Phil C
04-21-2007, 10:30 AM
This was back when Sinton and Refugio were in the same district in 2A (I think). Both had great track teams and were expected to fight it out for the district championship which everyone knew would be very close.
Coach Bryant of Sinton really did his homework that year. He knew not only where his team would probably place in the district meet but also where Refugio's would place as well as the rest of the district.
On the week of the district track and field championship he gathered his athletes and told them "Boys, I got it figured out that at the district track meet we will lose by one point to Refugio. Now what we got to do is figure out how to get that point from them and get it for ourselves."
Back then in the district the way they did was have a preliminary 880 yard run during the day and the top six places fought it out at night in the finals with the sixth place getting one point. That was the point Coach Bryant wanted.
Coach Bryant then said "We know Refugio has a player that is expected to get sixth place in the 880. We need to beat him for that sixth place. "
So he told one of his mile relay runners that he was going to put him in the 880 and for him in the preliminaries to just run good enough to beat the Refugio runner to qualify for sixth place.
At the district track meet he did just that. By getting sixth place in not too great a time he beat out the Refugio runner and kept him out of the finals.
Now the 880 finals was run just before the mile relay at night. The Coach told him "Just keep your warmups on and jog the 880 as a warmup because we know you will get sixth place."
The runner did that and as he jogged around he was waving to the crowd and just warming up. Other runners had long passed the finished line when he crossed it but Sinton had the valuable point rather than Refugio.
Warmed up for the mile relay Sinton placed where expected and when the points were tallied up Sinton had beat Refugio by one point for the district championship.
Many looked on and were awed at how close it was as expected. Some even thought that in a close meet like that luck has something to do with it. But in the final analysis the meet was won by a coach that did his homework and had everything calculated for his team to win by that one point.
Coach Bryant of Sinton really did his homework that year. He knew not only where his team would probably place in the district meet but also where Refugio's would place as well as the rest of the district.
On the week of the district track and field championship he gathered his athletes and told them "Boys, I got it figured out that at the district track meet we will lose by one point to Refugio. Now what we got to do is figure out how to get that point from them and get it for ourselves."
Back then in the district the way they did was have a preliminary 880 yard run during the day and the top six places fought it out at night in the finals with the sixth place getting one point. That was the point Coach Bryant wanted.
Coach Bryant then said "We know Refugio has a player that is expected to get sixth place in the 880. We need to beat him for that sixth place. "
So he told one of his mile relay runners that he was going to put him in the 880 and for him in the preliminaries to just run good enough to beat the Refugio runner to qualify for sixth place.
At the district track meet he did just that. By getting sixth place in not too great a time he beat out the Refugio runner and kept him out of the finals.
Now the 880 finals was run just before the mile relay at night. The Coach told him "Just keep your warmups on and jog the 880 as a warmup because we know you will get sixth place."
The runner did that and as he jogged around he was waving to the crowd and just warming up. Other runners had long passed the finished line when he crossed it but Sinton had the valuable point rather than Refugio.
Warmed up for the mile relay Sinton placed where expected and when the points were tallied up Sinton had beat Refugio by one point for the district championship.
Many looked on and were awed at how close it was as expected. Some even thought that in a close meet like that luck has something to do with it. But in the final analysis the meet was won by a coach that did his homework and had everything calculated for his team to win by that one point.