11/03/2019
On or about July 25th, 2019 at the “Camp of Champs” way up in Three Lakes Wisconsin the boys heard stories about teams from the past. The stories revolved around how certain teams over the past 20 years or so went from individuals to forming a complete team each with their own special identity. Each of these teams did something memorable that resulted in them still being talked about years after they were gone.
It was also discussed how the team is truly *their* team. That this is not the 2019 Coach Roe XC team - it was *their* team and with that, success or failure will be theirs to own.
I think this year’s team will be talked about like some of those in the past. No matter what happens down in Peoria next week, this years team has displayed amazing character. The stated goal while up in camp was to make it to the State meet. By many estimates, Wheaton North did not stand a chance of making it. With 2 of the 5 tops spots in our Region held by nationally ranked teams plus the top teams from the other two Regionals, it would take a complete team effort and just about a perfect race to make it out of Sectionals.
Throughout the year there was a bit of frustration as the team never really seemed to form a complete solid pack. They were certainly a *good* team but you can only be so “good” running as individuals and at this level of competition, the team would not make it to state unless they really, really ran like a team.
On Thursday of this week one of the top runners (Josh) was confirmed as having a stress fractured right fibula. The team could have easily decided to “phone it in” but they didn’t. Then late on Friday, by order of a judge, a bunch of teams that did NOT run in their Regional were suddenly going to be at Lake Park. Some of these teams were very good and had beaten us in earlier meets. Once again, the team now could have very, very easily said that this was too much given up. But they didn’t.
In something out of a movie script, before the boys race started Dave Christensen told me that when the boys got the news that all of the Chicago teams were going to be there (not just the top 6 but all of the teams) the attitude that emerged was more of a [paraphrasing here] “well, if we want to run against the best, fine, we will run against these guys too.”. Dave theorized (and I agreed) that if the first reaction to all of these teams suddenly showing up was a negative or an “…oh gosh we will never make it now” – reaction they would never make it. I completely agreed and was very impressed by their reaction/sentiment.
The results tell the story – they ran like a team. They had an amazing 12 second gap between #1 and #5 runner and with that the boys got 5th place by 3 points and were only 8 points ahead of 8th place.
My hope is that in the years to come, this team will be remembered for showing what happens when you work as a team, believe in yourselves, overcome adversity, and meet challenges head on. No matter what happens next week, these life lessons will last a long, long time.
