Calling Lady Luck Ritual Gestures Help Ferris’ Relay Teams Focus On Ultimate Goal: Qualifying For State Meet

Go ahead, ask them why they wear purple.

They get it all the time.

After all, the school colors at Ferris High are red and silver.

Members of the Saxons’ girls sprint relay teams wear purple to stand out. They want to be known.

It’s starting to happen. Ferris is one of the top teams in the state in the 800-meter relay and also has been strong in the 400 relay. The Saxons were sixth in the 800 and seventh in the 400 at last weekend’s Pasco Inivitational.

They know there’s more work to do. Ferris won the 800 relay at the 1998 district meet but failed to finish in the top four at regionals, thus missing a trip to the state meet.

“It will always be there. It’s not something we can erase, but it’s something we can fix this year,” junior Denise Kirstein said of the disappointing sixth-place regional finish. “We need to set it right again and be one of the top four to state.”

Part of the way they will try to make up for last year is through extreme relay unity.

The Saxons aren’t known just by their purple, which senior Shayla Bush calls “a happy color.”

The long-sleeved tie-dye shirts are just the start for this group.

They all wear body glitter on their eyelids and ribbons in their hair. They say a prayer together during warmups or stretching. After they’ve checked in for a race, it’s time for the group cheer - each athlete grips the baton with one hand and in the order in which they run. Then, they all take turns kissing the baton.

“Relays have to come together as one,” freshman Tara Bozo said. “When we all grab the baton, that’s our way of coming together.”

Girls sprint coach Stephanie Pfeifer agrees.

“I think that wearing the glitter, the shirts and the ribbons helps the girls become focused as a team in a sport that’s otherwise about individual achievement,” Pfeifer said. “It also, in some ways, relaxes them and puts a little fun back into the seriousness of competition.”

No one will argue that Bozo keeps things fun. They say she has been an inspiration.

She gives her teammates a lift in practice when everyone wants to quit, Kirstein said, and she never wants to stop running.

Bozo, 15, said she sometimes gets teased about her nonstop enthusiasm.

“It’s a family within our team and I enjoy it a lot, being the baby on the team,” Bozo said. “They constantly make fun of me because I always want to run and run and run.”

Bozo, Bush and Kirstein are the three relay regulars. The fourth spot in both relays varies. Senior Gail Larsen usually runs in the 200 relay.

For Larsen, the top gymnast at Ferris this past winter, wearing bows and glitter is nothing new.

She wore the same red bow for every gymnastics meet as well as the same red socks.

“It helps before a meet to do everything the same,” Larsen said. “If you’ve done well before, it’s kind of a superstition.”

All the members of the relays have their individual events, too, which makes the relay rituals that much more important, Kirstein said.

“The team has to be there,” she said. “I don’t think anyone would run as well if we weren’t as close as we are and didn’t want to do it for everybody else.”