By Michael Newman, DyeStat Illinois Editor

Chapter 16: T-minus 24 hours

My Friday morning was hectic. I woke up early and I got a quick jog in at home. My mom drove me to school. I was only going to my first three classes and then head back home to get my gear. I would get a quick bite and then head back to school. I did not want to go to lunch at that school. It was that comfort level thing. But then again, why start now because it was the day before state.

We all wore green jackets, ties, grey slacks. I went to class. I was there but I was not. I finished my third period English class and I headed for home. A PB & J and I was set. I made it back to the school with ten minutes to spare. The rest of the team was just entering the lobby. Mr. Newton was sitting at his desk with lists of which car we would be in. Just like everything else that we did, everything had to work like clockwork. On Wednesday, we received an itinerary for the weekend from Mr. Newton that our parents would get as well. Everything that we did in Peoria was scheduled down to the minute. He had done this for years. I found out later when I would go down as one of the adults with Mr. Newton it was better to keep this tight schedule so that the athletes did not have to think about the race on Saturday.

The note not only had a schedule but a few things of inspiration. He asked us to read that again before we headed to the cars. The meeting was brief. We headed to our respective cars to put our bags in. I was riding again with Mr. Dunham. The atmosphere in that car was a little looser than the car that Mr. Newton was driving. The one rule that applied to all the cars was that everyone kept their sport coats on all the way down on the drive. We did not want to get in trouble to breaking that one simple rule.

There were a ton of students that were at the front of the gym to cheer us off to Peoria. Some of the teachers would take their classes down to do that. It was a weird thing but nice of them to do. We knew that this not only was a big weekend for us, but also for the school.

We knew everything that we did while we were down there would be under a microscope from people that would see us to other teams. Newton told us that before we left the lobby.

We got out of the school drive five minutes late. It was nothing to worry about since Mr. Newton would always have delays like that scheduled into the itinerary. As Mr. Dunham drove out, I pulled out my tape recorder. On came the Chicken tape. Dunham chuckled as the song came on. After two minutes, Rags sitting in the seat turned around and looked at me with a smile. I turned off the tape. I got the idea.

When the York team gets down to Peoria, it is all about changing clothes, getting in vehicles, and getting to the next destination. It was non-stop action by the time we checked into the hotel. In my junior and senior year, we stayed at VonAchon’s Junction City Lodge which was 10 minutes from Detweiller.

As Mr. Newton checked us in, we would get all the bags out of the car. There were four vehicles, four adults, 12 athletes and two managers that would be on the trip. Newton had all of that organized on a chart. He had room assignments for every person. He gave us our keys. We had twenty minutes to get changed and get back down to the lobby. We had four sophomores that came down as alternates. During the week, we kind of hinted at them the routine that we would be going through. The less aggravations for us and for Mr. Newton, everything would be okay.

Everyone was in the lobby early. Since that happened, we all headed for the cars and to Detweiller Park. We were ahead of schedule. We could not believe that.

It was a simple thing when we got to the park. Mr. Newton and the rest of the adults would go get our numbers and check in. We would head to the starting line and get our three mile warm up in. It was an easy run to get the cobwebs out of our heads and legs. The drive down did not do my left leg any good. It was hurting before I left for the park. I took some aspirin before we left for the park hoping that it would help just a little. By the end of the warm-up, it had loosened up. That was a good thing.

Our team area was always under this huge tree half way up the final straight towards the finish. As we finished the end of the warm up, Mr. Newton called us over for a quick meeting as we started to stretch. We found out our box assignment. We were in Box 12 which was on the inside of the course. It meant that it would be a tight turn for us if we went straight for the flag that designated the start of that squared turn. You would go 500 yards heading north, then make a sweeping 180 degree turn and head the other direction. There have been many injuries that have occurred on that turn. Many state meets have been lost by going on the inside.

He told us that we would be taking a thousand and one and then veering to the right so that we would get to the outside of that first turn. We had done this earlier in the year at the invite and had no problems getting to the outside. The problem was in that meet that we got out too slow.

We went to the starting line where we would do 6 x 220’s from our box. There were only two races that would be happening on Saturday so there were not a ton of teams there like there is now. Gary Goss went with us to the starting line and would yell out go. We would pause one second as a group and then head out. No one really noticed that we were practicing that. They saw us heading towards Mr. Newton and did not think anything was different.

We would hit the 200’s in 32 like we had been doing on the track at York for the last few weeks. Each time we would finish, he would ask Willie if it went okay. He would say yes even though a couple of the times, a few of us would jump. Every time we got back to the line, we reminded each other of what we needed to do.

After the third one, Newton told us to veer to the right on the fourth 220 like we would tomorrow. No one would really recognize this. There were teams out there so it would look like we were avoiding them. Newton non chalantly moved over to where he wanted us to run.

The last three were smooth. He asked each one of us if we were okay with it. We all nodded. I knew in my head that I was staying with the team this time. I learned my lesson at the invitational.

We were able to do a cool-down. I bought a program and a state meet t-shirt before I left. I wanted to see where the other teams were. We lucked out with our Box assignment. Willowbrook was assigned Box 4. That was worse than us. We saw that Prospect and Fremd were on the outside in Boxes 28 and 32. Thornridge was on the inside in Box 14 next to us. Glenbard West was in 16. Maine East was in our inside in Box 7. I closed the program. That is all I wanted to see at that moment.

We headed back to the hotel. Henry got to use the shower first. I hopped in after he was done. We changed from our workout gear back into our suits. We went to a restaurant that had a buffet so we could choose what we wanted. We were lucky that we were in a secluded area away from the rest of the restaurant. It was a private time that we liked. We could joke a little within reason. We could relax just a little bit.

