T&F Replicates Successful Season

We knew that our success would rely upon the melding of the returning veteran presence guiding the incredible crew of freshmen and first year track athletes.  

Yeah so, that is exactly what these awe-inspiring coaches were able to do this season. The 9th and 10th grade all-time best record lists were re-written by an amazing collection of younger tracksters.

The coaches were quite pleased with the example with the veteran presence that athletes such as seniors Andrew Lockwood, TJ Flowers, Indy Olson, Emma Johnston, and juniors Bella Fortino and Elyan Bedolla would provide for this impressionable group of underclassmen. The neophytes were privy to numerous examples of the veteran presence showing exactly what it took to achieve the level of success that they had experienced. Likewise, they also demonstrated how to deal with set-backs when things don’t always turn out the way you had hoped.

The 2024 Crusader T&F team’s successes were seen at the 3A SD-5 Championship meet, where both the boys and girls teams finished in second place, garnering five boys district titles (200m, 400m, 4x100, 4x400, and Discus) and four girls district titles (800m, 3000m, 4x100m, and Triple Jump). They would qualify nine boys (200m, 400m, 4x100, 4x400, Discus, Javelin and Triple Jump) and six girls (100m, 800m, 3000m, 4x100m, Long Jump and Triple Jump) to the OSAA State Championships, where they would finish 11th and 18th picking up medals in the boys 200m (Indy @ 3rd and Andrew @ 7th); 400m (Indy @ 2nd); 4x100 relay @ 4th; Discus (Joel @ 5th); and girls Triple Jump (Emma @ 1st).

Throughout these successes of the championship phase of the season, the Crusaders were confronted by a myriad of setbacks and challenges. The biggest blow came in the weeks before district, when TJ Flowers suffered what would be a season ending hamstring injury. TJ continued to rehab his hamstring with a stoic determination, but it would ultimately not allow him to compete. Aiden DeBoer stepped up courageously to fill in on the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. In the process, the foursome of Aiden, Andrew, Oliver, and Indy would break a 38-year-old school record.with their time of 44.12.

For me TJ’s injury was particularly heart wrenching, as he has been a member of this team all four years, and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching him grow and mature as a student-athlete. I was particularly honored when he asked me to write one of his letters of recommendation for the college application process. One of the things I said in that rec letter was the following: “TJ is a treasured reminder to me as a teacher of 40 years as to why I got into education in the first place. A simple line from one of his reflections:  ‘One thing I've learned as your student throughout the years is your passion for the things you love whether you're talking about track, your favorite show, movies, or books which I've come to admire. It taught me I should appreciate the things in my life' gave me great joy in seeing him take lessons learned to heart.”

 

I was hoping that some lessons might be learned from TJ when at the district championship meet I delivered, with tear filled eyes,  a message to our boys and girls teams in the team circle that we could honor TJ in our efforts at that weekend’s meet.

Dealing with adversity became a recurrent theme this season, and I was so glad that our coaches had instilled in our athletes the values of celebrating our successes while also lifting each other up during times of struggle. The two day OSAA state meet would give us several opportunities to live out those lessons.

The night before our first day of competition, my daughter, Bella, who had qualified for the 3000m as the SD-5 district champion, had her race preparation derailed with a bout of migraines and nausea. Watching her navigate that with grit and resolve, and toe the line of her race the next morning feeling well below her best reminded me of how proud I was of her as her Dad and coach.

Later in the day during the girls Long Jump, Emma Johnston had her opportunity to deal with adversity when she failed to qualify for the finals (top 9) in what would likely have been a sure podium performance. Rather than folding, she used that set-back to gather and return the next day in the Triple Jump and earn the gold medal.

We closed out our state meet with the last event, the boys 4x400 relay. In the relays you are allowed to bring alternates just in case one of your top four are not able to run. In my 37 year at St. Mary’s I think we have used an alternate only twice (once out of strategy and once out of necessity). So when I asked two of my distance runners to attend the meet with us as “a preview of coming attractions” for their running careers, I don't think any of us thought they would be put into action. Ieven had them go out for distance runs on Pre’s Trails and Hendricks Park. After the boys 200m, one of our long relay team members (Andrew) was limping, and his ability to run looked questionable. Watching freshman Dawson Ghavam realize that he might get called into service was humorous and inspiring. Ultimately, he allayed his fears and was ready to go if need be. Equally inspiring, was the boys teams TRUST in each other and Andrew that he ultimately made the decision to run--even if not at 100%.

At the State meet, during some of the down time, I was able to talk with some friends who reinforced or challenged some of my coaching beliefs. It is always a pleasure to talk with friends like Peter Thompson, Timothy Vandervlugt, my daughter Madeline, David Mack, and John Cornet. John said something to me that really struck me. He told me how he loves the beauty of the outdoors or Oregon mountainsides, and he had been at his home track at hurdle number two of the 300m hurdles and noticed something he had never noticed before. This was a view of the southern Oregon mountains that encircle our valley. Had he not been at that precise spot on the track, and looked outward, he never would have seen something that had been there the whole time. I really liked this insight, and will be reflecting on it as I put this season to close and begin preparing for the next year.