Chapter 15:  A time for Firsts

The main emphasis of the Monday workout was to speed up our pace a little bit from the start. Our intervals had more of a recovery period so that we could run faster. We got out way too slow in that race on Saturday. It was something that we could not go through again. We would be going to hostile territory running a sectional meet on Willowbrook’s home course this weekend. We knew they would be ready. The thing was we would be ready as well.

Throughout the season, we had slowly climbed up the Timely Times Coaches Rankings. At the beginning of the year, we were ranked seventh. It was kind of unheard of with a York team, but we did not deserve the high ranking. It was the hard work during the year that would get us slowly climbing up those rankings. We liked that idea but kind of shrugged that aside. Newton would always tell us don’t believe what is written and don’t believe those rankings. It was those words that would keep your feet on the ground mentality. If you start believing the praise, then who knows what happens. In most cases, the scenario could be dire.

We headed into the lobby of the gym for our Tuesday workout. We knew it was going to be 3 sets of 5 x 220 with a decreasing interval of rest. It was a workout that was not my favorite. Well, at least, my hamstring on my left leg did not like it. Those short 32 second bursts around the track would get that leg in pain so quickly. I was back in the pack. Newton would keep telling me to get up. I think it was presumed that I had no leg speed. I do not think it was an assumption. The one thing that I knew is that my confidence was growing at the end of the race. It was all the handicap 300’s that we ran. It was all the 110’s that Henry and I busted our butts on around the football field. I may not have that 52 second finishing speed in an open 400, but I had the confidence that I could out kick anyone at the end of a race. It is all in the mind.

The meeting was typical. Mr. Newton discussed details for Saturday. What time did we need to be at school? What time would we start our warm-up? He would go over those details for us. Then, under his pile of papers on his clipboard he pulled out Timely Times. He started talking about some of the other meets how teams did in the District meets.

“Men, the coaches ranked you guys #1,” Newton said as he closed up the Timely Times.

He was silent for a minute as he put it away. We looked at each other kind of in amazement.

He then started talking again. He told us that what the coaches thought did not mean a thing at all. It was what we did on the course on Saturday that meant the most. We could be #1 as we headed into the sectionals but one bad race…what would that mean?

He brought his point across well. He gave us the workout and we headed for the triangle in front of the school. I was thinking how could we be ranked #1 if we ran so crappy the meet before? It did not matter. It was on paper.

We did not say much about that subject during practice. We did see the rankings as we went to the locker room after the workout. York was #1. Fremd, who was #1, was bumped down a spot. We did not see Willowbrook in the top 5. They were ranked #6. Newton told us the next day in the meeting that they were ranked too low. He did not need to tell us that. We knew that all ready. I mean, we only beat them by 7 and 6 points the two times that we ran against them. It showed us how much the coaches knew about the rankings. We knew that the only thing that mattered was the results on the next two Saturdays.

After Tuesday’s workout, we headed to this formal wear store on the north end of Elmhurst where we would be fitted for tuxedos. This would be the second year that we would be wearing tuxedos to the award ceremony after the state race. Last year, the guys thought it would be a neat thing if we ramped it up a bit by wearing those. At the award ceremonies in previous years, York had always worn a green sport coat with tie. It was a formal ceremony according to Newton. We would run with class. We won with class. We lost with class.

There was one BIG stipulation with the tuxedoes. We could only wear them if we were in the top three teams. Otherwise, the tuxedos would stay in the cars.

The color from the year before was yellow and black. We would choose the same color for this year. It would symbolize something that Mr. Newton had told us the entire year.

“Scientists said the bee can’t fly because his wing span is too short,” Newton would tell us during meetings. “The bee did not listen. He flew. People who believe like the bee are invincible.”

No one thought at the beginning of the year thought that we would be where we were now except us. We just needed to finish what we started.

One thing that had evolved during some of the warm-ups (when we were not at bloodbath pace) was something that Henry and I had created. Out of all of the runners in the top 8, we were the only juniors. In some of the discussions during the runs, we would talk about the “Junior Supremacy Meeting” that we were required to attend. Some of the top juniors in the state were required to attend this imaginary meeting. That is what we told our teammates. It would get a good laugh. Dave had a good imagination. I think I did as well. Each time we talked about it, the discussion would get more and more absurd. It loosened everyone up.

Seriously, we knew how tough the juniors were in 1978. Some of the top runners in the state were juniors. You had Don Volkey of Belvidere, Mike Kirk of Thornridge and his teammates “The Super Sophs”, Mike Sokoklewicz of Thornton, Craig Bauer of Deerfield, and Ralph Caron of Marist were some of the names. It was our way of saying that we belonged in the discussion that we were tough juniors as well. Tough as the seniors at least. We knew our competition. We knew they were good. We knew we could run with them.

