The Woodberry Harrier 2014: Volume 6

The Brave Few

Mr. Blain hosted a cake night for the team two nights before the state meet, and as we sat there talking and joking and teasing and eating that delicious cake, he observed how comfortable we all seemed together.  In other words, I think he noticed that we were acting more like a family than a team.  Last Tuesday at our banquet, we went around the table and each person said what was on his mind.  Everyone brought up how much we were all going to miss the group now that the season was over even, and everyone joked about how we have raced like a team but acted like a family: we have loved each other, even when we were annoyed.

At the beginning of the season, when we went to camp to train, we were wondering what we were doing running up mountains when we could have been asleep at home, and we were all getting to know new faces.  In the weeks since camp, the new teammates have begun to seem like old friends.  Since we sat around the campfire on the last night thinking about all that lay ahead of us, we have all changed a lot, and I think we have all accomplished something very valuable.

Every single one of us has had a great season in some way.  Every week there were several personal records, and we managed to take care of ourselves and stay healthy.  For the first time in a while, we had everyone feeling good and ready to go in the championship meets, and each one of us has become much tougher.   I was the only one who did not blow his lifetime personal record out of the water in those meets, though I was pleased to have a season best.  I did something else, however, that I am especially proud of. Every day I went to practice knowing that my ankle was going to hurt like hell with every step I took.  In fact, it was often already hurting and stiff as I walked down the hill, but I learned to deal with this pain and to push through it.  Some days this took all the strength I had, and by the end of the workout it was all I could do to walk back to the Barbee feeling the prickling of the nerves in my ankle and the swelling in my tendons.  I hadn’t been able to do this before, so the season has been a powerful private victory for me.

We may not have won the Prep League or the State (although we missed second place by only two points in both races) but I believe that each of us found out that he is capable of running harder than he ever thought he could, and this is what we will remember and hold onto for the rest of our lives---along with the bonds forged through mutual suffering and camaraderie.

It is hard to believe that I arrived here three years ago and that now I am finished running cross country. It is a bittersweet moment.  I have struggled much during the last three cross country seasons. My heel has been a constant burden. But I have learned how to deal with stress and pain and still finish the task, and I have learned to love hard challenges. I will always remember these accomplishments with joy and draw strength from them. I will also never forget all of my teammates each year with whom I have had the honor of being on the same team. They have been there when I needed them to encourage me and to push me as well as yell at me when I needed it. I cannot imagine what my time at Woodberry would have been like without these brave few, whom I call my brothers.

--David Dameron ‘15

Here are the results from the State Meet:

	Virginia Independent Schools Championships (Division I)
	Woodberry Forest
	7 November, 2014
	Place:  3rd out of 21 teams 1-5  spread:  1:25
			Place / 224 runners
	Singleton	17:03	5	an 11-sec lifetime WFS PR; All-State honors
	Finley	17:17	9	an 34-sec lifetime WFS PR; All-State honors
	Carrington	18:17	25	an 34-sec lifetime WFS PR
	Rich	18:27	29	an 20-sec WFS PR
	Hernandez	18:28	30	a 1:11 lifetime WFS PR
	Flory	18:57	53
	Jacobs	19:20	65	a 1:54 lifetime WFS PR;
	Tydings	20:03	106
	Vieth	20:12	114	an 9-sec  WFS PR
Dameron		20:23	119
	Gussler	20:34	125	a 39-sec WFS PR
	Wall	20:39	128	an 11-sec lifetime WFS PR
Prater		DNR

Obviously it would have been a great delight to break into the Top-Two, and obviously it hurts to get so very close, but that was never what mattered ultimately.  What mattered—what matters every season—is that they push themselves into new strength and new confidence and new self-knowledge. What matters is that they take away memories which will instruct and sustain and comfort them in other endeavors down the long road. What matters is that they had a few beautiful autumn afternoons when they were fully present in the pure joy of being alive and striving together.  That is enough.  That is more than enough. That is God’s plenty.