Wednesday, 9/03/08 (a)

Matt had been looking forward to the Cougars first cross-country meet like he had looked forward to the rare blind dates he'd been set up on in college ... didn't figure to end happily but it would at least be interesting to see what would happen. And as they drove over, he started to catch some of that competitive fever he associated w/ longish rides in a spacious school bus. He just wished it was something he understood better ... he could fire up a squad, but he really didn't think that would help any of the runners on his team who sure appeared to be a dispassionate group.

In the bus over, the squad split up mostly by classes. The seniors (Kory and Mark) sat in the back. The juniors (Jake, Joe, and Nick) clustered in the middle and were the most boisterous on the bus. D.J. sat by himself listening to his iPod in the seat behind Matt. He appeared to be the only one who was in a focused competition mindset. Jorge sat opposite D.J. and stared out the window the whole way. Matt occasionally tried to engage him in a conversation, but it never quite caught fire.

They got to Rose Hill at about ten minutes before four. They were greeted by the Raiders athletic director (Steve Pasch) who took Matt for a quick walk-through of the course while the Cougar runners jogged a warmup. Watching the Rose Hill J.V. runners blaze past him on the two-loop course, it was confirmed for Matt that Clover Valley was in over their head here.

"Ugh. This is going to be the running equivalent of UNC vs. UNC-Pembroke."