MONDAY MORNING FINISH LINE

November 8, 2021

By Michael Newman [email protected]

It has turned to Monday afternoon, and I am still not done with this piece.

It was good to be back to normal this fall. It was good to end the season at Detweiller Park. It was good that teams had to earn their way to a state championship race, not being invited to run in a race.

I traveled to Peoria four times this fall. That was compared to one-time last fall to see a meet at Metamora. I stopped by Detweiller Park to say hello. I renewed my friendship with these hallowed grounds this fall.

I track my trips to Peoria by my drive west on I-17 to go south on I-29. I know the season is new because the cornfields that are on each side of the road make you feel like you are driving on an open aired tunnel. When I travel in November to the State Meet, the corn is harvested marking that it is near the end of the season heading towards winter.

Here I was driving towards the end of the season.

I do not like to view it that way. Look at last season. Sectionals were over at the end of October and so was the end of the season. This year, sectional Saturday merged into State Saturday like I remembered it. So much work, so little sleep.

I don’t view this as the end of a season in a morbid way. It is a celebration of running. Where else better to do that at is Detweiller Park.

I use the Friday before the state meet to relax, take a deep breath, and admire the scenery on the hills around the park. Warm weather in September slowed down the foliage change that we will see at the park. Still, there were some of the trees that were in the park were starting to change. I will get to that in a bit.

I ran in the state meet on this course twice. It gives me a different perspective than others who have not run a state meet here but cover and watch the races. I ran fast on this course but not as fast as some will on Saturday. Trust me, there is a difference from watching and experiencing.

I did not realize what this park had to offer since I was so focused on running. 10 years after my two races, I was at the park on Friday afternoon. Joe Newton had brought along his friend Peter Coe to be with the team that weekend. Peter had a son Sebastian that did some wonderful things on the track and is now doing great things in running World Athletics. Mr. Coe said to Mr. Newton and me that we needed to stop for a minute to absorb the beauty that surrounded us. I know Mr. Newton took that to heart every time he came to this course in the years after. It is something that I continue to carry with me.

Let me tell you about my journey of close to 30 hours on Friday and into Saturday.

I only got 3.5 hours of sleep after going to bed at 3:15AM putting up all my previews. I am a perfectionist but as I drove down, I kept thinking to myself how I was going to make it the next two days. My music was blaring, I was singing. I wasn’t thinking about Saturday. I was just thinking of ways to write my state meet previews next November.

I got to the course at 11:45 AM. I spoke first to Marchan Adkins who would be timing this meet for the IHSA. He has so many great ideas about improving this sport, so it is great to hear what he has to say.

I then headed over to the table where coaches would pick up their meet packets. There was Kraig Garber, the Assistant Director for the IHSA in charge of this meet, organizing the state meet medals that would be given to runners and teams the next day. I really wanted to press the issue on some of the sectional assignments that coaches had been complaining about, but I did not. Maybe it was because I was too tired or perhaps this was not the time nor the place. I figured he had probably been already hammered by e-mails. The day before the state meet was not the time.

The rest of Friday afternoon I spent walking the park, meeting up with coaches, networking, and socializing. I get some of my best ideas during those chats. It gave me some ideas for next fall. When I got out of my car when I got to the park, a group of parents were walking by.

“Mr. Newman, we love what you write!” It was Drew Rogers’ Mom and Dad. They told me about his injury and the circumstances, all of that. Some would tweet that info out, I just kept it in my pocket. Something to watch for tomorrow.

I got to the point where I knew I needed to head to my hotel. I was laying down on the soft ground of Detweiller Park looking up to a cloudless sky…and I was falling asleep. The York Boys team was running 200’s and Coach Kern pointed to the area where they were supposed to run. “Aim for Mr. Newman.” One of the runners told him, he is on the ground!” Ok…I was taking a short siesta.

I usually go out to dinner with the York team. It’s a tradition I have tried to keep up over the years. It is good to break bread and share some great memories.

I changed out of my suit and into the clothes I would wear later on when I went out with the York coaches for a slice of pie. Again, another York tradition. I sat on my bed, opened my laptop to do some work.

