Past, Present, & Future
What makes Burke distance running special.
I’ve been in a daze the past few weeks with Districts and State, Liam’s graduation, and the start of summer conditioning. Finally, I have a few moments to gather some thoughts and write about where the program is at right now, but also reflect on Liam’s four years of running cross country and track.
Past
When I think about the past four years of Liam’s cross country and track experiences at Burke High School, one of the first memories that comes to mind is Chris Hites embracing Liam. It’s Liam’s freshman year and he is attempting to break 5:00 in the 1600. Head Coach Steve Satterly intentionally enters him into the Burke JV meet to break 5:00 in the event, and everyone on the team knows it. The conditions are perfect for the attempt. Healthy pressure for Liam as he gets ready to race. At different points around the track are Liam’s teammates providing split times and encouragement. (You can watch highlights of the race by clicking here.) Liam crosses the finish line in 4:58, and Chris is there clapping. Liam turns to him and Chris opens his arms wide to celebrate the accomplishment.
I think about this memory not because it’s Liam breaking 5:00 in the 1600 for the first time. I think about it because it represents the best of what Burke distance running has been throughout the past four years. At the time, Chris and Liam were the third and fourth fastest on the team in the 1600 and went back and forth competing in the event at the varsity level. By breaking 5:00, Liam surpassed Chris’ 1600 time at that point in the season. Chris knew that, but he was right there at the finish line to congratulate Liam.
With Liam’s senior year I’ve reflected more on previous senior classes and how they influenced the team. I think about the support Chris, Aaron Jendro, and Will Dawes provided Liam as he went through his freshman year on the cross country and track teams. It was often understated by those three guys, but it impacted his running.
I wonder about the impact Liam might have had with his teammates during his high school career, and especially as an upperclassman. What are the things he did that we don’t even know about right now? I appreciated the team’s support of Liam breaking 5:00 as a freshman, but as time has gone on the moment of Chris embracing Liam has stuck with me. Chris didn’t see Liam as a threat to his varsity standing and try and undermine him. He didn’t see Liam as a means to an end with state qualification or medaling. He saw him as an equal. He simply wanted the best for his teammate. A teammate that was good as a freshman, but also one that was willing to listen and learn from those who came before him. They invested into him in their own ways. Investing into a teammate whose future successes they may not enjoy directly.
When Liam’s sophomore year came and the cross country team qualified for State, we celebrated as a team. The foundation for that success was in part due to those seniors.
The picture of Tommy Vasquez on the shoulders of Aaron Jendro is fitting. Chris, Aaron, and Will lost a year of high school running due to the pandemic. They could have been bitter. They could have quit. They could have focused solely on themselves. They didn’t. Instead, they were great teammates to students they barely knew and reestablished a standard that helped set the tone for the following year.
I’ve reminded Liam about the importance of little things when it comes to his teammates, and especially with the underclassmen. How important it is to know their names, respect who they are, and encourage them as they progress. Simple acts that can make a difference with whether or not they show up at 6:30 in the morning during the dog days of summer to run for an hour. It’s easier to show up and participate when you feel a part of a team than if you feel you are alone. Liam remembers his freshman experience and wants to pay it forward like it was paid forward to him by Chris.
And how did Liam’s freshman year end? Chris ended up beating Liam’s 1600 time in the next meet after Liam broke 5:00. They both ran at Districts, Liam in the 3200 and Chris in the 1600. Liam doesn’t qualify for State as a freshman. However, the District result is a catalyst for Liam to up his training over the following year. His sophomore year he qualifies for State in the 3200 and places 13th. It seems like only a matter of time before he medals in State XC or T&F. The future is bright.
Present
“Get up. Get up. Get up.”
I’m whispering this to myself as I look across the stadium and see Liam barrel rolling on the track. It’s the Class A State Championship 3200, his final high school race, and Liam is running near his PR pace. The race had been physical so far. Liam even backed off at one point when his momentum was stunted because the pack was being cagey and pushing one another. The second pack he is in is getting ready to finish lap five when he goes down after taking the lead of this pack. He’s clipped by a runner who may have tried to hold off Liam’s move to the front a tad late. Liam gets back up and makes his way near the front of the pack again. It all takes place within two to three seconds. Maybe the adrenaline rush will fuel him to the finish.
