Take time to thank cross country supporters

Last weekend my team and I traveled to the RMAC Cross Country Championships in Alamosa, Colorado. The meet was hosted by Adams State University, which is one of the top distance running schools in our conference and in D-II on a national level.

The trip to Alamosa takes roughly eight hours, without stops. It’s not uncommon for our team to go to meets and have only our other team members there to cheer us on from outside the course boundaries.

Cross country is a lot different than other sporting events; other sports are actually fun for most people to watch, while during cross country we literally just run. That’s why when people from our school or our families can make it to a meet, it is a really big deal and we appreciate having them take the time and make the effort to come and support our team.

Last weekend we were surprised and very excited to have our school’s president, Randy Rhine, and Athletic Director Joel Smith in the crowds cheering us on.

I feel like I can speak for my team when I say how much we truly appreciate the support we receive not only from Rhine and Smith, but also from the school as a whole, our boosters and our parents.

I would like to focus more on the support that the athletes get from our school. Our administrators really care about our teams. I have seen this first hand with the traveling Rhine has done to watch us run (ex. He traveled all the way to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to watch the Chile Pepper meet!).

While that is impressive, we also have to remember everyone else that helps us be able to do what we do for our sports. For the most part, our professors and instructors try to work with us and help us succeed in the classroom so we can succeed in our specific sports.

Our coaches and the assistants for every team want the best for us and sacrifice countless hours of their days trying to make something happen for us athletes. Our friends and families do not get to see us as much as they would probably like to because we spend the majority of our days and weekends at practice or in competitions. We think that we sacrifice a lot, but all of these people sacrifice a lot for us too.

As my time as a student athlete is coming to an end, I have realized just how much I appreciate every experience I have had at Chadron State, and as an Eagle athlete. My professors, coaches, parents, teammates and friends all deserve many more thanks and appreciation than I give them.

Most of the time, I am “too busy” to thank these people and tell them how much their support means to me, and I bet a lot of athletes feel the same way I do. Athletes, I challenge you to tell your support system how much you appreciate them and I will do the same. Because they all deserve to know their efforts are not going unnoticed.