Two days before sectionals, I kind of went into a shell when I was at home. I remembered what happened before the Peoria race where I was bragging about my last race. It was a way of protecting myself from myself. I was lucky that I had a ton of homework on Thursday night including a test on Friday. I ran the race in my head before I fell asleep. I knew it would be the toughest race that I would run so far in my life.

At that end of the race, I would be gassed but I would be able to walk back with my teammates. I knew I would hurt during the race. I knew that anything worth doing there would be some pain. The workouts earlier in the year taught me that. I worked on one part of the race in my mind that night. I would work through that pain right after two miles and move past that.

Everything was routine after practice on Friday. Spaghetti for dinner, packing my bag for the following morning, shaving the night before. I did not have major whiskers going but I just wanted to get the peach fuzz under control. In bed by 9 PM.

Saturday morning was warmer than usual. The temperature was supposed to be near 70 degrees. I had a little more water than normal the night before. The run in the morning I just wore a sweatshirt and shorts. I had my oatmeal and was ready to walk out the door. My mom offered to give me a ride. I refused. I needed the one mile walk to school to be within me.

Newton’s meeting was a little more animated. He told us that we needed to get out faster. He told where we needed to be at the mile place wise. It was something that he always taught us in knowing where you were in the race. If we did that, we would be successful.

The bus ride from Elmhurst to Villa Park was less than ten minutes. Villa Park is the next town west of Elmhurst. I was amazed when we stepped off the bus. There were already people in that park by Willowbrook. The course had fresh paint on it. We set up a team area and headed for the chute. Mr. Newton would always bring a measuring wheel with us. We walk out from the chute and stop at certain points to go in the race. He would stop at those points. Tell us how far it was from the chute. He would tell us little things of what we should be doing. It was all positive. It was setting us up for a good race. When we got to that point in the race, we knew how we were feeling, what we should be doing.

We had a little free time. I needed to find a washroom. Jackson Junior High School was open. I was not going to walk into Willowbrook. The top seven headed inside of that school. When we came out, the park was loaded. There was a mix of green and blue in that I could see as we headed back to the team area. Willowbrook had their fans out in force. Bicicchi and company were going to race our butts off. Their fans were going to give them an extra boost.

I was zoned out as I was doing the warm up before the race. We heard the Willowbrook fans. We heard our band in the background as well. You wanted to get to the starting line quickly, but you knew you had to warm up first, then stretch, then 110’s. It was the process. All that energy had to wait to explode when the gun went off.

The starting line was near Jackson Street looking to the south. We did not have any huddles in the middle of the starting area. We would do stride outs. After the last stride out, we started each other’s hands. Wags slapped me hard and just said, “Let’s do this Newms.”

That was the attitude. Let’s take care of business. Let’s quiet the crowd down. My leg was sore, but I was not thinking about that.

I was on the front row. I looked down the front straight towards the left turn 400 yards from the start.

Just fire the gun damn it. Just fire the gun.

Bang.

I heard Newton yell, “GO YORK!” It was distant as we left the line. It would ideal that we would get to the right at that first turn. We all were there at 66 seconds. Here we go.

The course was flat but with a bunch of turns. The key was to get to the outside early on. By the time we got to the mile, it was just time to run.

We got to that point with Rags and Willie just a little bit ahead of the rest of us. They were going after the Willowbrook pack right from the start. The five of us just worked off of each other moving past individual runners.

Newton was by the mile and a half. Willie and Rags looked great and had moved ahead of the Willowbrook pack. I was in the pack with Freegs, Heds, Henry and Wags as we passed Newton.

“There are four Willowbrook guys ahead,” he screamed at us. “You need to get them!”

The one thing we caught onto was that he said four. Where was their fifth man? Heds made a little surge and we followed suit. Newton told us we were around 20 with a mile to go. We needed to move.

My lungs were pounding on my chest as we were running the last mile. It hurt. It really hurt. Maybe if I slowed down the pain would go away. It was an easy solution.

My teammates were around me. It is easier to run a race when you are with your teammates. Such was the case here. I heard the Willowbrook fans yelling at us when we approached Jackson school with a half mile to go. One fan yelled at us “You’re going to lose York.”

The pain in my body disappeared just like I thought when I ran this race two days earlier. It was just not the way I had envisioned it. My middle finger went up. In my mind, that phrase went through my mind. The pace was hard. Heds was just a little bit ahead of me. Wags and Freegs were close by. Henry had faded back. He had a cramp that was slowing him down.

