Bursting the Bubble

No, this posting is not about the "mortgage crisis".

Today was the Nebraska state high school track meet. Among other things, this meant that my school (Omaha Central High) again vied for another state title. You see, we have won 5 state titles in the last 3 years. We have won state basketball the last 3 years in a row, the boys' state track title last year, and the state football title earlier this school year. We were the first class A school in the state to hold 3 major state titles in the same calendar year. This is primarily due to the class of student athletes that have come through the school the last few years.

Early in the year expectations ran high. Would we continue the tradition? Would we win a second boys' state track title in a row? Would we finish out the year winning football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and track in the spring? We definitely possessed the talent to pull it off. All but a couple major players from last year's track team had returned this year. In fact, we were faster than ever. Just before track season, though, two of our key components declared that they would not be participating in track. They both signed to play football for Iowa State next year, and they wanted to focus on preparing for that. This made our almost sure state title a virtual pipe dream. We still had speed, but our relay crews were decimated.

In the district meet we did well and a larger than expected group of our runners qualified for state. A glimpse of hope remained. If everyone stayed healthy and really stepped up we still had an outside shot at brining home the title. If nothing else, we looked good to make a convincing run for runner-up.

Day one of the state competition was positive. Our runners did great in the preliminaries. We had good lane assignments going into the finals. We had enough individual and team competitors to earn the points necessary to win the gold.

Day two was beautiful. Clear skies. Sunshine. A light breeze. Then, things began to turn against us. One of our fastest relayers hurt his leg in the triple jump the day before. He also was slotted to run the 110-meter hurdles early today and exacerbated his injury. He was knocked out of the relays for the afternoon. Our other "lock" for event points in the 300-meter dash false-started and was disqualified. We did walk away with several individual wins, but our team points suffered. Our wave of state title victories crashed upon the rocks. Stunned, we packed up and headed home.

Thus another chapter in great high school sports history has come to a close. Yes, I will still look up at the 5 trophies in my office from the last 3 years with satisfaction. But, the expectant conversations of, "Where will you put the next trophy," will not be heard any more this year. We must reflect on what was -- and almost was. And, if you listen closely, you can almost hear the distant din of preparations for next season. A month from now the dormant turf will once again be alive with football camps and endless drills. August will arrive and 11 tough and readied bodies will take the field. The crowd will look with anticipation and dare to dream again. Then you will hear the chant. Faint at first, but slowly growing, "Just like last year... just like last year... just like last year..."