MBA JS XC Marks the Spot

Among all the professions, cartography is probably the worst. Maps and their reprobate renderers are supposed to help you find things, but they consistently underperform. Where’s the map to my car keys, huh? What about a map leading to the end of the rainbow? What about a map of Coach Paolicchi’s secret shortcut to Harlinsdale Farm? Why aren’t cartographers doing their job? Let’s not be too hard on mapmakers though. Some things just get lost, and no map (not even the magical Marauder’s Map) can lead the way. Such was the case for the race at Harlinsdale Farm today. For instance, we lost all of the 7th graders. They’re known to wander off from time to time, so we’re not too worried. The polo horses and gnats we met last year were also missing today. In the girls’ race, several runners got lost on their way to the finish line as they veered wildly off course around the wrong side of a barn. Daniel McLaren, who never even found his breakfast this morning, said he nearly lost his lunch during the race. Even the bathrooms had hidden themselves away in a distant barn, but Ben Carpenter sniffed them out. Also lost in another of the 87 barns on the property was a groundhog named Kevin. During our warmup laps around Barn 37, he simply disappeared into his hole right under an ancient baler rusting away in the barn’s shadow. Even though we had lost Kevin, he had found his home. The runners seemed to find hope in this paradoxical reality as they approached the start line. Based on the fast race results, the course itself must’ve lost a few tenths of a mile. With an additional four teams joining the original five scheduled to run today, each turn felt tighter with tons of runners trying to find their position. Those tighter turns might have squeezed the map into something shorter than 2 miles. Having no trouble finding their way to the finish, our top seven runners were “Drop the” Hamer Haun (12:32), Alex “Phil” Kaegi (12:21), Ben “Bloodhound” Carpenter (12:19), Max “Pizza” Dougherty (12:17), Wyatt “Earp” Welhoelter (11:59), Harry Connelly”-ick, Jr.” (11:44), and Cade “Kevin” Sturdivant (10:53). These guys claimed 7 of the top 10 spots. Sometimes you lose things…but not races at Harlinsdale. MBA claimed the victory with a team score of 26. Very special thanks to Sam Layne’s mom for finding her way to the team camped out by Barn 54 where she brought some refreshing oranges and Gatorades. Thanks as well to Bzur Haun, whose stellar, detailed photography could be extremely useful to the cartographers who’ll have to remeasure their map of the course. https://adobe.ly/3C0IMc3 --