by Scott Sacry
If you’re a fan of sports and competition, do yourself a favor and go to a cross country meet.
I’m a traditional American sports fan. I put football first, basketball second, baseball or soccer third, then the rest fill in behind.
So I’m coming late to the cross country party.
Cross country checks all the boxes for an entertaining, competitive spectator sport. There are high level athletes pushing themselves and their opponents to their limits; there is the underlying unpredictability of the outcome; there are records being broken both personal and beyond; and in real time you see the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. But, intertwined in all of this, there is something larger at play. There is something different about a cross country meet.
Runners from different teams encourage each other, opposing coaches cheer on their runners as well as opposing runners, parents cheer everyone, not just their child or their child’s team. It’s positive, it’s encouraging, it’s uplifting. It’s different.
We’ve all seen the bad side of high school sports: parents yelling at kids, parents yelling at refs, players taunting and fighting with each other, coaches losing their minds with players and officials. We’ve all seen parents brawling at little league games.
You don’t see this level of vitriol at a cross country event.
The first place finisher gets the same adulation as the last place finisher. There is no doubt that the runners are highly competitive and want to win, but there is a sense of kinship and camaraderie that is lacking in other sports.
The Hamilton Invitational meet at the Daly Mansion on October 3 is a prime example of this. In the varsity girls race, Polson’s Morgan Delaney and Hamilton’s Aleigha Child raced out to the front of the pack and fought for the lead as they wound their way through the historic grounds.
Delaney, a favorite to win the Class A state crown later this month, gradually pulled ahead and got the win, while Child held strong for second. After crossing the finish line, Delaney turned around and waited for Child to finish and congratulated her, then did the same as the other runners finished. This showing of respect from the winner is lacking in sports today, where the norm is to taunt and belittle a defeated opponent.
Maybe cross country has its own issues and problems just like any other activity, but, overall, it just feels different, and sports fans could learn something from it.
So, if you’re a fan of competition and sports, do yourself a favor and go to a cross country meet. The 2024 State Cross Country Meet would be a good place to start. It will be held this year at the University Golf Course in Missoula on October 26.