Zzzzzzzzz…

I woke up around 1AM to get a drink of water and to shut off my computer. My phone had blown up with messages of where I was. I guess this time it was an extended siesta. Sorry guys.

The day of the state meet is where around 8:45 AM I am in total focus. Each race blends into the next. But I make sure I get to the park early to enjoy the atmosphere.

Officials are already there. I get a chance to talk to a lot of them that I have seen throughout the year of have not seen much of. Kraig Garber gives a short talk to the group. The tone this year was inspiring. Then, a picture of all of the officials.

Garber and I talked a little more. The sun was just coming up hitting the tops of the trees with their lower halves still under darkness. I got to the park. It was impossible to drive up that drive afraid I would hit some on. There was a light on that finish line. It was beautiful.

Let’s start racing.

There was an hour still to go and I saw a familiar face walking towards me. Jay Rogers and I attended North Central College together. He is a friend. He is a brother. It seemed like I had not seen him in forever. Maybe three, four years. We talked for 35 minutes. I went to get ready to do my thing and I just started to cry. It was just that kind of an emotional moment for me.

The State Meet for me is like a reunion. I see my old roommate from college Scott “Stats” McCleary and his family were able to reconnect. One moment that I look forward to the most is meeting up with Ken Popejoy, Richie Brooks, and Mike Durkin. They are three all-time greats in Illinois running. I love to talk to them and gaining wisdom from our talks. His honor Judge Popejoy was my distance coach in the final two years at North Central College. He gives me grief that my previews were too long, but he loved them. It was an ongoing conversation during the meet that I had come to a conclusion on during the drive down.

Frank Gramarosso, the long-time coach at North Central College and now the Cross-Country Coach. Missing was Al Carius who would not here on this day. I had seen him a month before at our annual gathering. I did like to see him at Detweiller. He grew up in Morton and has told me stories of doing workouts here when Detweiller Park was not Detweiller Park running the loop in his bare feet.

If you ask who my inspirations are, it is Mr. Newton and these five distinguished men. My highlight of the weekend is seeing them. The races are also special, but this takes a different meaning.

It is normal to bump into people that I see from meet to meet. There are so many Illinois High School alumni at this meet since this is their week off between conference and D1-III regionals. It is good to find out how they are progressing in college.

One parent greeted me and said that they waved at “my house” as they drove by. Trust me, an inside joke that is hilarious and continues to grow like oatmeal in milk. I won’t talk about it. You can ask Micah Wilson who started this a number of years ago. I am writing now with a smile on my face.

I was down by the oak tree before the start of the 2A Girls’ race. Three minutes before the start, I get a nudge. “Hi Mike. I know it is the wrong time, but I just wanted to say Hi.” It was Rob David, Tatum David’s dad. She won the 2A title in 2019 before she moved to Florida. She was there to cheer her friend Ava Parekh in this meet. She is doing better with her injury. I never got a chance to talk to her. It seems that happens a bunch on this Saturday.

I wish I could talk to everyone at this meet. I missed interviewing Alex Partlow who ran a super race to win 2A Boys. I wanted to talk to Wilson Georges also. He was talking to a news channel. I got pulled in a different direction. I turned around and he was gone. I guess on another day then.

I was so tired during the day. I do not know how I got through it. There was before one race where I had trouble getting up. I thought I would not be able to miss it. I could not let you down I kept telling myself. I never saw the York Boys team beforehand. It was just a matter of conserving energy.

One thing I do have to say. York had some expectations this year. Injuries and illnesses slowed them down. It hurt me inside, but I was inspired how they ran when they won sectionals. I was proud to see them conducting a race plan Saturday that they carried out with a lot of heart, courage, and perseverance. I was proud of them period. I was a captain of the team way back when. They will always be a part of me regardless of where they finish.

It is tough to see a runner fall at the end of a race when they have given everything that they had but are searching for the energy to get through that final 10-meters. Cooper Marrs of Riverside-Brookfield was in the top 10 as he approached the finish line and just collapsed. His tank was empty. He found a way to cross the line in 22nd, all state. It was not the place he wanted, but no one can take away that courage he had.

