Sunday, November 10, 2024

State XC Meet 2024

The night before the cross country state championship at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville, TN, I taught class at Nashville School of Law.  When I arrived home after class, JP was gone for a walk.  After I changed clothes, I went outside and found him walking up our street.  I could tell he was wound pretty tightly, thinking about the race the next day, so I put my arm around him and we walked and talked for a few minutes.  

I searched for some fatherly words of wisdom, something profound, a nugget that might make a difference for him.  Although it's completely normal - part of it, as I often say - for JP to be keyed up before an important race, my paternal instincts are such that I want to carry that burden for him, and I can't.  And I shouldn't.  Why?  Because it's part of it.  

We talked for a while longer, then went inside together.  My message to him? 

Believe.

I gave him a hug and after a little while, he went to bed.  I didn't sleep very well and I'm guessing he didn't either.  

This cross country season has been different for him than last year, as it should be.  And next season will be different for JP than this year.  That's the beauty of being a high school cross country runner.  No two seasons are the same.  Not for him and not for the team.  

I got up early on race day, said goodbye to JP as he lay in his bed, and went to get coffee and stop by Village Dry Cleaners.  After a quick stop by the house, I left for Hendersonville with every intention of arriving well in advance of the 10:50 a.m. start of the race.  I sent JP a text, as I always do before a race, and told him how proud I was of him, how much I loved him, and to go get it.  

When I arrived at Sanders Ferry Park, I made note of the weather.  The rain - predicted earlier the week - had held off and the sky was an overcast, slate gray.  Although it was a little warm, it wasn't too humid and there was a slight breeze.  Not a perfect day to run but considering it could have been really sloppy, it was pretty damn good.  

I found JP at the MBA tent, fist bumped him, and told some of other runners good luck.  "Thanks, coach," a couple of them said.  That always makes me smile, even if it's said tongue in cheek.  Then, I left to walk the course, the only way I know how to deal with my nerves.  


On a hill inside the one mile mark, I found a bench underneath a tree.  I silently prayed.  I thought about how blessed Jude and I are to have the boys we have.  I also thought about how fortunate JP was to have the God given ability to train and compete at a high level.  I was nervous - really nervous, but so very thankful.

As I walked farther away from the starting line, I ran into a father and teacher at the Baylor School.  He had a son running in the race.  When I asked him if he knew my college friend and fraternity brother, Steve Bettis, who died in the early days of the pandemic from Covid-19, he broke into a smile and nodded.  We spent 10 minutes or so reminiscing about Steve and what a force of nature he was in every single circumstance.  His presence is missed by so many.

I also ran into a senior, Ward, from the McCallie School, who had run cross country for them on the junior varsity until this season.  Very nice and respectful young man.  He was very excited to see his classmate, Jack Bowen, run against the slight favorite, Keegan Smith, from Knoxville Catholic.  That promised to be quite a battle. 

I settled in a little before the one mile mark and waited, waited, waited until, suddenly, I heard the bank of the starter's pistol.  The runners were off!

I waited, impatiently, for the runners to make the turn and start up the hill toward where I was standing.  Finally, I saw the 4-wheeler headed toward me and behind it, the lead group of runners.  Keegan Smith, Jack Bowen, Jack Wallace.  And JP, running in a pack with them.  Wow, I thought.  Here we go. I yelled for JP, then ran across a field to get to another spot on the course.

At about the halfway point, JP was still hanging with the lead pack, along with a runner from Christian Brother, but he was slightly behind them.  Jack Wallace was running stride for stride with Keegan Smith and Jack Bowen.  To me - and I could be wrong - it didn't look like JP was running as comfortably as he normally does.  

When I saw the boys again past the two mile mark, it was turning into a two man race for the title, between Keegan Smith and Jack Bowen, as Jack Wallace ran just behind them.  JP had fallen back, along with the Christian Brothers' runner, and I noticed that a runner from Chattanooga Christian was closing on them, turning the race for fourth place into a three man battle.  JP looked like he was fighting it, to me, like he didn't feel great.  

As the leaders approached the finish line less than a mile later, Keegan Smith pulled ahead of Jack Bowen and won comfortably.  Jack Wallace finished in third, behind the leaders.  Very good race for him.  JP and the two other runners were in a dead heat with 25 yards left.  The Chattanooga Christian runner surged ahead and JP didn't have anything left in the tank.  The Christian Brothers' runner nipped him for fifth place, so JP finished in sixth place. 

All of the runners ahead of him were seniors and four of them, if not five, are running in college.  I know JP wanted to finish in fourth place but I was proud of him.  He gave it all he had, as a result of which he briefly collapsed in a heap after the race.  His hands were tingling and he was spent.  After I found him, we walked around for a bit and talked, my arm around him as he processed the race and came back to himself.  He was nauseous for a few minutes but felt better after he drank a little Gatorade.  

Interestingly, Knoxville Catholic and McCallie ended up in a tie with 62 points after JP's teammate, Gabe Guillamondegui, sprinted past a McCallie runner to capture ninth place.  That move by Gabe, who ran the best race I've seen him run and set a PR by a few seconds, dropped McCallie in the tie and, in the end, cost them another state title as Catholic's sixth place runner defeated McCallie's sixth place runner.  MBA finished in third place.   

JP had been fighting a cold for a week or so and my guess is that he was a little more winded than normal in a race like this.  Again, just a guess.

Did JP go out too fast in running with the leaders for the first half of the race?  Maybe.  But as Coach Russ said to me after the race, smiling, "sometimes you need to know."  He was proud of JP and, again, so was I.

Coach Russ's statement hit me right between the eyes because it says everything to me about cross country running at JP's level.  JP needed to know what it felt like to run with the best cross country runners in the state, seniors that are going to be running in college.   

Sometimes you need to know.



Jack Wallace.







My traditional post-race photo of JP and Gabe Guillamondegui.  Sophomore teammates and runners of many miles together with many more to come over the next two years.


JP, Jack Wallace, and Gabe Guillamondegui.  MBA was the only school with three runners in the top 10 at the state championship meet.  Jack (3), JP (6), and Gabe (9).  









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