Seniors’ Last Events

One of the most important things that I do as a coach is to greet seniors as soon as I can after they finish their last high school race. It takes some planning and my meet sheet is often marked with yellow highlights reminding me when a senior may be competing in the Irish uniform for the last time.

At the 2023 WCAL Finals, I went over to Peter Tang as soon as he finished his last race, a 1600. Peter started on the team in 2021, a season where we hardly trained and he often had to run with a mask on because of COVID. In Peter’s senior speech he talked about running 5:57 in his first 1600 that season and thinking that I was crazy for putting him in that event. Two years later, Peter’s time was down to 5:03 and he was going to make a last attempt to break five at WCAL Finals. He was on pace for two laps, but after three laps I could tell it was a longshot to make it. He crossed the line at 5:01.99. I knew he was aware that he had come up short. I was a little worried of the profanity that might ensue. I quickly went to Peter and before he could say anything, I told him I was proud of him. That he had come a long way from 5:57; all the way to taking a shot at breaking five. He should be proud to have PR’ed and run a 5:01 in his last race.

A month later at our awards banquet, Peter told everyone the story about this moment. He added that initially he was upset when he finished the race. But that my words that I was proud of him, made the pain of not breaking five just go away immediately.

At CCS Trials, Kendric Sanders ran his first sub-11 second 100 meter race in what would be his last race. Kendric had been chasing that sub-11 for three seasons. I was so happy for him. I pulled him aside to talk to him. I told him how happy I was for him, for getting that long coveted sub-11. And that he deserved it because of how he handled this season. At the start of the season, it was assumed Kendric would be our top sprinter, the main guy in the sprint squad. But Isaiah Keishk came along and turned out to be quite fast himself. The Kendric of junior year might have just packed it in. But senior year Kendric had the maturity to stick it out. He was unchanged by this new development when it came to interacting and pumping up his teammates. He still made us all laugh with his off the wall questions and comments during stretches. Teachers had remarked to me that he now looked them in the eye and had true conversations with them. He had grown up right before our eyes in this last year, and I wanted him to know how grateful I was for that. “That’s what I am going to remember about you,” I told him, “And I’m going to tell anyone who will listen that same story. The fact that you PR’ed and broke 11 in your last race is just the icing on the cake.”

I do spend a lot of time pre-thinking about what I want to do and what I want to say in these special moments. Often it doesn’t work out as planned. Or, I forget exactly what I wanted to say and end up winging it. But with Alanna O’Callaghan and Alyssa Boucher, it went exactly how I envisioned it.

They were in heat two of the Girls 1600. Alex and Cleo had just run and Alex fell at the start and their race was recalled. They both ran well and I was checking on them after their race and barely got my watch started for the second heat. Alanna and Alyssa had both had been training mostly for 800’s. Alanna had never broken 6:00 and Alyssa (who had a 5:59 PR) hadn’t run a 1600 this whole season. The goal was to break six in their last race. They were out fast and were doing a good job of holding the sub-6 pace. With just over a lap to go, they ran past me, and when I checked my watch I realized that they were both going to be way under 6:00.

That’s when I remembered that my plan was to cheer for them on the backstretch during their last lap, so I could yell to them that this was their last lap ever. But, I was on the finish line side. I started to sprint to the other side, with one hand trying to hold my leprechaun hat on my head as I ran. I decided that if the hat flew off, I would just let it go, because I wouldn’t have another chance to cheer them if I stopped to get the hat. I also located Alanna and decided where I should run to, so I would get to a good spot to cheer. I angled towards the 250 meters to go mark, arriving at the spot just seconds before Alanna got there. I caught my breath and then yelled to her that this was her last lap and to give it all she had. A few seconds later, Alyssa ran by and I said the same thing. Then it was back to the finish line side to watch them finish their last races with PRs of 5:44 and 5:50.

I headed to the finish line area and there were several teammates there (including Rell who had just run 5:42 herself) hugging each other. I made my way to Alyssa first and gave her a hug. “Your unwillingness to ever quit is going to serve you well in life,” I told her. Alanna was then standing right there, sort of waiting her turn. We hugged and I choked up and barely got my planned words out, “Most likely to come back and coach with me at SHC, Alanna O’Callaghan.”

Their last lap and our interaction immediately after the race, was exactly how I had scripted it out in my mind beforehand. I am grateful that in this instance it played out just as I had planned. It was a storybook moment. Thanks to our amazing photographers there are even pictures of.

An athlete is on the SHC team for four years at the most. Their final times and PRs come and go, and are usually forgotten over time. But the special words in these final moments as coach and athlete, can stay with us forever.