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Dwight-

I thoroughly enjoyed your piece on northrunning.com describing your interactions with fellow competitors and the comparison with the "easy access" athletes have these days.  I can recall two such interactions from my NAHS track days. 

As a freshman, I was undefeated in freshman track meets (we had 4 or 5) in the 440 through the regular season.  At that time, there was a "middle school league" called the Greater Attleboro League that held an annual meet.  I remember you winning the high jump and setting a record (incidentally broken the next year by Steve Robertson.)  Seekonk had a strong team back then, but we had managed to beat them in a dual meet- I broke 60 sec for the first time in that meet on Rose Field.  In the GAL meet, I was favored to win the 440- why not I hadn't lost yet.  However, Seekonk had a good runner- Wayne Garceau- who had not run in our dual meet due to injury.  I can still close my eyes and envision the race.  Wayne beat me by about five yards- I got second- with both of us setting PRs- he in the high 55's, me at about 57.  We became friends after that.  Each year we would meet at the State Class Meet and discuss the year.  I would usually spend about 45 minutes with him.  That was our only interaction on the year as Seekonk was never in our league- but it would happen every year.  Even in our senior year when I just went to the Class Meet to watch you and Jeff Wnek.

There was another guy- and I can't remember his name although Paul Klenk may be able to recover it.  He was an 880 guy from Mansfield.  Short, somewhat heavy set for a middle distance guy, with curly blond hair.  Early in our junior year- in fact the first meet- I was running #1 in the 880 as was he.  We were warming up together and talked a bit.  We split apart as the race was about to be called.  He turned to do a high knee sprint and took off.  About 15 yards away he "blew a hammy-"  classic straight up in the air reaction.  He was done for the day.  I went over and spoke to him briefly asking how he was.  A few minutes later, we were running the 880.  Mansfield was weak at the time- no track and only a few highly-dedicated runners- Paul Klenk, Bill Collingswood come to mind.  Dennis Lacasse and I took off and no Mansfield runners were in sight.  I can still recall- 1.5 laps in, on six-lap Rose Field near on the long jump pit side- there was this guy laying on the ground. in pain.  He sees us coming and shouts out- "Go Barry.  Looking good.  Keep up the pace!"  Here's a guy, down and in pain- maybe out for the season.  And he is cheering on a guy he met from the other team.  That was in 1969 and here it is just about 36 years later and I remember that single, gentlemanly act of sportsmanship.  I don't even know if I saw that runner again- but will remember him for the remainder of my days.

And finally- as Northrunning.com's Historian- I must point out a mis-statement.  You ran in the Bristol County League when you were a freshman and when you were a sophomore.  Indeed, NAHS won the Bristol County League Meet when we were sophomores on Paul Jette's anchor relay leg in which he caught and passed a kid named Johanson from Attleboro.  Johanson had won the 220 and Paul had gotten 4th.  But with a relay baton in his hand he was a different runner.  Got him elected captain later in the day.  That was an interesting year in the BCL.  We had lost to Coyle in dual meet competition and swept the rest of the league, including a victory over Attleboro in another Jette win in the relay.  Although Coyle won the dual meet championship and Attleboro had two losses in dual meets, they were favored in the BCL Meet.  We had several surprises in that meet- Steve Robertson won the high jump for example although there were several jumpers on our own team that were generally considered better.  Jerry Tenbrinke was favored in the 440 as was Jeff Livingston in the 880.  Both won.  But you, (and maybe Paul?) picked up some points in the HJ, Barry MacEwen picked up a fifth place in the mile, and a couple of other unexpected things happened - and we ended up with one more point than Attleboro.  Although I did not figure in the scoring- coming in sixth overall in the 880 out of the unseeded heat- it was the most memorable day of my track career.  We then entered the Hockomock League in the fall of 1968.

Best,

PBER


P. Barry Ryan, Ph.D.
Professor, Exposure Assessment and Environmental Chemistry
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University
Professor, Department of Chemistry, Emory University
bryan@sph.emory.edu