If you mow it they will run

On my way to Central Lake to do laundry, I happened on a whole lot of vehicles parked alongside M-88.  Naturally I had to investigate.  I followed the gravel drive up the hill and found an amazing panorama.  Someone had mowed the meadow below into a cross-country course, where high school runners in a dozen different team jerseys were warming up. 

Spectators lined the top of the hill.  Official Persons congregated under the banner at the finish line doing Official Stuff.  Wonderful smells wafted from the garage, where Kay McPherson was grilling hot dogs.  I went to talk to Kay.

It turns out that the crowd was at the McPherson place for the first annual Ryan Shay Cross-Country Invitational.  Now I do not follow sports much, but even I know about Ryan, the elite runner who graduated at the top of his Central Lake High School class, went on to become a nine-time NCAA All American at Notre Dame, and was in training for the 2008 Olympics last November when he died of a heart attack at 28.    

Ryan’s parents, Joe and Susan Shay, are coaches.  They know Kay and Mike McPherson and their six athletic children well.  Six or seven years ago, Kay told me, the Shays were visiting and stood at the top of the hill, looking out over the meadow.  “This would be a perfect place to hold a meet,” they said.  “You could see the whole thing!”  What a great idea.  So for the last six or seven years the McPherson place has been the home field for the Central Lake cross-country team.  Are their kids in cross-country?  Well, no.  The neighbor on the other side of the meadow agreed to allow the course to run through his property, too.  Are his kids . . . ?  Well, no.  But it was just such a good idea, and everybody helps, so it’s no trouble at all.  Kids need stuff like this.  Everybody’s kids.

On race days trucks and cars and school buses line M-88.  The big garage doors go up and Kay McPherson fires up the grill.  Parents and coaches and students pitch in.  The Masons help out.  Visiting teams help out.  Crowds gather at the top of the hill to watch. 

And so it was on Saturday, when the race was delayed by a thunderstorm.  About the time I got there, the rain had stopped and the kids were warming up.  I wandered off to talk to Kay and buy a hot dog from Ashley Brookins, one of four Central Lake cheerleaders who had come to help.  

By the time I got back to my viewing spot, the meet was almost over.  I could hear the coaches down on the field hollering encouragement.  “I know you’re tired – you can do it.  You can keep going.  You can finish.”  They told the kids they were capable and strong, that they had more inside them than they knew, that they could dig deep and find it.  But here’s the thing.  The kids they were encouraging?  They wore all different uniforms.  Sure, the coaches wanted their own teams to win.  But they wanted all the kids to succeed.  “You can do it!  Keep going!” 

Last Saturday in Central Lake, kids from Ellsworth and Mancelona and East Jordan and Boyne Falls and Mt. Pleasant and Johannesburg-Lewiston and Onaway came together to race on a rainy day in memory of Ryan Shay.  There were medals.  It turns out it takes a long time to figure it all out at a cross-country match.  The calculations went on in the McPhersons’ pole barn, and it was time for me to leave.  I had to consult the Petoskey News-Review to learn that the Ellsworth girls’ team and the Onaway boys’ team came in first.  But I left on Saturday knowing who won.  All of us. 

[Update 12/18/08: I just discovered Jim and Nancy Schoensee, freelance photographers who cover a lot of school events in Central Lake. Their site has many, many photos of this event in their Ryan Shay Invitational album.]

As always, click photos for larger versions.