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The curse of the gold medal
May 6, 2008As promised, here is the story of how I have cursed our area track athletes.
Three years ago, I went down to Austin to cover my first state track meet. The year before (I was graduating from MSU, so I was not able to attend) nobody from our area won a gold medal -- a real rarity.
So in my first event of the morning, Graham's Dan Schmidt wins gold in the 3A discus. I thought gold medals were the norm. I waited to write about my second gold medal that weekend.
And I have been waiting three years.
Practically three state meets (and 102 competitors/relays from our area) later, and I am still waiting on someone from this area to win a gold medal.
But boy, have there been some close calls.
In 2005, both Jamilla Ward and the Knox City girls 4x100 relay teams got nipped at the wire and barely took second.
Even more memorable that year was how much of a lead the Knox City boys 4x200 had until the final 200 meters, when they dropped the baton on the last exchange.
The next year, even Schmidt failed to defend his gold, finishing in second place. I also remember a couple more close seconds in the 100, and Megan Liss of Petrolia was leading the mile before a late charge on the last lap.
There are even more vivid examples in 2007. Mallory Schenk of Windthorst took second after a series of jump-offs.
Casey Keeter of Olney was one throw away from gold -- he was finished but one guy had one more toss left -- and that guy surpassed Keeter, who took second.
And after telling Graham sports writer Clay Stewart about my gold-medal spell, he came running up to me when Nichole Jones of Holliday had a sizeable lead on the last straightaway in the 800.
This would surely end the drought. But some girl out of nowhere edged Jones at the line.
Out of those 102 competitors, 10 have entered state with the best regional times/distances. So there have been lots of worthy contenders, and I will say there are usually 10-12 athletes from this area who bring home silver and bronze medals every year, which is great.
So I guess we will see if anyone is golden this week from the state track meet, which I will be blogging from when I get the chance.
And one last thing
This probably is not the best forum to write this, but I wanted to give my condolences to the family of Olney's Jeff Taylor.
Taylor passed away on Sunday at the age of 19. I had never talked to the guy, but I had seen him play for the Cubs for two seasons.
He made my Red River 22 team twice, and he was one of those linebackers who was always in the right spot. He may have not been the fastest, but he was strong and could make plenty of plays.
In 2005, he led the entire area in tackles. He also played baseball, and sounded like a class act. I am sure the entire town of Olney is in grieving mode right now, and everyone should keep the Taylors and the community in their prayers.
Rest in peace, Jeff.
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