Acts of kindness

I often run into good stories just by being present. Friday evening I ran into a great one at the SCAC Sub-District High School Track Meet at Connell.

Christa Lee has been contributing photos to the Register fairly regularly while following a son around the circuit. She was going to do so again this week.

When she called on Tuesday of last week to tell me her son Jacob was very ill with pre-pneumonia, I thought she was warning me she might not make it to the meet. So I went to make sure I had photos.

Christa was there, but Jacob barely made it. He was still sick but said he felt good enough to take a shot at advancing to the district meet this week. All he needed to do was finish fourth in his two races. Healthy, he would have been the favorite.

After a few photos of field events and hurdles races, I headed over to the long jump, triple jump pit to make sure I caught some shots of Royal boys track ace Joe Lang.

It was quiet. So I sat down on a slope on the north side of the track, chatted with some folks and watched the 400. When the runners came out of the northeast turn, at which I was sitting, Jacob was well back of first place and even back of fourth place. Uh-oh, I thought.

I lost the runners as they passed through the west end of the track behind of screen of field athletes. When they came out from behind the screen, Jacob was in fourth, and he held it to the end.

Then it was Joe's turn to leadoff the 400-meter relay. I settled down to watch that race and root for the Royal boys. They finished second, but I had questions for Joe.

Joe would likely go to state in four events by himself, probably place in all four and perhaps win a couple. But there he was, giving up one of those chances to run the relay.

"The 300 hurdles is the event I like the least, and I knew the relay team could qualify for state," he said. "That's three more kids that would make it state."

Great answer. The three other boys Joe is trying to help get to state are Victor Garcia, Steven Toro, Arturo Villa.

The 800 came up as Joe and I chatted. I was especially interested in seeing Jacob advance. After he blew out a knee at the start of the football season, he wasn't sure he'd compete in sports again.

Christa was nearly sure he wouldn't. She became upset whenever Jacob's doctor gave Jacob what she thought was the false hope he could come back for track.

The final answer was: "If you'll be obedient to do what I tell you to do and not do what I tell you not to do, you may run again. If you are not obedient, you'll probably need a knee replacement before you're 30."

"He was obedient, very obedient," Christa said.

Jacob was cleared by the doctor to run in April. He smiled with joy as he ran around the track in his first race. He was up to his speed of last year rather quickly, and he was among the favorites as sub-district loomed.

Then he became ill, and it seemed as if all the rehab work had been for nothing. But Jacob decided not to give up.

As the 800 unfolded, Jacob was running at the back of the pack. He was still back of the pack as he passed by Joe and me for the second time. But before leaving the back stretch he pulled even with Victor Garcia in fourth place.

The two boys ran shoulder-to-shoulder the rest of the way. At about the 50-meter mark, Garcia picked up the pace, and Jacob didn't respond as Victor opened a gap.

At about 20 meters Victor, a junior, back off, placed his hand on the senior Jacob's shoulder, gave him a shove and yelled: "Go get it Jake."

Christa, who as at the finish line and saw and heard it all, broke into tears.

"It was the most gracious thing I've ever seen," she said.

Yes it was, and Joe's willingness to give up an event to help his teammates was gracious too.

Coach Scott Sandberg and the parents of these two boys should be very proud.