John Prieboy
Plainfield Central High School Girls Cross Country
jpriebo1@psd202.org
Twitter- @PCHSGirlsXC
Regionals was the ‘A’ race for Plainfield Central Girls Cross Country this season. Our main objective as part of our long term goals was to achieve a sectional qualification berth as a team. This has been our priority for the past 4 years since I have taken over as the Head Coach of the program. I feel that it’s important to layer your goals, placing them in a hierarchy of achievability based off of where your team is at. This has been something we have been aiming towards for the past few years. While I have been extremely optimistic over the past few seasons, this year was the first time I realistically thought we had a shot at it.
Leading into the championship season, I knew that Plainfield South was the team we needed to challenge for the final qualification spot. They had gotten the best of us all year (with the exception of the Plainfield City Championships). They have a very talented front runner who finishes in the top 10 of nearly every meet. Knowing that she would likely be finishing near the front of the regional race, it was up to our strength as a team to run together and finish together, limiting our losses so to say. We match up pretty well with the rest of their squad, so I was confident that if we put together a great team race, there was a chance we could pull it off.
On Saturday, we relied on the strength of our entire team, not just the top 7 or top 12, but of all 22 girls that make up our program. They all warmed up together. We have been together all year, so I felt that it was necessary for them to be together in that moment. In our pre-race huddle, I emphasized how proud I was of all of them. We went over our race plan, and emphasized staying together. And we broke out like we normally do: ‘1..2..3..TEAM.” It was the loudest I have ever heard this group say it. I knew that the word team had become internalized in each of every one of them as a feeling of love and pride. In my mind, we had already won the day.
As the team lined up at the start (and I hope none of the girls read this), I was so nervous. I was shaking! It was almost something along the lines of an anxiety attack. It wasn’t that I was afraid that we were going to fail, but I always have the girls’ best as my #1 priority. I knew how hard that they had worked for this moment. I knew that they had to make some tough choices along the way that meant the best for the team and maybe not the best for their social lives. As I was taking a few deep breaths, I saw them put their arms around each other and share a moment together. That immediately put my mind at rest. You always look for moments when you realize that your kids 100% “get it.” My thoughts shifted to excitement as the gun went off.
As I made my way over to the point of about 600m into the race, I saw our girls in excellent position. The gold uniforms were easy to pick out on the beautiful fall morning. I always shout positive feedback to them as they run by, but I was fumbling for words as they approached. Unexpectedly, I just began to shout ‘THE TEAM! THE TEAM!’ I believe I saw one of them crack a smile.
Through the woods, they were still together. My mind shifted to searching for the navy blue and white of Plainfield South. Their front runner was positioned in the top 10, but there were a lot of huge gaps. As they emerged from the woods, I was running across an open field to get near the mile marker. What I saw I wish I could have gotten a picture of: Our top 5 was in front of their #3, and they looked strong. It’s the strongest they have ever looked. The race continued.
As they passed the 2 mile mark, South’s 2, 3 and 4 had moved up, but we were still in excellent shape. We had them on the ropes! I was scrambling to do the math in my head, but I was so emotional in the moment that I couldn’t think straight. We were hanging on, and fighting like hell. I was desperately searching for South’s 5th runner, but I had not seen her all race. How far back was she? Would we be far enough up?
That final mile was a nail biter. Through the woods, as I saw our pack approaching, I became extremely emotional. Watching three of our seniors rolling towards the finish, knowing that they were hanging on for dear life was one of the greatest sights to be seen. My thoughts shifted from our team place, to realizing that they had done their jobs. We ran our best race of the season when our best was required. That is competitive greatness according to John Wooden’s pyramid of success, something we go over every week together. Tears were welling up, but I knew I had to hold it together. I ran as hard as I could towards the finish line to meet the girls. Senior Ana Pineda lead our team as she had all year, followed by Sophomore Julia Egly, Senior Jessica Homan, Freshman Nora Rosenbaum (who PRd by over 30 seconds), and finally Senior Jacky Mathews. 1-5 split: 54 seconds. 2-5 split: 20 seconds.
Lost in the madness were our 6 and 7 runners, Senior Grace Grimaldi and Sophomore Colette Burrows. While they did not have the days that they had hoped for, I was so proud of them for putting themselves out there and giving it their all. As a coach, that’s all you want from your kids. In my mind, if you give your best effort, it is impossible to fail.
I spoke with all of the girls. They were spent, but excited and emotional about their races. They were asking how we did and I told them that it was going to be close. We made our way back to our team camp, and got our trainers on for the cool down. As they ran off to the woods, I began to pace and wait out the official review of the results. Ironically, I was waiting with Coach Carlberg and Coach Santillo of PSHS. They were convinced that we had finished ahead of them for the 6th and final team qualification spot. While I have been the victim of premature celebrations before, I wanted to be 100% sure. We waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, as the boys’ race had concluded, the IHSA official proclaimed that he had the official results. Oddly, he first announced the individual qualifiers before the teams. I will never forget what he said: “Ok…I have the girls’ results here…the 5 individual qualifiers are all from Plainfield Central…wow…that is incredible….”
I had no idea how to feel. We were 35 points behind South. Only the week before at Conference, they had beaten us by double that. We fell short of our goal. While I was down, I immediately reflected on the race. They went for it, and there’s no shame in that. We were unfortunately ‘That Team,’ meaning that we would have 5 racing in sectionals, but not be factored into the team scoring. I derived the term from my days as a college runner, when the 1st finisher outside of the All-America classification was dubbed ‘That Guy.’
On the contrary though, we had achieved something special. For the previous five years, we had only managed to move 2 individual runners on to the sectional meet. We have worked and worked and worked, and tried and tried and tried. This was the first year that things began to click (think back to my previous blog on delayed gratification). Within the span of 22 minutes, we had eclipsed that mark. It certainly is a huge step in the right direction for our program, and will certainly be a day that we talk about for years to come. As I have now had the rest of the weekend to reflect on it, this was huge victory for our team.
Of course, as I walked back towards our team to fill them in on the results, who do I see but Coach Crowe (my HS coach, mentor and friend). He was on his bike, making his way to the finish line. He stopped and as soon as he asked how we did, I broke down. I was sad and happy at the same time, so the emotions were everywhere. While I don’t remember exactly what he said as we hugged, he put things into perspective. To hear him say that he was proud of me and proud of our girls meant the world to me in that moment.
As I told the team the outcome after we had cleaned up our camp, I began to cry because I was so happy for them. Earning all 5 individual spots is not something that happens very often. I also stressed that ALL of them were directly responsible for the success that we achieved. I thought about where we had begun with this group of seniors, 4 long years ago, and how much they had invested into this team, and what they have taught the underclassmen along the way. I thought about how much they have grown as young ladies more than they have as runners. I get a lot of flak because of my coaching philosophy, but damn it, I want to coach kids to know what it truly means to be a winner, not to simply win. Statistics, medals, trophies or awards don’t make you a better person at the end of the day. Investing time, making positive choices, learning how to be a team player, and doing whatever you do with your absolute best does make you a better person at the end of the day.
So, with that being said, we live to race another week! KLM is a wonderful place to race, a true cross country course. The last time we raced there, Jessica Homan was a sophomore and our first sectional qualifier in 2 years. We had 9 girls on our team. Now, Jess will use that experience to guide Ana, Julia, Nora and Jacky, and the rest of the 22 girls on our team this year. I can’t wait to watch those gold jerseys fly over the rollers and through the creek together on Saturday!