The Thrill of Victory & The Agony of Defeat at the Idaho State track Meet

Eye-witness | May 28, 2003 | Jeff Head

[Jeff Head]

Late last week the State of Idaho held its State track meet in Boise at the Boise State Stadium. My son and several of his team mates from Emmett were in attendance. Emmett took overall 3rd place at State and my son came home with three medals, 5th in the open 400M, 4th in the 4X400M relay and 2nd in the Medley relay.

I got a lot of great pictures but will not bother you with all of them taken by a proud dad. I did think you would find these two interesting though ...

THE THRILL OF VICTORY

Emmett 300M girls hurdler (top) eaks out last years State Champ at the finish line by two one-hundredths of a second.

THE AGONY OF DEFEAT

The leader (to that point) in the boys 300M hurdles falls 3 Meters short of the finish line allowing Emmett to take the State Championship.

Aren't those awesome? Taken with my HP 315 digital camera.

Some real lifes lessons in those pics. A magnificent effort by the Emmett girl (my son took her to prom) where she caught up at the very last and with a tremendous stretch literally nosed out the other girl.

The young man who won the hurdles (who is also on my sons 4X400 and Medley relay teams) told me later, "Mr. Head, I really didn't feel I deserved that win."

My response was, "Of course you did. You ran hard all year and in that race to be in the 2nd place slot coming down the stretch where you could take advantage of the mistake. They don't give medals for winning the 297 M hurdles, you have to win at the 300M finish line."

The boy from Burley, Idaho who fell is a tremendous athlete. He got up and finished fourth (there were two other runners right behind them). I understand he will be on a full ride scholarship at college, he remains very taleneted and but for one small mistake would be the State Chanp, and has every opportunity to pick himself up and do very well in college sports ... and I bet he does.

Anyhow, thought some might be interested.

[Jeff Head]

Had to get these two pics posted somewhere for comment.

[Jeff Head]

FYI, some good pics from our state track meet.

Jeff

[Carolina]

Congratulations to your son, Jeff. You're not proud of him, are you? ;)

[Triple]

Thanks.

[Alamo-Girl]

Congratulations to you and your son and family! Thank you so much for the post! But, er should it be "agony of de feet?" LOL!

[Eastbound]

Thanks for the ping! Great pix, Jeff. I'd be proud too.

[Jeff Head]

I had to work real hard not to post the 16 pictures I have of him in that meet, doing his thing!

The medley run where they won 2nd place in State was a new school record (by three seconds) and the 4X400 was also a new school record, in addition to being 4th in state. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams were all neck and neck and my son ran the 400 M leg. It was his best 400 M in his high school career and had them in second place when he handed off the baton. Heck of a way to end his high school sports.

But, no... I'm not proud or anything...hehehe.

[Registered]

Jeff, you look like an auctioneer in that pic on the right!

[Jeff Head]

I actually thought about that line. The one who fell barely nicked the last hurdle (at least it appeared that way to me) and came down a little off balance. His next stride was way off balance and he went down. Sad way to lose what otherwise was a tremendous run. He was a stride and a half ahead of the Emmett boy, but the Emmett boy didn't fall down.

[Jeff Head]

You're welcome. Some great competition and real heart in those kids. Gives one hope about the future.

[Jeff Head]

LOL! The one on the left was at a speech I gave at the 1999 March for Liberty in Washington DC. The one on the right was my acceptance of the 2001 Freeper of the Year Award in Vegas.

Unless I'm sitting in Church...if you don't see one of my old cowboy hats, it's most likely not me.

[Jeff Head]

Thanks East...I am proud of my son. He's been a good kid. Straight arrow, model of the scout motto and oath. He has a great and full life in front of him and I believe we have prepared him as best we could for it.

He's number four...we had three daughters in front of him. Now we've got Jared to go (who many on FR recognize from his riding shotgun with his dad on so many activities), and he's following in his brother's footsteps.

[Alamo-Girl]

Jeepers! It is a good thing that "youngers" bounce back from such things. Thank you for the reply! Hugs!

[meadsjn]

Great pictures, and congratulations to your son. Is he off to college in the fall?

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Jeff, you look like an auctioneer in that pic on the right!

"Who'll give me 3 cents for this book?! 3 cents, do I hear 3 cents. Sold to the man with the uncontrollable twitch!" Haha.

Just kidding Jeff. I finished #3 and loved it. Been real busy getting in shape for my desired career change. I'm also recovering from hernia ssurgery last Friday. I had 3 hernias in my abdomen that were hidden for years by blubber but since I lost 8 inches off my gut I noticed one of them. My Colon was apparently trying to poke through one of them so it's a good thing I went in to take care of it or in a few more weeks when I lost a few more pounds of fat off my belly it would have slipped between the herniated muscles and had it's blood cut off to it. That means Ernie would have needed his dead colon removed and would have carried one of those poop bags around on my hip for the rest of my life.

I thought getting in shape was supposed to be good for your health?!

[Badray]

bump

[r9etb]

The leader (to that point) in the boys 300M hurdles falls 3 Meters short ...

Arrrgh -- I ran the 300 hurdles in HS, and this happened to me in a race once. Woulda won, came in fourth.

[NorseWood]

Good work, Jeff!! You've had your break now, so get back to work on Volume IV of Dragon'w Fury. I finished reading vol. 3 not too long ago, and I am eararly awaiting your next book. The intensity and suspense of High Tide lives up to your first two great books in the series. The action is very sobering, but the strength of the American morality and ideals gives us all hope. Thanks for all your work!

[Jeff Head]

Glad you got the problem fixed in time my friend. Nothing to fool around with and it looks like the good Lord was watching out for you.

Also glad you enjoyed Volume III of the Dragon's Fury Series. Trying to get Volume IV out for Christmas.

[Jeff Head]

This boy (the one who fell) also finished 4th.

It look like he nicked that last hurdel and it was just enough to set him off balance. When he fell, he came down flat on his chest, his arms back. Had he been able to get his hands up, he may have been able to get across much faster after the fall and gotten second...but he literally slid to a stop before he could get his hands and feet under him, allowing two more runners to pass.

Hard break.