Event #6 - Two Teams, Two Podiums, One Lesson
I am an achiever by nature. There is always a goal to accomplish. Usually more than one. As soon as one is finished, I turn immediately to the next. Push, push, push. There is always a mountain to climb, another hill to take, new ground to cover, something screaming from the top of the to-do list.
Maybe you are not the same type, but our world can press us into this non-stop hustle. I do not need much of a nudge. I run to it like a moth to the flame.
It has taken me the better part of my life to learn how to stop and enjoy the moment once the goal has been achieved. How to celebrate it. How to appreciate the growth along the way, the people who are there with me, and the result itself.
After all, when you reach the summit of the mountain, you do not turn around and run down. You stand and enjoy the view from the top.
Two teams of high school students helped me learn this lesson.
The 2013 Liberty High School boys cross country team.
The 2015 Liberty High School girls 4x800m relay team.
Their stories are below. I wish I had unlimited space and you had unlimited reading time. Instead, I have been brief. Maybe you need the reminder:
“When you reach the top of the mountain, you stand and enjoy the view.”
The first story actually starts in 2012 at Raymore-Peculiar High School. We took fifth at sectionals in a tie breaker. The top four teams advance to state and we were on the outside looking in. The home team pulled the upset and bumped us out. It stung all the more because Liberty’s boys cross country team had qualified to the state championship meet every season for the previous 17 years. There were tears. A silent sort of shock. Coaches and kids alike felt the pain.
That was a long bus ride home. We had not even pulled back into Liberty and the commitments had already been made. We were not just going to make it back to the state meet next season, we were going to do something special when we got there.
Winter settled in. The kids ran a ton.
Track season rolled by. The miles stacked up.
Summer running came and went. Most of the boys ran about 1000 miles between Memorial Day and Labor Day. You read that right. A thousand.
The 2013 cross country season began in the fall and they were ready to go.
Most of the top 7 had run something like 2500-3000 miles since the sting of that sectionals defeat.
They were as fit as any group I have ever seen.
The goal was simple: get the program back on track by qualifying to state and then do some damage when we get there.
Snagging that Sectional champion trophy was a big moment of redemption.
They won the home meet to open the season. A two point win over a tough Rock Bridge squad.
Won a meet in Warrensburg with all 5 scorers in the top 10.
Took third at KU in a field of 35 teams, but were the top MO team.
Took second at the Chile Pepper Classic in Arkansas out of 71 teams.
Won conference.
Won districts.
Won sectionals in a moment of redemption on the same course that had bumped them the year before.
They rolled into state and in one of the fastest team races of the decade and took fourth place by a single point over the fifth place team — West Plains, a long time Liberty cross country rival, the team that had beaten us down in Arkansas earlier in the year. Fourth place may seem like a weird thing to get excited about, but the top four finishers at the state meet get on the podium. The moment was indescribable. The celebration was pure joy.
Thousands of miles, one huge payoff.
A stack of lessons and character developments over the course of a year.
A few steps up onto the podium to have their names read and receive their medals.
No new goal to achieve. At least not right now.
Now was the time to stand and enjoy the view.
A fun aside that I will never forget
You get one coach’s medal.
Tim Nixon handed it to Robert Marquardt. Apparently that was their regular thing after making the podium at the state meet. Tim was the head coach, but Robert worked with the varsity boys. Talk about humility.
As we were walking away from the course, Robert came over to me and handed the medal to me. I had run all those miles with the kids since last year’s disappointment. He felt like I deserved it. Talk about humility.
I cried.
I still have it. I always will.
All those miles, hundreds of thousands of steps, in order to climb those five stairs.
“I am going to give the baton away in the lead.”
The 4x800m squad, minus our other alternate, the week before state. We started calling ourselves the 4xGreight midway through the season. They lived up to the name.
That was the last thing our leadoff runner said during the team meeting the night before the girls ran the 4x800m relay at the 2015 state championship meet in Jefferson City. I could not tell if she was serious or not. She was. Completely.
It was a bold statement for anyone, but particularly for someone who was running only the fifth 800 of their life. Less than 3 months ago, she had been a sprinter who never considered running more than 400m. She was a basketball player by trade (is actually finishing up her college basketball career this year). Now here she was, claiming that in the biggest race of the year, she was going to come through in the lead.
There are some specific reasons for it, but many teams run one of their fastest runners in that first slot at the state meet. That is what we were doing. But we were not a team that anyone would have considered in contention.
It is congested at the start and you do not want to get boxed it. You do not want to fall away from the race’s main pack. All that jazz. Suffice it to say, there was a lot of speed on the starting line of the race. Some of the best 800m runners in MO.
She delivered.
In a massive best time.
I will never forget it.
I was on the backstretch, absolutely losing my mind.
From that point on, they all ran best times. We had a mantra all season: “Pressure bursts pipes.” You can either apply it or let someone else put it on you. They kept throwing themselves at the race. Pushing themselves beyond what any of us thought was possible. Applying pressure. In this case, it did not burst our pipes, but forged a diamond.
As a team, we ran 17 seconds faster than we had at any point that season. 9:27.99. I will never forget that time. One of the fastest in Liberty High School history.
My coaching backpack from that 2015 track season. I never cleared my stop watch. Kept one of the 11 stickers the girls wore that day announcing their seed.
Earlier in the season we had watched Blue Springs High School run 9:31 at a meet and were in awe. We had run 10:15 or something in the same race and thought we could probably squeeze under 10:00 at some point.
They went into the race seeded to take 11th. Kind of an afterthought. One of those “they should just be happy to be here” teams. They finished 6th. All-State. On the podium. Scoring points for the team in a spot where no one was expecting them to.
Blue Springs High School finished just ahead of in 5th place.
The celebration of the side of the track when the race was over is one I will never forget.
Shock. Surprise. Excitement.
They cried.
I cried.
I took a deep breath.
No new goal to achieve. Not right now.
Now was the time to stand and enjoy the view.
Those smiles were plastered on their faces for the rest of the weekend.
I have to remind myself repeatedly: When you reach to the top of the mountain, you stand and enjoy the view.
Set big goals.
Work crazy hard.
Plug away for years if you have to.
Then take a deep breath and enjoy the view from the top.
