There are gut-checks, and then there are gut-checks. And the US#11 boys' team from West Chester Henderson passed every one thrown their way this season, includiing an unexpected near-disaster at the biggest meet of the year.
Williams, (center) was with Gottesfeld and Bishop Shanahan's Eric Fleming at 2.5 miles.
To get to the verge of another AAA state championship (they won in 1996 and finished 2nd in 2001), Henderson had the usual bumps in the road. But they met each challenge with confidence - from getting 5th in the Race of Champions at the Great American Cross Country Festival against the country's best teams - to coming back a week later to hold off Council Rock-North by just eight points at the Steel City Invitational - to accepting defeat by a mere five points to Rock at the District One Championships October 25.
But little did anyone suspect that their #2 man - someone who had been running stride-for-stride with this year's AAA state champion, teammate and friend Ian Gottesfeld all season - would go down just steps from the finish, crawling the final ten meters during an agonizing 20-25 seconds to finish 50th, 4th on the team, and help secure the 2002 title by just 12 points over Council Rock-North.
"All I could think about was the team."
Williams crosses the line as officials stay back to prevent accidently disqualifying him by providing help.
Williams said he started feeling dizzy with about 1k left in the race. As they headed into the wind before turning for the long home stretch, Williams said that Fleming started to pull away from him. "I wasn’t feeling too good. I started thinking about the team, and that if I tried to go with him I might not even finish the race the way I was feeling. So I slowed it down a little bit. I think I was fairly close when we made the turn to come down the home stretch. Then Fitzgerald went past me and I tried my hardest to keep up with him, but I just came completely unglued."
Williams was staggering as he approached the line, and fell just ten meters short. "I tried to get back up, and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to walk across. I was just thinking about the team and I knew that I had to at least give the team a chance by getting a cross the line, so I just crawled across. I knew the line was right there. I saw a swarm of guys go past me."
First year coach Kevin Kelly has seen this kind of thing before at marathons, but certainly didn't expect it at this race. "He showed a lot of heart getting to the finish. All the guys ran well. They all made the commitment in June and it showed."
"Greg always said, ‘I could finish in last place, and if the team wins, I’ll still be just as happy.'" - Ian Gottesfeld
Williams is congratulated by teammates after they learned of their championship.
Williams said he was happy with the team win. "I’m really not that disappointed. The most important thing was that the team won. I’ll get a chance to redeem myself at Northeast Regionals."
Gottesfeld, as usual, put it all in perspective. "All that matters is that Greg is OK. Our other guys ran well, so like I said before (after Districts), there’s going to be drama."
The 2002 AAA State Champions - West Chester Henderson. "We could be even better next year," according to Coach Kevin Kelly. Something says Council Rock-North will be there again as well.