Perfection

About the time Philip Humber was pitching the 21st perfect game in Major League history, I was completely unaware of the happenings... and I am a Mariner fan, so I very well could have been, but I had more important things to do.  I was watching the amazing Whitworth Pirates compete in the Northwest Conference Track meet.  I too, was witnessing a pretty perfect thing.

I will try my best to succinctly repeat the awesomeness that were those 2 days.  The men's team had a goal of "3 pete" where they wanted to win for the third year in a row and also score 300 points.  A lofty goal, for sure.  The winning part, barring a lot of mishaps, was pretty doable.  On paper we were supposed to win by quite a margin, but the most any team had ever scored was quite a bit shy of 300.  I'm gonna be a spoiler right here, we didn't get the 300 points, we won easily with 270.  I still think I witnessed some pretty perfect performances.

They won 9 first places out of 20 events.  They were on the award stand (top 3) more times than I can count.  Our pole-vaulter won and then promptly finished 4th in the hundred meters... interesting double?  Obviously doable.  Our throwers are amazing!  The "gentle giants" got more medals and threw things further than I can articulate.  The 4x1 team won again!  Flawless handoffs.  The jumpers reaped huge points for us, leaping up and out so far, it boggles the mind.  Frank, the high jump winner, stood between the 2nd and 3rd place guys and appears like a foot shorter.  He's not your typical 6 ft. plus high jumper, but the kid has springs!  One of the decathletes (Coop)  got a PR and 4th, higher than expected.

That's my best attempt at recap for the events I'm not as brushed up on.  Now, onto the distance and mid-distance!  Steven Acosta, oh my... a cross country runner trapped inside a soccer player's body.  He ran so well.  Took 2nd in the 1500 where he "tweaked" his hamstring.  So, what do you do when you tweak your hammy?  Of course, go out and run an amazing 800 meter and take 2nd place and score 8 more points for your TEAM.  Side note, all season he's been training with Tyler or more accurately, Ty's been training with him in order to get some speed.  (more on this later)
Steven wasn't the only distance kid to bring it... Shane Polley and Tyler earned points in the Steeple.  Ty got 2nd and Shane took 7th.  The 10k was grueling as usual.  Poor Aaron has been battling a back thing, but powered through the 25 laps for 4th.  Tim placed 6th, much better than expected and gritted through the middle like a champ with blood blisters to show for it.  My Trent ran this as well, didn't score a point, but PR'd and puked his guts out afterward, worthy of mention.

Day 2:  More excitement for our distance boys.  I already mentioned Mr. Acosta above, in the 1500 Taylor and Mark were also in attendance.  Both achieved maximum performance and scored points higher than expected.  I seriously screamed so loud in all these races it's beyond normal.  I realize I'm not the average "lovey mom", I scream encouragement mixed with challenges/orders... I know they most likely don't hear me, but I do it anyway.

Now, the only event left is the 5k. (we also had the 4x4, but for drama's sake, work with me)  We had 3 entries, Aaron, Tim and Tyler.  Ranked 10, 11 and 12 in a field of 12.  Not great odds.  Each kid had a goal of scoring, period!  Times aside, just race and score for the TEAM. We'd already won, easily, but they wanted to add to the score.  Gun goes off, racers start.  A pedestrian pace for a mile.  Then lap 5 the kid from Willamette pops off a 66.  Leaves the field.  The rest begin to adjust and the "pack" starts to trail off.  Race ensues, Tyler moves up a bit.  I'm watching with his old teammate Dusty and another alumni guy who I shall call "my victim".  Anyway, as things progress, we're getting down to the final laps, "my victim" is kinda doing this Howard Cosell play by play.  It's cool, cuz I'm not really focusing at this point.  Last lap:  Tyler is at 300 meters to go and in 6th, I think.  At this point, that's cool, remember, he just wanted to score and that's 8th.  "My victim" says "Dudley took 5th... oh my gosh, he's in 4th... (at this point I began jumping up and down and hitting "my victim" (thus the name))  and bless his heart, didn't skip a beat, even with the beating... he says "He took 3rd!"  We both jumped up and down screaming and starting running for the finish... it's all a bit of a blur, but basically, everybody rushed Ty, Mark was hugging him, Aaron was hugging him (btw, Aaron took 8th in a gallant effort with his horrible back and having already run his 10k)  It was the dream race for Ty's senior year Conference Meet.  I caught my breath, apologized to "my victim" and he was gracious, probably a bit scared (good instinct).  I still get a bit teary thinking of Tyler's amazing race.  The culmination of so many years of hard work when nobody was watching.  I must give the due credit to his buddy Acosta for the hours of training and teaching him speed.  Also to Toby who never gave up on Tyler tapping into his speed.  What an amazing coach Toby is.

That is the portion of the meet that was throwing, running, jumping and any other "ing" I'm leaving out.  The "perfection" part, however is the fact that my boys are on a TEAM that is getting it right.  Yes, they won, but that's not the perfect part, the part I love is on Friday night when all the seniors spoke and the theme was that at Whitworth, track and field isn't an individual sport, it's a TEAM sport and the things they learned weren't just how to be stronger and faster physically, it was about the relationships with each other and their spiritual journeys.  This is perfect.  My sons are on a TEAM who gets it.  Their coach is amazing and I couldn't ask for a better place for them at this season of their lives.  I'm so blessed that God directed them there.

This weekend left me with virtually no voice, a sunburn, a sore back (apparently, leaning over and screaming can make your back hurt when you're old) and a great appreciation for where my sons have landed.  Ty's about to take off from there as he graduates next month, but I feel confident that he'll be just fine with the foundation he received from there.

So, we didn't have a perfect game, we won't be in any hall of fame, but I sure wouldn't have missed it for the world.  Good job Bucs!  Way to represent!

Mama Duds