Unfortunately, the adrenaline rush it takes to recover his position drains Liam. He feels it, at times looking at his hands to see if there is blood from the fall, and he battles the rest of the way just to the finish.
Another instance of the race result not telling the whole story. It’s not how I envisioned how his high school career would end, without a State medal.
I go off on my own on the east hillside of the stadium hoping Liam can see me. (I can’t get on the track due to NSAA guidelines for the meet.) Liam is slowly walking onto the field, talking to fellow competitors and looking around at the crowd. I motion to him from the hillside and we make eye contact. I flash a heart sign to him as we communicate as best we can. He makes his way back to the tent where the runners’ bags are. He sits on the ground, and coming up to him is Burke Principal Darren Rasmussen. They are talking, and I sit on the hillside watching Liam and wondering what just happened.
I’m angry.
His junior year of track he overcame an injury just to qualify for State, and he ended up running a PR. We thought he was in position for an amazing senior season because he is healthy. His health was fleeting. He battled illnesses later that summer due to pneumonia and probable covid. Those illnesses revealed a vocal cord dysfunction which affected his breathing while running. He had a hyperventilating episode where we took him to Children’s ER. Liam was never healthy during cross country season, but he battled his way to a state qualification still.
We thought he was healthy heading into offseason conditioning. He trained well, had a great 1600 race in January, but it never fully came together for him during track season for a variety of reasons. It seemed like every time over the past year when he was near full health something happens to set him back.
Sometimes, sports can be cruel. There’s nothing I can do that will change the result. There’s nothing I can do that will change how people will perceive Liam’s senior year of running. The sport Liam invested much of his high school life into ends on a crash.
I’m processing all this as I sit on the hillside, and I see Liam up along the track. He is getting ready to cheer for a Burke freshman, Mary Apetse, who qualified in the 200. At one of his lowest moments, I see him rise above it and stand strong. She lines up to race, and Liam, the senior, is there to be a supportive teammate for Mary, the freshman.
“Get up. Get up. Get up.” He did, twice.
Future
This is my fifth summer being involved with Burke cross country. I think it’s going to be a good summer. This past winter us coaches shared in different OPS middle schools about Burke cross country and track. We have built relationships with a number of the incoming freshman. I think turnout will be good.
The day before the first day of conditioning I’m asked by some alumni my thoughts on the over/under with first day of conditioning turnout if the line is twenty-five. “Over.” We hit the over the following day. The best first day turnout in quite some time.
This week is the second week of summer conditioning. When I pull up to the track on Monday morning I see something that is a rarity for me over the past five summers. A dozen students have arrived before me and we still have roughly ten minutes before we begin. I smile. I’m often one of the first persons there during the summers, but that’s not the case anymore. I like the development.
After last year’s senior laden team, there is a youth movement happening in the program. There are a lot of underclassmen showing up, possibly the highest amount since the pandemic. The combo effects of OPS shutting down athletics for a time due to the pandemic, and then Westview High School opening up and pulling Burke students, reduced student participation in cross country for a few years. Perhaps things are stabilizing now and we can look ahead instead of focusing on “What if…”.
Others see the youth movement and remark on the good times some of these underclassmen are running. They talk to us about their prospects, but there’s no need to put pressure on them and speed things up. Let them be underclassmen right now and move at their own pace. Besides, we don’t want to squeeze out the seniors. They do more than simply race.
I have three of my boys with me at conditioning now. Duncan and Gideon are on the team while Liam is a new Burke alumni. He joins fellow alumni Brady Waldmann, Kirk Pulliam, Tommy Vasquez, Will Dawes, and Heidi Garcia who have shown up in the mornings to run with the team so far this summer. If they aren’t running, they are helping in other ways. Aaron Jendro is on the coaching staff as part of a summer internship. Burke distance running is a family.
This morning I smile as I watch an alumni, Tommy Vasquez, run with an incoming freshman, Zeke Mayle. They are talking throughout the run. I hear another senior talk with a junior about making sure the freshman are a part of the group text so they can schedule get togethers and bond as a team.
The future is bright, but it’s only possible because of the past and present.
This reads as a summary of a father and son as they experienced high school athletics in XC and track. This is not from the perspective of a coach and his team of runners. One person does not make a team, but one person can ruin a team.