Tyler White is a senior at Orono High School, he finished 14th in the Class C State meet last fall. White is the 5th fastest returner in 2012, he is coming off a string outdoor season that saw him finish 4th in the outdoor 3200m 10:06.21. Follow Tyler in his journey this fall on the trails.
So the journey is over--at least in high school. This cross country season has been a sports season like no other, with so many memories that I don't know if when I'm a shriveled old man my brain will be able to handle all of the laughter and tears without having a heart attack. Something particularly special to this season was all of the jokes and xc talk with so many people from other towns and teams that I would 
struggle to name them all. Although cliché as it is, I feel it is important to point out that there is just no sport like cross country--whether it be the actual running or all of the off-team, community relationships. So thank you to those who made the cross country community so welcoming, and especially Derek for doing such a great job with coverage and letting me write about all that this season contained.
Going into states I had such a level head about possible outcomes, and that it may not be the perfect day like I had been imagining since August. I have been part of two outdoor track teams that two years ago got state runners-up losing by 6.5 points, and last year got 4th place only 9 points from first place. When close battles like that happen it is humanly impossible to not naturally want to be the best; especially for the stat junkie that I am, and how much time I've spent reading articles on Milesplit and in the newspaper about state championship teams. I scored the meet out so many times the week leading up to the meet, just preparing for any outcome. I have never had such confidence in a team however, unlike the outdoor teams that were filled with people who just signed up to be involved in a co-curricular or were just there for individual goals. Guys that joined the team this year knew that it was most importantly going to be another wild year of Orono XC, but they also knew that we had the potential to do something that hadn't been done at Orono High since 1976. When race time came around, there was a certain focus that I had not seen all year in the other runners on the team...
...By the first mile I just had an awful feeling that things were not going to go the way we wanted them to. Personally by that first mile I had that all-to familiar state meet deadness in my legs--the feeling when your legs at this point think that the season has ended but then you spring the most important work of the season on them just like receiving a giant school project in the last block before a vacation. Everyone hates it, but there is truly nothing you can do but power through it and get it over with. So that is exactly what I had to do, my legs so incapable of running fast that there was no possible way to advance to places and times I knew I was capable and imagined myself running all season, it seemed as though the whole season was crashing down at mile one. Individually I just did not have what it took that particular day and I realized that then. At mile one, our pack ran the fastest mile it had all season for any split leaving it vulnerable for Hall-Dale's tough and smart runners to easily pick them off in later miles just like we had been doing to teams all year.
But what can you do? So what it went almost as bad as it could of, what can you do? So what if the cross country season has come to a disappointing halt, what can you do about it? The answer is nothing. What's done is done, and excuses would just make things worse. You just have to accept what happens and move on as hard as it may be, (as I'm sure I was not the only senior who was disappointed that they would never have a high school cross country race again) and how hard it is to say goodbye to something that played such a major part in your life when things end at such a disappointing level. Luckily, I had a pretty great opportunity to say goodbye when the team and several parents were tailgating in a nearby parking lot. I trotted over to the now empty Belfast cross country course that just hours earlier had seen thousands of people, and hundreds of finishers. Now it had that silent, picturesque sunset effect as it was nearing 6:30PM. It was truly a surreal experience being able to go out and run on the course where so much greatness and disappointment had happened in this short xc career with absolutely no one in sight, and hardly any noise. After 20 minutes I had finally come to peace with all happened that day, and smiled at all that had happened this season thanks to the acceptance of understanding that disappointment is such a huge part of running and is the driving force to improvement. I don't think that there was a greater lesson I could of learned about running, and even about life than I did that day and I will never forget that 20 minute run as long as I live.
-Tyler