never been on a cross country team without Nora,” said Blakeslee.”But I could never say, ‘Nora, I’ll really miss you’ because we’re never sentimental. She’s not really a hugger.”