I have never heard it that loud at a meet as we entered the finals 200 yards. I was passing John Walsh from Lyons in the last 100 and I turned the other way to see what was going on behind. Stupid me! The action is up front!

Walsh surged and got ahead of me right before I got into the chute.

Two juniors crossed the line first with Ralph Caron of Marist and Lupe Marquez of Argo. Then Willie. He kicked down two guys in the last 50 yard to get that spot. Dave Kendryna of Richards took fourth. Then Rags in fifth. That was the best race of the year for him so far.

Rags was three seconds ahead of Willowbrook’s first runner Jeff Bowes. The week before, three of those guys were ahead of us. A Marist runner, Tim Delaney, was behind Bowes. Then Willowbrook’s Carl Bicicchi, Tim Vandergrift, and Jim Willer finishing 8-9-10.

Then it was our turn. Heds was 13^th. I was 15^th. Wags was 16^th. Then Freegs in 19^th. We had our sixth runner in ahead of their fifth. We all stood by the chute looking for Henry. We saw Art Earl, Willowbrook’s fifth runner, was five places ahead of Henry. Dave finished 35^th. It was not his best race of the year. The thing was we were deep. When one runner had an off day, another guy would step up. That is what teammates do.

Knowing that Willowbrook’s fifth man was back there, we thought we had this race.

Mr. Newton was collecting our place cards yelling us to get our cool downs in. There were parents that were comparing notes and scores speculating if we did beat them. We headed out for a mile jog when we passed the Willowbrook guys. “Great race guys,” we told them. They said the same thing to us.

We got back just before they started the awards. The cheers for Willowbrook were loud as they announced individuals. York fans were louder when Rags and Willie were announced for the individual places.

Then they announced the team qualifiers. Places three through six were close. Marist just missed making it to the state meet in sixth with 149 points. Lyons Township was fifth with 144 points. Maine West was one point ahead in fourth. Proviso West ran a great team race and was third with 131 points.  The announcer paused before he told everyone the top two teams.

“And in second place, Willowbrook with…”

When Willowbrook’s name was announced, there was a groan through the blue clad crowd. We pumped our fists.

They announced us in first with 40 points. Willowbrook was second with 48. The York band started to play. It was not state meet, but it was a big step for us. They had given us a tough meet on their home course. We were able to overcome that.

“I’m as proud of these guys as any team we’ve had,” Newton told reporters after the results were announced. “Last week, we won with our pack. This week, we won it with two guys up front then our pack. I am really pleased with Ragusin and Williams. They really ran out of their minds.”

Willowbrook had a nine second split between their first and fourth runners. Their split on five runners was 32 seconds. We ran a 21 second split on five. With Willie and Rags ahead of them, that was the difference.

Scott McCleary was the manager for Willowbrook. He was my roommate at North Central College for two years. He told me one night that after we beat them at that sectional, he knew that they would not beat York at state. It was just that tradition that we had of always running good at state. They had three chances of beating us. They could not.

Last May, I was at the Boys State Meet and a man came up to me. It was Jeff Bowes who had a daughter that ran at Hersey and now is an IHSA official.

We talked about what Scott said. He had read this blog. What I did not know is he told the Willowbrook team that they had no chance of beating us. To this day Jeff told me that they are still looking for “Stats”.

It was also that trend that they had during those meets. Four runners would be up for them. Their fifth was back. In those meets, we always had that pack.

Newton told us how proud he was of us. All the parents were standing around the meeting listening. The one thing that he expressed was that there was one week to go before destiny. He told us we needed to make sacrifices. We needed to make sure our school work was in order. We needed to eat right. We needed to get our sleep. It was things that we knew but I think he wanted to say that in front of us and our parents.

We got back to the school. I got a few things from my locker. Then Henry and I started walking. He was down. All I can tell him is that we will have once more chance next week. He knew that. I knew that.

I took a 2-hour nap when I got home. When I got up, I was exhausted but there was a happiness inside of me. I went on for a half hour run by myself. It was a 4-mile course that I had run after every Saturday meet this fall. 

My legs were sore. The lactic acid was camping out there. The tightness did not matter. The soreness did not matter. There was a sense of excitement and a sense of relief running through me. In one week, I would be running in the state meet. The dreams that I had for the past year had become reality.

That night, I was wondering how the other teams had run. There was no internet or DyeStat back then. I would have to wait until Sunday morning to get the newspaper to see what happened.

In the meantime, it was a battle to stay awake while I attacked some homework. It was a battle worth doing.

I wanted to sleep. Just one more week went through my mind.

It pushed me to do what I needed to do.

One week until destiny.