A Mount Vernon Express brimming with first-year students late for class weaving through rush hour traffic doesn’t necessarily scream “pregame environment,” but for GW athletes, it’s a refuge before practices or games.
For the seven teams that utilize the facilities on the Mount Vernon Campus throughout the year — lacrosse, women’s and men’s cross country and soccer teams, softball and tennis — athletes have come to appreciate the quarter-hour commute and the peace and quiet they find on the Vern, nestled away in Foxhall. Student-athletes said they’ve embraced the Vern as the home turf for their games and practices, harnessing athletic resources, like spacious weight rooms and a fueling station, amenities that some players prefer over those on Foggy Bottom’s campus.
Once athletes reach their destination on the Vern, players pile onto a field shared by soccer and lacrosse lined by Adirondack chairs, while softball players head to a field near Somers and Ames halls and tennis players checker a court outside of West Hall. After games and practices wrap up, the Revolutionaries’ chariot takes them back to Foggy Bottom, where athletes said they use their time on the Vex to chat about their days, play Wordle and bond as a team through conversations, while some ride alongside NARPs — or nonathletic regular people.
“After waking up at 6 a.m., going through a three-hour physical experience, it’s nice to be able to talk about whatever and just giggle and let loose,” senior lacrosse player Everly Kessler said of her almost daily commute.
Lacrosse senior Haley Bolton said she has formed a bond with a STEM major named Laura after sitting next to each other over several years, with the two having overlapping schedules despite their different destinations upon arriving to the Vern.
“She was also a STEM student, so we became friends, and she’s awesome,” Bolton, a neuroscience major, said.
Bolton said that despite sometimes having to leave practice early to get back to Foggy Bottom in time for class, she enjoys that the commute allows her to bond with teammates and nonteammates alike. While she can unwind on her way there, once she arrives to the Vern it’s straight to the locker room and then to treatment, where she alternates between heating and cooling exercises.
Some teams hardly have enough room for everyone on the team to take one Vex. With a roster of 35, women’s soccer sometimes takes multiple shuttles between the two campuses, with players waiting in line for the next available ride.
“It’s never been that big since we’ve been here,” senior defender Alicia Window said. “Obviously more personalities, but I think people do their role, and we gel together well.”
The women’s track and cross country team take the Vex back from the Vern together every Monday and Wednesday, and on the way there, they run, stopping for a workout on a community track in Georgetown. The track is an irregular distance of 333 meters, a bit shorter than the standard 400-meter track, but is the closest option for runners as GW doesn’t offer a track on any of its campuses.
They begin their run at the Smith Center, making their way through the streets of Georgetown to the community track, where they complete their workout which often includes 1000-meter repeats — about three laps around the track. From there, they continue their descent with a one-mile cooldown concluding at the Vern, where they lift before catching the Vex back to Foggy Bottom.
“It’s always tiring because we are going uphill, but I love the atmosphere of that neighborhood going through Georgetown and the houses that are around the Vern,” junior distance runner Ashley Robinson said. “It’s such a cute neighborhood.”
Robinson said while the team is typically on the Vern twice a week, the campus provides a nice change of pace from their runs, which stretch up to nine miles across Foggy Bottom, including workouts at the JFK Hockey Fields near the Lincoln Memorial or along the Washington Canal.
Robinson said she prefers runs that end on the Vern because the team’s post-run lifts in the weight room inside the Vern’s Lloyd Gym give the athletes more space, as it’s a bigger facility compared to the Smith Center.
In addition to its fields and courts, the Vern offers a locker room, treatment room, weight room and a new fueling station to provide athletes nutritious food options, such as applesauce — the lacrosse team’s favorite. Practices for all of the teams usually range from two to three hours, but some athletes spend much longer on the Vern getting treatment, watching game film and lifting weights.
While similar facilities are offered in the Smith Center, junior lacrosse player Parker Cranz said that the green space and hills on the Vern offer peaceful perches to do homework or relax before or after practice. She said that spending time on the Vern has helped her build a community with other sports teams who also congregate at the campus’ shared spaces.
“It’s nice to be able to go and get treatment, and there will be soccer in there or tennis or softball and have that community outside of just your own direct team, too,” Cranz said. “And it’s similar just for all the facilities on the Vern, I feel like it bonds the teams who are over there together even more.”
Cranz said among the families, friends and students cheering on the Revs, you may also find Charles, a former Vex driver, in the stands. Cranz said during her first year, on their routine drives to and from the Vern, the lacrosse team became close with Charles, who would drive the players consistently to the point where he befriended the team.
He would come to their games and even brought other Vex drivers along for the ride.
Between practices and games, some teams, like women’s soccer, spend up to five days a week on the Vern. Ainsley Lumpe, a senior on the women’s soccer team, said the Vern’s fields and facilities are where she learned how to be a leader, through her regular games and practices on the campus over the years, and she said she’ll always remember the team blasting music to get hyped before games.
“I feel like I’ve grown up a lot on the Vern,” Lumpe said.
On game days, the teams ride the Vex to their home turf together, this time tuned in to their own music. Headphones on, blasting pump up songs from AC/DC or “Nightcrawler” by Travis Scott, the athletes lock in until they step onto the Vern to continue their pregame routine, like women’s soccer’s pregame dance circle ritual.
“I love the Vern,” Lumpe said. “I feel like it’s our own little escape from Foggy Bottom. It’s our own little home.”
Kristi Widjaja contributed reporting
