It's also the kind of Saturday I will miss with my whole heart when it's all over and these boys are grown and gone. I don't know what Jude and I will do with ourselves when that happens. I shudder to think how I will deal with the emptiness of my weekends. It's all going by so fast.
Jude and I divided and conquered, so I missed Joe's first basketball game (WNSL) at the old Cohn High School, on the west side, in a gym I love. I don't think I missed much, as Joe's Bucket Squad rolled their opponent by 30 + and Joe didn't play particularly well. Apparently, he took several shots but couldn't hit anything. As I told him, I like the aggressiveness on offense - whether he's making or missing his shots - especially in a recreational league game.
Meanwhile, JP ran in the second heat of the 800 at the KYA Indoor Classic. Tracy drove up from Franklin to watch him race, which was nice. I enjoyed talking with her while we waited through 11 HS girls' heats of the 800. Fortunately, in the HS boys' 800, it was fastest to slowest, so JP's group ran immediately after the first heat.
As I am learning, indoor track is different. T'he track itself is shorter than outside tracks. Vanderbilt's for example, is 200 meters. As a result the 800 is roughly two and half laps, the mile is almost five laps, and so forth.
JP got boxed out in the beginning of the race and started from the back of the pack, as is customary for him. As is also customary for him, toward the beginning of the second lap, he moved to the outside and began passing runners. His finishing kick is strong, something I think he takes pride in, although it's possible he relies on it a little too much as opposed to starting closer to the front of the pack. What do I know about racing, though? Not much.
He continued to close toward the end of the second lap and by the beginning of the abbreviated third lap, he was in good position in the front group. He finished strong in fourth place in his heat, running a 1:59:54. In my view, anything under 2:00:00 is fast. He ran slightly a similar time as the anchor leg of the 4 x 800 at the state championships last spring, so I was pleased with his race yesterday and I shtik he was, too. He placed 14th overall.
I drove Joe to his second basketball game - a Stars' game - at David Lipscomb, or "John David Lipscomb," as Joe used to call it in his younger days. I used to laugh and laugh every time he said that. Joe's Stars' tame lost a close game, by three points.
The difference, really, was that Joe's team had a three point lead and the ball with 16 seconds left in the first half with Joe on the bench. One of their guards foolishly and needlessly telegraphed a pass at the top of the key, turned the ball over, and a boy on the other team hit a three pointer at the buzzer. Tie game at halftime, when the Stars had a chance to be up by five or six points.
Although he only had one bucket and missed a bunny in the second half from the left baseline, I was very proud of Joe's game. He handled the ball well, running the point. No turnovers, which was huge. He also played good, solid defense, and had several deflections and three or four straight steals. He distributed the ball, made the right plays, and had a couple of nifty passes that would have been assist but for a teammate missing an easy shot.
He played the game the right way, which is what Joe does. As I've said before, he's a glue guy. Not the most athletic. Not the quickest, not by far, but almost always the smartest basketball player on his team. I loved his game.
After a brief stop at home, Jude, Joe, and I made the quick drive back to Vanderbilt to watch JP run in the 1 mile race. He ran in the third heat. As it turned out, his MBA classmate and cross country teammate, Gabe, was moved up from the fourth heat to the third heat, which I knew would make for an interesting race.
For some reason, JP and Gabe were seeded lower in the heat and started in a staggered position in the outside lanes, slightly ahead of the larger group in the inside six lanes. To me, this is a disadvantage, as the they have to break to the inside toward the end of the first lap when the racers can leave their lanes.
Sure enough, JP and Gabe ended up being boxed out, behind the leaders, at the end of the first lap. It was a quick pace, so I wasn't sure how much ground they would be able to make up. The answer, of course, is all of it, as JP and Gabe began moving up on the outside during the second lap, both running smoothly. Like last year during the same race, I thought, this is going to be interesting. And it was.
A little bit about Gabe. He's a phenomenal runner, to start, but I think he struggled a bit in cross county to find himself until the last three races of the boys' sophomore season. He looked extremely comfortable finishing the race at the state championship and at NXR in Cary, NC. He set a PR when the boys ran in the final cross country race of the season in Huntsville at Running Lanes, early last month. He excels in track and has a lot more experience than JP does in more traditional races, like the 1 mile, 2 mile, etc.
The point is that for the next two years, Gabe and JP are going to push each other, which will make both of them better runners.
By the end of the third lap yesterday, JP and Gabe were running in the first group with the leaders. As the boys passed by me on the last lap, Gabe was in the lead and looked great, with JP in second place. It looked to me like Gabe was going to win the race and he nearly did.
JP passed Gabe part way through the final lap and started to pull away slightly, Then, on the final stretch, just like last year with Sullivan Smith (Father Ryan HS), Gabe began sprinting and pulled even with JP near the finish line. JP seemed to feel Gabe before he saw him - I think he remembered last year's race - and he sped up slightly and just held Gabe off at the finish line, winning literally by an eyelash. JP finished first in the heat in 4:31:52 (12th overall), a PR, and Gabe finished second in the heat in 4:31:63 (13th overall), roughly a tenth of a second behind JP. It was a fantastic race.
I'm proud of JP and Gabe. JP ran a solid race, particularly since he had raced the 800 earlier in the day. It was the same with Gabe, given that he ran a blistering 2 mile race on Friday night. I think there's a bright future for both of these boys.
The best part, for me, was that several of the boys' cross country teammates, and Coach Cirillo, came to Vanderbilt to watch JP and Gabe race in the 1 mile. To seem them support their teammates was special. I annoyed them all and snapped a group photo afterwards.
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