We were hungry but all of us were amazed how much Mr. Newton was eating. He kept going back for more and more. It got us laughing. He was joking to us how good the food was. Seeing him relaxed just loosened us up just a little more.

After Mr. Newton was done and saw that we were finished, he looked at his watch and told us that we needed to be at the lobby by 6:20. The movie theatre that we were going to was 15 minutes away. We wanted to make sure that we go there early. He was leaving nothing to chance this evening.

We started to walk out of the restaurant. We passed a table where all of the Prospect runners were sitting. We did not say a word as we walked pass them. We could hear them laughing at us for the way that we looked and the way we dressed. We just kept walking. All except Jeff O’Rourke.

The mighty “O” was only a freshman, but he was one of the managers that Mr. Newton had that kept the York machine running. Even after he graduated, he was involved in helping out Mr. Newton in one way or the other. There were a number of times that he would go down with the team as an adult chaperone. He became one of Newton’s entourage. That is a story for another day. As a freshman, O was short. I do not know what his height was that year, but he was short.

We kept walking. O and another manager Gary Vance stopped.

“Laugh now,” he told the Prospect team. “Because, we will have the last laugh tomorrow.” It was one of those legendary moments in York folklore. He was in our car and told us what he said. Newton is leading us out of the restaurant and did not hear that. Mr. Dunham told Newton that after we got back to the hotel. For some reason, Newton was not mad.

We headed back to the hotel. It was another wardrobe change as we changed out of our sport coats and into casual attire. For me, it was a pair of jeans and a casual shirt. David and I sat in the room looking for something to watch on TV. We had a few minutes to kill before we went to the lobby for the movie. We then heard noise in the hallway.

It was Newton. I looked out the door. Heds and Willie looked out their door as well. We just shrugged and got our coats on. We figured we better get down in the lobby. We thought we were late.

We were not late. In fact we were early.

One of the traditions of York back then was some of the seniors would mess up one of the underclassmen alternate’s room. This year, Wags and Rags thought that it was their turn to follow the tradition. The year before at Nationals in Bloomington, Indiana, some of the seniors knocked on the door wanting to get into our room. We refused to open the door knowing what was going to happen.

Wags and Rags told the four sophomores that were on the trip as alternates, Rick Seyferlich, Al Taira, Tony Yang, and Rich Seyferlich, to meet in the one of the sophomore’s rooms as soon as they changed. They were majorly set up. Silly sophomores. Wags and Rags entered the room and went about trashing it. Beds were turned upside down. The room was a mess.

The problem was the room was on the second floor and was situated right over the front desk. It prompted a call to Mr. Newton. Newton went to check on the room. He saw the mess. We were about to see vintage Newton in action.

Newton was yelling at the hallway at the seniors. He was this close to telling us to pack our bags because we were heading back to Elmhurst.

“To hell with all the seniors,” he said as we headed outside. “We are going to be the only team in state history to qualify for the state meet that will only have two runners on the starting line.”

He was going to run Henry and me and that was it. He was mad. The seniors had already apologized to him in private but that did not stop him from continuing to go off. He had made his point in the past and we understood this. For a matter of the next hour, we did not know what was going to happen next. We were all scared. We all thought that there was no chance that we would be running the next day. That is how angry he was.

He told us just to get into the cars. Thank goodness I was not in Newton’s car. Our car was absolutely quiet. No words, glances, no expressions from any of us. That looseness that we had at the restaurant had all but vanished. We got to the theater and got our tickets. We entered as a team and sat far away from Newton and the adults. We needed that buffer space. The top eight sat in the same row. The sophomores and two managers sat behind us.

The movie previews started. Then the opening credits. The movie that Newton and the seniors had chosen to see before the blow up was “Animal House.”

None of us knew what the movie was about. The movie that we chose either needed to be a comedy or an action pic that would loosen us up. We had heard that this movie was a comedy.

There were not many laughs coming from us. We wanted to laugh but we did not know what the reaction would be from the adults.

It did not take long before there was a scene where John Belushi was on a ladder. I think you know what I mean without going into graphic detail. When Belushi fell to the ground on that ladder, we heard in the background this loud chuckle then laugher.

“Oh Mr. Dunham, did you see that,” Newton blurted out. He then started laughing. It is a distinctive laugh. Some of us looked back and then we started laughing. If he was laughing, it almost gave us permission to laugh.

That movie had so many laughs. We left the theater loose as can be. Newton was as well but we were not going to chance it. Just let me say that we had a better sense that all systems were go for the next day.

We got back to the room and changed into our sleeping garb. For me, it was a t-shirt and shorts. Henry and I opened up the banana bread that my mom had made and started feasting on that. As we were doing that, we started coming up with predictions of who would be in the top 25. Heds and Willie were in the next room. There was a door that separated us but we could slide paper under the door. Since we had a program, we started writing numbers down of the guys we thought should be in the top 25. We used the junior theme that we preached all year and selected just juniors except for all of the York top 7 and a few West Suburban Conference guys. We were just trying to make sure that they were paying attention. We heard them laughing in the other room as they were decoding our little list.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. It was Newton making sure that we were ready for bed. He told us that we would get a wake-up call at 6:30 the next morning. We would have 15 minutes to be in the lobby. We would then head across the street to a golf course where we would do our morning jog together.

He then told us to get some sleep. “Dream big things,” was the last thing he told us as he closed the door.

He did not have to tell us that. My head hit the pillow. I was motionless on that bed for a second. I then drifted to sleep. I was wondering that when I woke up if my dreams would come true.