Tomorrow in Columbus, the Ohio high school state track championships will begin.  I’ve been lucky enough to have several of my athletes compete in the state track meet and compete well.  Amber Stokes, Jay Ingram, and Mara White (who is competing in her last state track meet of her high school career tomorrow) have all had the privilege of placing in the state track meet.

Today I’m going to talk about a time in the not so distant past, when a skinny white kid with a mullet from Columbus made it to the state track meet.  Yes, you guessed it.  I’m talking about me.

When you start running track, if you have any initial success, you start thinking about making it to the state track meet.  After growing up playing baseball and getting hit by that ball one too many times, I made the wise decision to switch to track.  I had some decent jumping ability and my speed was alright as a junior high kid.

My father also ran track in high school and later for a couple years at OSU.  He held a bunch of records at Bexley High School, the last to fall was his 880 record.  The 880 is 880 yards which would be the 800 meter run in today’s world.  I guess they hadn’t heard about meters back then.

My dad’s senior year, he was the state runner-up in the 880 with a time of 1:59.9.  I remember seeing his framed runner-up certificate in our house growing up, so that provided a little bit of an incentive when I started running track to get some awards of my own.  Especially getting one at the state track meet.

The first opportunity I had to make states was my sophomore year.  I was one of the better long jumpers in the area and after running a bunch of 200’s throughout the year, my coach put me in some run-offs for the mile relay as well.  My time in the 400 got down to 52 which was competitive enough to battle for a relay spot.

I made it to the regional finals in the long jump, but couldn’t get past seventh place.  I think I missed making states by 2 or 3 inches.  My coach then stuck me in the leadoff spot for our 4×400 relay team and we managed a fifth place run in the finals.  The top 4 go to states.  No, state meet that year.

The next year, I secured a spot in the state meet by winning the regional with a jump of 21 feet, 11 inches.  My only other shot to compete in the state meet that year was the mile relay, but our anchor was fatigued from the 800, our leadoff guy ran a horrible first leg (sorry Bruce), and we didn’t make it out of regionals.

In the state meet, I got my steps down for the long jump and waited for my flight.  When it was my turn, apparently, I was a little excited because I was flying down the runway and my steps were off.  On my last attempt, I shortened my last three steps to hit the board and jumped 22 feet, 1/2 inch.  I missed making it to the finals by a quarter of an inch.  That sucked.

My senior year, I was able to advance to the state meet again in the long jump and also in the mile relay.  The regionals were cold and rainy and I barely got out of them, getting fourth place in the long jump.  I had the worst jump of all 16 participants, thus I was in the last flight.  This year, I got my steps down again, but I had to wait a long time for my flight to start.  My body cooled off a lot and I had a hard time getting warmed up again.  Thus, my steps were off AGAIN.

I was able to make it to the finals in seventh place, but couldn’t jump any further to improve my position.  So, I ended up getting seventh, but no medal.  They stop giving medals at sixth place.

My last chance to place in the state meet was the mile relay.  I was the anchor for our team and we were pretty good.  If you placed first or second, you received a nice big plaque.  For third through sixth place, you got a really little plaque.  I told the guys we weren’t leaving the stadium without a big plaque in our hands.

We made it to the finals and for the first time all year before a race, I was a little nervous.  This was a fast heat.  As I was lining up to take my position, the first four runners were all bunched together.  I got the baton in third place and off I went.  I was right behind a buddy of mine who went to Whetstone, who was right behind the leader.

On the back-stretch, I remember thinking, “Holy sh!t!  These guys are running fast!”

With my hair sailing behind me (remember, I had a mullet back then), I made my move at the 250 yard mark and started passing my buddy, gunning for the leader.  With 50 yards to go, I was about next to the leader, when my legs started tightening up.  I felt like I was running through mud.  The Whetstone dude started pulling even with me.

It was all I could do to keep running.  As I broke the finish line, the Whetstone dude and I both fell.  When they went to the photo finish, they said I crossed first, securing second place and getting a big plaque for my team.

I’ve run into that Whetstone guy a few times throughout the years and he swears he beat me.  I don’t think so, but needless to say, I have the plaque and I’m not running another one to settle this.

So, that is my memory of the state track meet.  It’s funny, but back then I didn’t run any indoor meets or participate in any summer track clubs.  I basically played other sports to get me in shape and then used the 2 or 3 months we had for track to gear up for the state meet.  The landscape for most good track athletes has changed nowadays.  You just don’t see that any more.

If I had a speed coach like myself to train me, get me stronger, maybe I could have placed in the long jump, or even had the speed to win that mile relay.  Oh well.  My time has come and gone.  All I can do is share my experience with you in hopes that you will look at what your goals are.  Do whatever is in your power to put you in the best position possible to achieve those goals.  You might not get that last ultimate goal you want, but at least you can say I left it all on the table and did everything I could to make it happen.