MBA JS XC Manages Mutual Fund

Patience is a currency for distance runners. The MBA JS XCers had no shortage of it this season. For two months they endured miles and miles of putting one foot (not quite but almost) in front of the other. Interminable lectures from Coach Reynolds about bad rhymes, hawks, and maglev bullet trains tested and tempered their patience again and again. They also had to wait through the hottest preseason on record and a heat-cancelled meet before they could even compete. Today, having qualified for the faster HVAC AA Division finals, they had no trouble waiting out the rain before competing for the championship against the top teams in the conference.

 

At a surprisingly unsoggy and sweet smelling USN River Campus, the Big Red sheltered at their traditional HQ away from the crush of the notoriously raucous cross country fans. Familiar with the traditional team HQ, a faction of former JS XC runners (aka current varsity runners) made their way over to share some encouraging words before the race. (Coach Russ apparently had them run an easy 13 miles down Briley Pkwy. for the occasion.) At one point even Coach Bailey emerged from the treeline to share his wisdom (and remove a treacherous soccer ball from the course). As final preparation before heading to the start line, Coach Anderson arrived to ensure everyone's uniforms were neatly tucked in. (Luckily, we had just disabused one runner of the idea that running without a uniform would be more aerodynamic.) The wait was over. It was time to run.

 

Little did the competition know that MBA had a huge trick up its slightly huger sleeve: the Big Red had stockpiled 37.9 pounds of candy. Mashing about as hard as you can mash on the delayed gratification button, the XCers raided the MBA bake sale over the last two days and then proceeded directly to the "bake sale bank" in Coach Reynolds' office to make a deposit. Because they knew consuming mass quantities of sugar in championship week would derail all their training, they forwent (yes, real word) sugar rush/crash roller coasters. (Somewhat inexplicably, one runner purchased Cookie Dough Bites, possibly the "food" embodiment of instant gratification. It's much better if you wait to bake that stuff!) They'd make withdrawals immediately after the meet in favor of running scorching fast times during the meet. And run scorching fast times they did!! 

 

On average, the squad netted 48 seconds of interest on their previous season bests. Having deposited 11:44 as his previous best, Wyatt Selph took home a return of 33 seconds by running 11:18 and claimed 2nd place overall. Sebastian Muller invested in some risky (but rewardy) dance moves while donning his spikes which yielded a 46-second PR of 11:28. Carl King and William King saw squirrel-chasing futures on the rise and ran 30+ second PRs of 11:44. As ever, Tucker Robbins astutely watched the market and also invested in the rocketing squirrel futures to finish at 11:44. Even though he finished outside the scoring top five, Ethan Taber made their times possible. After leading them throughout the race to those fast times, he definitely deserves his accidentally awarded top 10 medal. Speaking of the top 10 spots, the Big Red earned five of them. These patient, disciplined runners, together with the vitally important pushers/displacers (technical terms) Cason Wilbert and Luke Savoie, helped MBA definitively win the 2023 HVAC championship! 

 

The celebration began with everyone making withdrawals from the bake sale bank.