Sixteen

John Prieboy
Plainfield Central High School Girls Cross Country
jpriebo1@psd202.org
Twitter- @PCHSGirlsXC

As coaches, we all look for moments that define our program. These may be great performances, instances of sportsmanship, winning a championship meet, staple workouts, etc. On Saturday, I found a defining moment for Plainfield Central Girls Cross Country in the last place I expected…the results sheet.

You may have read my blog last week about our regional result, in which we finished 7th as a team, but earned all five individual qualifying spots. As I previously wrote, our goal this year was to make it as a team, bottom line. After regionals, we talked a great deal within our program about how we would not be classified as a team at Sectionals, but that we would still race like a team. It didn’t matter if we had two people racing, the mindset and effort would still be the same. Jeff DeGraw, a former cross country coach and local reporter who has a radio show on AM 1340 WJOL, went on the air on the following Monday and passionately defended our program, proclaiming that the IHSA needed to consider us a team, and that even though our 6th and 7th runner would not be on the line, we should still factor in the team scoring. I messaged all of the girls and told them to listen, and at the end of his piece on Plainfield Central Girls cross country, my phone was blowing up with messages of support, not only from the girls, but from family and friends alike. The following day at practice, I sensed a greater pride in our team.

Saturday arrived. We were excited for the conditions that were offered by Mother Nature: cold, wind, rain and a little mud. We always consider the weather to be an “external” because we have absolutely no control over it, but getting off of the bus, the girls were giddy to race in what I like to call ‘cross country conditions.’ Just like at regionals, we brought our entire team to the Sectional Meet, and everyone warmed up together with Ana, Julia, Jess, Nora and Jacky. As I double checked that the girls had their bib numbers and chips, I was amazed at how laid back and calm everyone was. As the five racers did their dynamic exercises, we captured a photograph of them. All of them were smiling. I knew from that moment that it was going to be an outstanding day, regardless of the outcome.

During our huddle, I stressed that anything could happen today, as I had all week long. Any of our five girls had as good a chance of qualifying for state as the rest of the 139 runner field.  That’s the beauty and essence of cross country. If you go for it and get in the right spot, you can advance to another week. We shared a few more words of confidence, and then it was go-time. 1-2-3..TEAM!

The gun went off, and the girls started the up the gradual incline with the mass of runners. As I watched from the starting box, I slowly saw the gold jerseys disappear, which meant we would be right in the middle of the pack. Perfect for us! I immediately went to the spots I had decided to see them at. As I ran from point to point, I saw the rest of our team, positioning themselves around the course with our spirit sticks, flags and signs to cheer them on. That’s not just fluff or something special just for championship season, that’s our culture. You would see the same support for one another at a dual meet. We take great pride in supporting one another and feeding off of the energy of each other. We call it Synergy.

As I watched the girls run over and down the rolling terrain and through the creek, I have never seen them be so competitive. They worked to close gaps. They initiated surges and moves. The things we worked on in workouts and meets throughout the season finally came together on one day. As I had said to them throughout the year, we are collecting pieces of the puzzle to create a masterpiece. On Saturday, the puzzle was complete and the masterpiece was beautiful. I ran as hard as I could to the finish line, about a 200m sprint or so from where I last saw Nora and Jacky. Right at the exit of the chute were five gold jerseys, standing out in the madness of the fatigued and staggering runners. As I approached, the five gold jerseys disappeared into the embrace of 17 teammates and family members. It was just an epic moment to witness. We slowly made our way down towards the start line and took a team picture, something we have done for the past 3 years we have been in the sectional meet. I shared a few moments with each of the girls and we slowly made our way back to camp.

While we did not have any state qualifiers on Saturday, I was thrilled with our result. I can never fault the girls for putting forth their best effort, and by watching that race, I could tell that they laid it all on the line. As I cheered on Jonathan and Riley from our boys’ team during the next race, I began to think about the results. Because we weren’t classified as a team, we would not show up in the team score. I told the girls during the week that I would score us into the results when it was all said and done, just to see where we would end up.  We were decently placed right near the middle of the pack for most of the race, which is where I sort of anticipated us to be, given the phenomenal caliber of our Sectional.

After the award ceremony was finished, I snagged a copy of the final results. I told Coach Purdom that I would probably need a hand scoring it as we separated and made our way to our respective busses. On our way to stop for lunch, while we were stopped at a red light, I grabbed the results from my bag and took a glance at the front page. I froze when I laid my eyes upon it:

16            Plainfield Central  441                  68     76     88     104     105

There we were, classified as a team. Call it chance, a coincidence, a scoring mistake or ‘unofficial,’ but we were there. When we got to The Patio and sat down to eat, I remember showing Purdom. He said “Whoa! That’s really neat! You guys beat out three teams who automatically qualified for sectionals…”  Then, I told the girls, and the way their faces lit up was something I will always remember. While I had already known this for quite some time, as well as some of the veteran runners on our squad, seeing our team in print on that sheet of paper was a sign to them that we belonged in that race.

I never would have guessed that a defining moment for our program would come from a results sheet, not in a million years, as we don’t really pay much attention to those types of things in our program. While they do serve a great deal of purpose in the process of becoming the best version of ourselves, the bread and butter of what we do depends solely on how we find ways to improve each and every day. ‘16’ is a visual representation of what this team set out to do not only from day one back in June, but from years ago when our upperclassmen made the decision to buy in. ‘16’ is more than just a place in a meet. It’s a validation that we are turning the corner as a program and are one step closer to becoming the TEAM that we are chasing. And we will continue to chase that team of our dreams, day after day, through focusing and achieving the small daily wins, living with championship character, and striving for excellence in all that we do. ‘16’ is a benchmark for this program in the years to come, and it will be referenced when we do finally get that automatic team sectional qualification spot, or even when we qualify an individual or team to the state meet, whenever that year may be. And while it might not seem like much to some, not being close to a top 5 or even a top 10, ‘16’ means the world to us in this very moment.

Best of luck to all of the qualified teams and individuals who will be making their way to Peoria next weekend for the State Meet!