"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts"
John Wooden
John Wooden is perhaps the most quoted coach in the history of sport. A few years ago I was given a daily tear away calendar and for every day there was a new quote form John Wooden and every day I was amazed at how great of a coach he was. His quote above touches every emotion our teams have had over the past weekend.
To start off with, a HUGE congratulations to our only senior and a captain Gracie Tilton for winning the 2013 Atlantic Regional in course and school record time. She had the courage to dream big since her race last fall. In 2012 she missed NCAA's by one place as an individual and the team missed NCAA's by 1 place as well. In talking with her a year ago at the awards ceremony the goal was made to come back in 2013 and win. She had the foresight to envision it and she worked hard for 365 days to reach her goal. Failure to her was not fatal, it was motivational. She had courage to chase her goal and now her success is not final. She now moves forward to NCAA's this weekend at Hanover College to race the rest of the top runners in the country.
The women's team behind her finished 10th at regionals, and did not qualify for NCAA's this weekend. How they respond will determine the future of this program. from our 2nd girl to our last girl, EVERY one of them returns for 2014. I am not sure if any other team can say that. They will now look to take a page out of Gracie's book, the courage to pursue their goals for a whole year. The women now have 2 top 10 finishes in a row in the region which is not easy, especially this year as the 23rd ranked team in the country finished 9th! They also have 2 years in a row of being 2nd in the Liberty League, not an easy feat either. I am incredibly happy with their season and look forward to some great improvements over the next year.
Our men's team had a historic race for our program this past weekend. They finished 5th in the Atlantic Regional and had 4 All-Region runners-both firsts. We tasted success on Saturday and tasted failure on Sunday as the NCAA committee decided we were not an at-large bid. The guys have had great courage this fall, believing in themselves and their training as the season went on, and they were patient waiting for their breakthrough race. They did everything right all fall and they ran to perfection in the race. They had courage to battle for position in the first mile, courage to push the hardest they've ever pushed in the 3rd mile and when they were in a place that was foreign to them they continued to have courage to chase down runners that they had never beaten before. Now the road doesn't end. Their success was not final and their failure cannot be fatal. In a few days they will start their pursuit of a spot at the 2014 NCAA Championship. One year until the next time all it takes is courage to step out the door each day thinking of the starting line at NCAA's. I couldn't be more proud with their season and look forward to working with the returners over the next year.
Our seniors will be missed. They had a tremendous effect on this years team and will continue to effect our future teams.
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