Collective Effort Distance Running Is Anything But A Lonely Sport At Lewis And Clark

Listen to Jamie Borgan describe the Lewis and Clark cross country season this year and it’s no wonder she doesn’t know the name Alan Sillatoe.

“After we tied Mead at regionals, we realized how important every runner was,” said Borgan, who finished in fourth-place at state. Her LC team also finished fourth in the team standings.

“It was a team effort,” she said.

Call it “The Togetherness of the Long-Distance Runners.”

Alan Sillatoe is the British novelist who wrote the short story “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” in 1959.

But at LC this year, cross country had nothing to do with loneliness. No prima donnas, either. All season long, coach Wes Marburger raved excitedly about Jamie, the team, and the emotions that bound these girls together.

“Jamie and the others realized midway through the season that they were running for each other, not just for themselves,” Marburger said. “They realized how important it was to think in those terms.”

It was Borgan’s first year of cross country at the high-school level. During her freshman and sophomore years she had played volleyball. Coach Marburger said he had first heard about Borgan two years ago, just prior her ninth-grade year. She was running with LC’s summer program, coached by former Tiger standout Kelley McLandress.

“Kelley told me, ‘Coach, Jamie is eventually going to be a really great runner,”’ Marburger said.

So the night before cross country practice was going to start, he called the Borgan home to find out her intentions, only to be disappointed when her mom informed him Jamie was turning out for volleyball.

“That was OK,” Marburger said later. “But the last two years, it’s always been in the back of my mind that Jamie would be one of the best runners in the state of Washington.”

So when Borgan decided to turn out for the team this year, a decision largely the result of the close friendships she’d made on the track team last spring, Marburger admitted he was “psyched.”

Still, he knew was going to take more than just one runner to do well at state.

In addition to Borgan, Emily Fuller, Mindy Noble, Jamie Rosenquist, and Sarah Larsen-Cooper all figured into the team’s scoring at state. Larsen-Cooper will join Borgan - the two have been best friends since ninth grade - as co-captain of the team next year.

Sarah remembers a point midway through the season, just before LC placed third at Richland, as crucial for LC in convincing themselves they could nail down a state berth.

There was one practice, Larsen-Cooper said, when “we actually did more talking than running.

“We talked about how we needed to unite,” she said. “We all set state as an official goal.”

Along the way, Larsen-Cooper said Borgan was always there for her. Early in the season, Larsen-Cooper had missed a couple of weeks with a painful shin injury.

“Jamie would give me lots of hugs,” she said, recalling what became the typical brand of recovery therapy at LC.

Freshman Emily Fuller, who finished 14th at regional and 26th at state, will remember Borgan for another reason. Just prior to the state race, an admittedly intimidating experience for the 14-year-old, Fuller “was completely freaked out.”

There’s something about being at state - the outlines of the course seem more vivid, the runners faster, the drama more intense.

“But Jamie helped me calm down, telling me it wasn’t that important, that we’d already made it, and that she knew I’d do really well,” Fuller said.

Marburger finds himself in the fortunate position of having all seven of his top runners back next season.

“I’ve had outstanding runners in the past,” he said. “But the realization is, one person isn’t going to get you to state. It’s a package.”

Mulling it over, he thoughtfully added, “But Jamie was the ribbon on the box.”