State Recap 2009:
After sitting by myself and doing some serious pouting after the girls race, I watched the boys race on the back side of the course. Still reeling from the girls race, it was hard for me to gather any kind of encouragement for the guys. I did manage some "Go’s" and "Keep Passing" but I would say that I was a complete failure for the guys. Poor coaching at its best. Finally, after both races were complete I found enough GUMPTION to face everybody. I got the team together and we all sat on a hill behind the tents. Both boys and girls and I enjoyed a good cry and I think we felt a bit better about things. I tried to point out some positives but they were hard to come by. The girls are ranked 31st in the USA and 4th in the Northwest yet they cannot claim STATE CHAMPS! The week before they were district champs in a run-a-way. They rolled through the season untouched. Nothing changes that. The boys out did everyone’s expectations and rolled through much of the season as the team to beat. This is the BEST team that I have ever coached bar none (And I have coached some great teams). After the girls race I questioned everything. My coaching, life, fairness, good, bad, honesty, all of these things were roaming through my head as I tried to piece together what had just happened. I didn’t really come to any conclusions other than what I already knew before the gun even went off. That is this: Things do not always turn out the way you want them to. Life as we all know is not fair. We all face disappointments. There really is no rhyme or reason for things, they just happen. You deal with them and then you move on.
The awards. The bus ride home. These were two very difficult things for me to handle and deal with. I was devastated. The kids were devastated, BUT we move on! I honestly did not think that I would make it. The cross country season helped me get through some serious personal stuff that I am still dealing with. I felt better about things after cross country practice. This is one reason why I felt everything would come together for us. Every single person deals with ups and downs in their life. This is just another one.
MOUNTAIN VIEW CROSS COUNTRY IS JUST GETTING STARTED! With the help of parents, COACHES, and the racers themselves I feel better. Tracy Harris will survive to race another day. I definitely learned a lot on Saturday.
Girls:
Five all-state runners- six runners in before any teams 5th runner- that is 99.9% of the time a recipe for STATE CHAMPIOINS. Boise did exactly what they needed to do- they ran a perfect race. They ran way out of their heads and they won and deserved to win on that day. Enough said. Congratulations to Kelli Ellingson (all-state three years in a row), Jordan Mathes (all-state for the first time), Angie McGraw (all-state as a freshman), Katie Larson (ALL-STATE FOR THE FIRST TIME), Valerie Mitchell (All-State for the first time), Hillary Holt (for running amazing on a hurt foot) and Courtney Bennett for an unbelievable second half of her season and race.
Boys:
Lost in the shuffle amongst all of this was our boys team. Once again I was a failure on Saturday when it came to the boys. Our boys team had a remarkable year. At times they looked invincible, while at others they looked vulnerable. This is a team of the future, a team destined for greatness, I simply cannot wait to see what the future holds for these guys.
On race day, 34 seconds separated our 7 runners. That is a great GAP. One simple problem- we were too far back to make a difference. The boys team was and is very young. When the season started we only had one runner with varsity experience. We had a different number one runner just about every meet including state. I think the boys may have been alittle intimidated at state. Why that was I am not sure. Levi Nelson, Jake Meeker, Andrew Nuttall, Parker Hawkins, Jake Taylor, Egide Muvange, and Coelton Hammer - I owe each of you an apology for not being there for you on Saturday. I have never taken defeat well. I learned so much from each of you this season and I can only promise that I will do better next time.
As my son Conor said on Sunday (Conor helped me get through the bus ride with some great texts) and he also really struggled in his race- Let’s face it Dad, Saturday was a bad day for the good guys.
2 Comments:
Mr. Harris, you are the best coach each & everyone of these athletes, will ever have in their lives, bar none. Grab a serious dose, of hard-to-swallow, character building drink, and get back to the drawing board, back on the horse, & let's have a great showing at NXN. Thanks for being a great role model for all of us. Hard work will pay off, and the good guys will prevail.
Tracy, you are a great coach. this year was quite successful for you. you had a guys team that a lot of people didn't think would qualify for state, and you ended up with a trophy. Thank you for what you have done in my running career, and the impact you had on me in the short time I was privileged to have run with the Mountain View guys team. Your attitude and your team's attitude transformed me as a runner. Thank you for everything.
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