State Div. meet Captain's report

by David Wortham:

During the week of training preceding the emass states meet, the word “last” was on all of our minds. It was to be David and Dan’s last cross country meet of high school, Pat’s last meet of his freshman year, and Allen, Collin, Dylan and Michael’s last chance to PR before the end of the season.

As we jogged around Franklin Park early Saturday morning, a last race mentality took us over. The race became more about personal goals than team goals. We all wanted to set our bests. One member of the team, however, was after more than just a personal record.

Crossing the finish line in 16:54 brought anxiety to Allen rather than relief. He knew he had run a fast race, successfully executing his plan of staying with Acton Boxboro’s Tim Cox, but preventing Allen from relaxing was a persistent thought: Did I make the all-state meet? As we cooled down Allen told us he was happy to have broken the seventeen minute barrier at Franklin Park. He did not believe, however, that he had placed in the top ten individual performers that would qualify for the next meet. When asked about what place he had finished overall, a modest Allen responded, “Around thirtieth”. Thirtieth place would not have been fast enough to advance; fortunately Allen’s estimate was off.

The smile on Coach Norton’s face after scouring the rankings told a different story than Allen’s cool down recap. Allen had made it, and although he was not thrilled to train for another week, he was proud and happy.

The 2011 Newton South team, one without David Melly to lead us, placed higher than last year at emass. Allen has risen to fill the void left by Melly as top runner. Although we believed that Saturday would be our final meet, the team will be in season until we watch our leader cross his final finish line.