The Clarion November 22, 1988 Page 5
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The view from the bridge over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho gives
you a good idea of where the XC teams had to run. The course is to the
left of the river down in the canyon. Before the Nov. 12 race, BC runners
pose for a group shot in the biting wind: left to right, front to back. Brad
Dodson, Jeff Pajak, Saul Laird, Marjorie Hawk, Shawn Young, Coach
Dave Rinker, Jodi Higgins, Alice Gaines. Brandy Truitt, Kelli George,
Geoff Moore, Scott Dvorak and Ted Fort. (BC News Bureau photos)
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(spaces between runners) of any race this
year. The men would have had to have run
a great team race to have won” because
this year’s field was so tough, and because
everybody was gunning for BC, he said.
“Mentally, it was really difficult for the
men,” Rinker said. “We had a lot of high
expectations...there’s no excuse of course,
because we definitely got beat...but we
didn’t run as well as we could have.”
Before the race Rinker said he told his
women’s team: “if we come back with a
trophy, it’ll be a successful trip.” To that
end, his women succeeded; it was only
disappointed because the women came so
close to winning it all, he said.
MEN’S RACE
Saturday dawned cold and drab, but
mercifully without the wind of the previous
day; fine weather for runners but poor for
spectators. The course, laid out on a roll
ing golf course in the flood plain of the coil
ing Snake River, covered five miles of fair
ways, paths and sandy roads beneath the
500-foot-tall brooding canyon walls.
At the sound of the gun, 205 top junior
college runners, spread across 50 yards at
the starting line, lept forward over the wet
grass and took off on the run of their life.
Quickly, dominant runners from South
Plains (of Texas) Central Arizona and
Central Oregon established themselves in
the lead at the one-mile mark.
Running in a cold drizzle to the finish
line, it was Hussein in first with a 25:14
time, followed closely by teammate Ber
nardo Barrios with 25:15 and Lomnyaka
Loiboku of Essex (N.J.) in third with a
25:16.
Runners from Central Arizona, Central
Oregon and South Plains dominated the
top 25, although BC placed three in that
coveted All-American category: Scott
Dvorak in sixth with 25:45, Geoff Moore in
18th with 26:09 and Brad Dodson in 22nd
with 26:13.
BC runners Jeff Pajak (34th) and Shawn
Young (35th) hit the line a second apart at
26:39 and 26:40 respectively. Saul Laird
finished 88th with a 27:31; and the ailing
Ted Fort finished 137th and a 28:18 time.
When the smoke cleared. Central
Arizona’s low score of 24 won it, followed
by Central Oregon in second with 72 points,
South Plains in third with 80, and BC fourth
with 114. “Fourth place is an excellent
job,” Rinker said philosophically, “but it’s
not THE job. Central Arizona ran the race
we ran last year” at nationals when the
Tornadoes “gapped” the competition.
Scott Dvorak, praised by Rinker for run
ning “an excellent race,” said the course
was deceivingly difficult. “It beat up on
me, he said. Shawn Moore agreed, “That
last mile was pure hell.”
WOMEN’S RACE
The women’s lead pack took off quickly
— too quickly, Rinker said, and that wore
out many of the leaders. Alice Gaines of
BC ran a smart race, holding back until
about the one to two mile mark when she
began picking off her competition, one by
one.
“I kept thinking up there in that lead
pack: I want this! I want this!” Alice said
after the race.
By the two-mile mark, she was in the
lead pack, and rounding the last turn and
taking a “heartbreak hill,” Gaines recall
ed “I was thinking about the hill at
Strauss— we’ve done so many hills I can
do this!”
And then she heard competitior Lynn
Ziegler of Hagerstown hit the wall. Said
Gaines: “When I heard her say, i can’t! I
can’t!’ on that last hill, that’s when I knew
I could do it.”
Gaines kicked past her opposition and
blew in for the win 30 yards in front of
runner-up Jennifer Mullen of Johnson
County Community College.
When she crossed the finish line, she fell
into the welcoming arms of many of the BC
men’s team members there to cheer her
on. Receiving hugs and tears from team
mates. men and women alike, she cried, I
can’t believe it, I just can’t believe it.”
As her teammates finished behind her,
they too learned of the victory and ran to
embrace Gaines in the finish line throng.
Coach Dave Rinker, who also coached
Gaines during her freshman year at
Blacksburg High School, was especially
pleased. “I told her this summer don’t con
centrate on winning the national cham
pionship, but don’t be surprised if in the
last mile you’re in the top five,” he said
beaming. “I knew she would be the best
we’ve ever had.”
Repeating as an All-American along
with Gaines, Marjorie Hawk finished se
cond for BC in 16th with a 19:12, followed
by: Jodi Higgins in 37th with 19:52, Kelli
George in 52nd with a 20:10 and Brandy
Truitt in 75th with 20:41.
The women’s team championship went
to top-ranked Ricks (Idaho) with 105,
followed by Central Oregon in second with
116, Johnson County Community College
with 135, and BC in fourth — just one point
out-with 136.
After flying out of fog-bound Asheville
airport Wednesday morninc the BC har
riers had traveled over the snowcapped
Wasatch mountains of Utah, landing in
Salt Lake City and driving four hours north
into the treeless, barren hills of Idaho.
“Boy!” exclaimed Brad Dodson, “and I
thought I lived in the boonies.”
Upon arriving after dark in Twin Falls,
where they were greeted by the Holiday
Inn roadside sign: “Welcome BC XC
teams. $1.00 margaritas” — the runners
immediately took to the streets for a
warm-up run.
For the next two days, the runners train
ed twice a day, took in some sightseeing,
studied, went to a rodeo, and scouted the
race course in the Snake River Canyon-the
same place where Evel Knievel attempted
his ill-fated motorcycle jump in 1984.
The BC teams arrived home Sunday
night, Nov. 14, greeted by a welcoming
crowd of fans, friends, family and college
officials including President Greer.
from BC News Bureau
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Coach Rinker tells Alice Gaines, “I knew you could do ft.”