Audrey Allman of Glenbard West: boy I love watching her run especially in finishing races. She was in 17 place entering the final loop of the course. I saw her flying up the hill towards the finish where again there was an instance where a runner ran out of energy. Allman collapsed meters from the finish. Instantaneously, she threw her body across the line finishes just tenths ahead of Mia Pasha of Warren Township. That was another moment that was ingrained in my memory.

I hated seeing what happened with Ethan Summer of York and Marcellus Mines of Joliet West in the 3A Boys’ race. Mines injured his foot at the Quincy Sectional. A doctor gave clearance for Mines to run. He could not finish. Summer had run 14:42 on this course earlier in the year. He suffered a stress reaction. His family thinks it is a stress fracture. He had not run in 13 days until he stepped on the line Saturday afternoon. He wanted to run for his teammates. Summer was 50th entering the final mile when everything fell apart for him. He struggled across the line and collapsed into the arms of a health official. The things we will do when it means so much to us. Mines is only a sophomore. He will have two more times at this meet. Summer is a senior. All of those chances are gone. But what a better way then giving it your all.

I was surprised that I saw that Tolono Unity had won the 1A Girls title. What I did not know is that one of Winnebago’s top runners Kaylee Woolery had collapsed in the final stretches of the race. Winnebago had high hopes for this day. They left heartbroken. It will take days, months, years before the pain goes away. They can be proud of what they accomplished. That should never leave them. When they meet for reunions, they will not be talking about that race. They will be talking about those memories. Trust me.

The biggest moment came early in the day in the 1A Boys Race. Latin Coach Dan Daly in their first meet of the year introduced me to Daniel Goodman who had just run his first race of his life. He never ran in middle school. He just loved to run. Little did we know months later he would be part of his school’s 1A Boys State Championship team.

Goodman came down the stretch as the team’s fourth runner. He was at full steam when all of a sudden, that gas tank ran on empty. Goodman was down on the ground. Daly was on the other side of the fence yelling at his runner “Get up! You need to finish.”

Runners were starting to pass him. The team race was close, and every passed runner counted as Goodman struggled to get up. He got up once and made it a few feet and fell to the ground again. He got up for a second time this time making across the finish.

Goodman still stayed the team’s fourth runner as he finished 97th. Latin won by 7 points. He is my hero.

I went back to get some water after a race and there was Goodman on the ground with his dad, a gold medal around his neck. He gave everything he had with that moment.

He was inspired by a negative article about his team.

We in the media are not here to insult high school kids that are doing this for the love for the sport. It looks like in this case that Goodman turned a negative into a positive.

I walked to my car thinking all of the positive things that had happened. I saw Garber and Brien Dunphy who was the meet manager and thanked them for the work they had put into this.

Garber mentioned this was the perfect day for a meet. This was the perfect way to get back to normal.

How true.

There were so many things that were inspirational on this Saturday. The races showed there is hope in the world that we are getting back to normal from where we are.

What brings me so much hope is the joy that I saw after races. The moments of sharing a win or a non-loss. I won’t use the word loss. Everyone was a winner on this day.

I get inspiration from the people I talked to that had finished in this meet. They are tomorrow’s leaders and future. They are wiser than some of the people that watched this meet.

I wish I were younger. I wish I could race one more time like I did back then. I took advantage of that change. I have those memories to take a hold of.

For the people that thanked me this past weekend, thank you right back. I am doing better at accepting those thanks. I have a small crew that covers this sport. Kevin Dorsey is the photographer that takes all of those great shots. You should thank him too. He does a tremendous job. Roland Hopkins runs ILSpeedRatings.com and is a huge partner in all of this. He gives me great feedback as well as great laughter.

Thanks Kevin and Roland.

In reality, I do have a huge staff that helps me out on this website that some said would not continue. Yet here I still am.

Thank you to all the Illinois Coaches that give me input, tell me things that are off the record, and offer me support when things look their bleakest…like what happened the first week of the season. You can always forgive, but never forget. I will not forget what happened. I will never forget the support that I received.

I am at my 3000-word limit. I will write more, but not this week.

There will be another day that I can do that.

Signing off for now and thank you.