Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1987, Page 87

Description:	3 points avert semi-state disasterCourage, desire payThis year was the first time infour years that we made it tostate, said coach Larry Williams.We had really fine performancesfrom Morris, Stryker, Velasco, andDave Fink at semi-state. It was because of their runs that we advanced to state.Geoff NordlohNordloh consistently ran first forthe team. Winning almost everyrace, becoming the first South runner to win Sectional since statechamp Eric Rush won four yearsago.Although the team did have alow spot in mid-season, theyreached a turning point after theManchester Invitational and wereback in stride by conference time,according to Williams. We weresick for awhile, he said, but ifanyone had a bad day there wasalways someone else to fill theirplace. There were five or six runners who ran close for us all seasonand placings switched from meetto meet.Staggering the last 30 yards inthe semi-state race, junior GeoffNordloh scored the three pointsthat assured the boys cross country team a berth in the state tournament. Nordloh became dehydrated and collapsed shy of the 3.2mile courses finish line, losingwhat could have been an eighthplace finish.It was so close to the finishwhen Geoff went down, said senior Ed Morris. It didnt really occur to me that he had dehydrated. Ijust thought that he had tripped. Isaid to him as I went by, Geoff getup, dont just lay there. Youve gotto finish. He says thats the lastthing he remembers hearing. Hemade it in and I didnt find out until20 minutes after my race that hedEd MorrisGeoff get up,dont just laythere. Youve gotto finish.Rob Velasco. . . if Geoffhadnt finished,we wouldnt havegone to state.dehydrated and they were takinghim to the hospital.He (Nordloh) just ran too hardand got exhausted, said Rob Velasco, team captain. But if Geoffhadnt finished we wouldnt havegone to state.Team members scoring at semi-state were Morris, Velasco, TonyElison, and Matt Stryker, placing14th, 20th, 28th, and 44th, respectively. Nordloh placed 29th.This years team was a realteam, Velasco said. We had trueteam unity and we were all working toward the same goal as a team.We worked together more thanpast years. We had more successthan Id ever imagined. I knew wewould be good but I wasnt reallysure if we were state material. Itwasnt that we were more talented,we were just very competitive.And, we supported each other.The team was really close thisyear, Williams said. There waskind of a friendly rivalry. I was really pleased with our senior leadership and the good summerswork they all put in.Hours of running to achieve topphysical conditioning and a tremendous team spirit really paid off.Boys Cross Country 87
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/2736
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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