We had our first official meet this past Friday at Shawnee State University. We have been preparing all preseason for this race, and we were ready to show the other teams that we meant business. I had been thinking that our team was going to be pretty good this season, but I did not know what to expect until the results of the race.

The pressure was amongst us in many ways. The temperature was near 80 and the competition of the other four teams made the anticipation of the race that much worse. Before each race, our coach brings the team together and prays with us. I think this is the best part of the race because we all come together as one and give thanks to God for the abilities that He has given us. We have never missed a race without praying.

We were all lined up to start with the fans cheering us on when I realized, that our team had already become brothers. Now, I know that team camps and preseason can bring teammates together, but right before the start of the race there was a kind of supporting connection between all of us. We didn't say anything to each other, but we all knew what the others were thinking: "Give everything you have out on the course and in the end if you gave your best, that is all that matters." As a team, we have taken that idea and used it to help us during our practices. If one of us is not feeling well enough to run, there is someone there to push them to finish with their best.

As the race went on, the brotherhood that I had noticed became more clear. Dustin Wine, Dave Clark, Joe Pittenger, Anthony Lee, and I were running in a very tight pack the whole race. As you can see from the results (Dustin 29th, Joe 31st, me 33rd, and Anthony 34th), our pack stayed together. When we hit the third and forth mile which is the toughest part of the race, Dustin was next to me and said with the energy that he had, "This is the mile we need, stick together."

Even though everyone felt exhausted after the race, we showed that brotherly love by supporting each other with individual results that we were pleased to start the season with and despite injuries that affected the race. The thing about a band of brothers is that we work together as a team. Our team worked together and we ended up getting second place overall!

I hope that the students of MVNU can experience the brotherhood that we have at future races. While we do not have a home meet, we have two races coming up that our relatively close: Otterbein on September 26th and the All-Ohio race at Ohio Wesleyan on October 2nd. I hope to see everyone there!