Jack Sebok (#292) outkicked three of the four guys in front of him to place sixth (Tony Holler photo)
"Alone we can do so
little; together we can do so much"
― Helen Keller
As I type this blog 16 hours after the fact, it still seems almost surreal. For the first time in school history, Plainfield North's boys cross country team is heading to state!! Wow! We took home 2nd place at a tough sectional with, remarkably, a lower score than we had at regionals. It is amazing because as a team, we have gone through so much this year from losing our top runner to a stress fracture to numerous nagging injuries to bad races. But, the pieces have come together at the right time and we are firing on all cylinders as we head into the finale.
|
Plainfield North XC |
Regionals |
Sectionals |
|
Team Points |
92 |
89 |
|
Team Place |
2nd |
2nd |
|
Jack Sebok's Place |
9 |
6 |
|
Ben Otstott's Place |
22 |
14 |
|
Brenden McGath's Place |
19 |
20 |
|
Omar Paramo's Place |
18 |
25 |
|
James Suchy's Place |
26 |
31 |
My favorite part of the day was immediately after the race. I was at about the 300m to go mark and I saw our fifth guy, James Suchy, who is known for his legendary kick, go NASCAR style and whip out and pass about six guys. At that point, I knew there was no doubt we had qualified. I sprinted as hard as I could to the finish navigating the muddy terrain with just one thought in my head, we did it! I found coach Andy Derks already there and several other team members. We celebrated and it was a feeling I could never describe elegantly enough to you in words. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. It was a moment that I will never forget and always cherish. Every one of us, despite the cold and the rain coming down, could only do one thing, smile from ear to ear. It felt like it was straight out of a movie.
Nothing is stronger than a tight pack in cross country (Tony Holler photo)
As I walked back to our team tent, I couldn't help but reflect on our season. From the highs to the lows, from the good to the bad, we had endured, we had survived and we had advanced. As a coach, I have so many people to thank. I've never seen a better group of parents. I was astounded by the number of parents who didn't even have a son running that came out in the bitter cold and rain to cheer on our team. I'm thankful that our drum line came out to support our guys and add a special element to the feel of the race. The man responsible for it all, coach Derks, has worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much to turn this program around in a short time. Coach Eric Ott, our volunteer coach, has contributed so much and is a huge part of our program. We have had so much support from other coaches, other programs, our alumni, friends, families, you name it and we are eternally thankful for that as this is just the beginning of what our program can become.
As for the race, we anticipated that it would be very close
for us to advance. We had read the rankings and seen the times the other teams
had put up. We knew it would not be an easy task to advance. However, we also
knew what we were capable of and that lately, momentum was on our side. We sat
our guys down in a classroom setting and went through all the data of
historically what it takes to advance out of sectionals and where we thought
our guys needed to finish in the field for us to advance. We planned as though
we were preparing for an intricate operation that needed to be executed
perfectly. And in a sense, we were. Our guys knew exactly what they needed to
do and they went out there and exceeded it as a team.
The Plainfield North Band assisted with school spirit at a cross country meet (Tony Holler photo)
This weekend we will make history again as the first team in school history to run at the state meet. As I told our guys before the sectional race, any time that you have an opportunity to make history, it's a beautiful moment. There is no doubt that our guys will be prepared to run the race of their lives. Our theme the past month has been family and that's what PNXC is all about, family. That and we are also about listening to "Walking in Memphis" on repeat on the bus ride to races, don't ask! Thanks again to everyone who has believed in us. We hope that this will be the first of many trips to Peoria for this program.
-Dr. Brian Damhoff