It was to be the capstone of an historic season.  The team had managed it's tight budget carefully so as to be able to make the trip to North Carolina.  The hope was that it might just be more of a reward than a mission, in that the hope was that the storied school records in the 4x800 relay (set in 1970) and the 4x400 relay (set in 1969) would have already been broken, and the trip would merely be a chance to improve on those records--not a backs-against-the-wall affair.   Well, one of those two scenarios was in play as the 4x800 record had fallen at the June 1st Warwick Fast Times relays.   But the 4x400m record still stood---proudly, defiantly, still atop not only the Prep list but the NY State Catholic school list as well.  40 years strong and unchallenged until this spring when Fordham Prep mounted a charge that brought them within a second of the record on May 30th at the Reebok Games in NYC.

Whether the 4x400 would even run in North Carolina had been in doubt all week.   Leadoff Wayne Seaton had tweaked his hamstring after his record-setting 14.47 110m hurdles run in the trials at the State champs the week before, and the next day could only manage a 51.3 second leadoff to keep the Prep in the hunt as his temmates took the baton from 8th to a 3rd place finish.   As Coach Febles Sr. monitored Wayne's leg in practice, it was decided on Wednesday that he would forgo his hurdle races at Nationals (Wayne ranked in the top 3 in the 400m Hurdles) and try to get healthy for the 4x400 only.   Even as the meet approached, there was uncertainty.  We paid alot of extra money to the meet to have backup races for Keefer, Petrovich and Jennings in case Wayne couldn't go.  But once in Greensboro, it was decided to go for it.

Friday, June 19th - Coach Kevin Phipps took the graduates to Greensboro that morning ahead of Coach Febles, who traveled later to attend son Matthew's graduation from pre-school.  Later that night, the Prep was in the seeded heat of the 4x800.  But it didn't start well.  Leadoff Phil O'Connell, who had done a brilliant job in that role a week earlier to help set the school record, simply didn't have it, and his 2:03 leadoff was simply too much to make up against a national championship field.  Petrovich, Keefer and Jennings logged commendable efforts, but lukewarm times to finish 10th in the heat in 8:02.  Tough to watch rival Warwick (whom the Rams had beaten on June 1st) get 2nd, but nice to see NY represented on the stand by an historically great team.

One would think the deflation of the 4x800 would linger, but dinner that evening was as animated as ever, as the seniors scarfed down burgers, joked in the hotel lobby and went to bed confident that Saturday would be different.  They were so right.......

Saturday, June 20th - Coach Febles let the 4x400 sleep in and took half milers Harley Griffiths and Phil O'Connell to the track to run their races in the "emerging elite 800m".  The midday North Carolina sun beat down at well over 90 degrees as all the runners seemed to wilt, and Harley and Phil fared little better than others at 2:01 and 2:08 respectively.  While not a storybook ending, it was an ending nonetheless for two runners who helped the Prep make 4x800m history: Harley indoors at Millrose, Nationals and countless other venues, and Phil outdoors at Warwick and the City and Sectional champs. 

Simply put, Wayne's hamstring caused alot of uncertainty.  As was seen in the 4x800, anything less than a stellar effort could leave the Prep in a hole too big to recover from.  Track Eastern Carolina (New Bern HS) was in the race.  They had set the National Indoor 4x400m record in February at the Armory (a race in which Fordham Prep ran a school record 3:20), and was here to claim the daunting outdoor record of 3:07.  They had already won 3 relays at the meet--one in a National record.  The race would be fast.

Wayne, in lane 2, was instructed to run the first 300m as relaxed as he could while maintaining contact, then see what he had left for the final 100m.  If he felt fine, he'd have alot left while everyone else was tiring; if not, well there would be nothing much to do but give it all you had.  As the gun went off, one could see Wayne's apprehension.  VERY relaxed first 100m, but the 2nd 100m saw his stride open and he was keeping pace with the runners in lanes 1 and 3.  At the 200m mark one could see his energy rising, but he held off on the big push as planned.  The final 100m saw Wayne power down the stretch and "put away" at least 3 other leadoffs.  The handoff to Jennings put the Prep in 4th place and glancing at Wayne's 49.2 split--his best 400m ever--Coach Febles believed then and there that the record would fall. 

Jennings would do his middle-distance runner's best to keep up with the national-class 400m runners for the first 200 meters, and once he managed to stay close, that's when he went to work, closing the gap and bringing the baton in a close 4th place to 3rd leg Petrovich.  Mike split a quick 49.8 seconds.  

Juan Carlos had, since his Freshman year, always "fallen asleep" for the first 200m of nearly every 400m race he'd ever run (and all his 800m races for that matter).  So the echoes of "go out faster"--which he'd heard from every Prep coach and nearly every relay mate for 4 years-- had to be ringing in his head as he chose this moment to finally correct this one small flaw in his repertoire.  22.9 at the 200m!  Not only did Newburgh's blazing 46 second runner not find a way to pass Carlos in the first 200m, but then "Petro" unleashed his patented final 200m kick and pulled the team even with third place in a PR 48.3 secs.  The clock was at 2:27.4.  Zach Keefer would need "only" a 48.6 carry to get the record.  And he'd run under 48 seconds 3 times already this season. 

But Keefer got passed.  No, he was not running poorly.  On the contrary, Coach Febles could have shut off his watch at that point.  Zach had breezed through the 200m mark in 22.7 looking very relaxed--the record was a virtual certainty.  But Zach had been passed by Altoona's amazing anchor leg who split the days best at 45.7.  Still, Zach showed no concern, and closed on the third place team and even on Altoona as the last meters were covered.  Zach split a PR 47.2.

My watch read 3:14.6.   The runners will report that they'd never seen me, Coach Febles, so animated.  They were right.  It was one of the best moments of my coaching career--and I've had a lot of great ones with this team.   The official time went on the board.  3:14.76.  The kids were stunned, then thrilled at what they'd just done.  They'd taken 1.3 seconds off one of the oldest CHSAA record on the books--a record that was also the NYS Catholic record, and a record that was also the NATIONAL Catholic school record from 1969 to 1977.   And best of all, the record still belonged to Fordham Prep......

"The worst of times" ...........

Well, everyone was on cloud 9.....The Petrovich, Jennings, Griffiths and O'Connell families made the trip, and were ecstatic.   It was the last event of the meet, so there was a rush to get interviews, photos, medals and All American Certificates.  The team was photogrqaghed by Dyestat, interviewed by Chris Hunt of armorytrack.com and videoed by armorytrack.com's North Carolina affiliate. After the medal ceremony, the team went to get their All-American certificates printed.  The certificate printers even agreed to add "NY State Catholic Record: 3:14.76". 

Then the call came.  Coach Carney called to ask why the team was listed as disqualified on the internet, after it was originally listed as 4th.  Of course, Coach Febles went right to the scorers table to get tot the bottom of it, and the worst possible news.....Officials on the far turn had called a foul on leadoff Wayne Seaton for running out of lane.  I filed a protest, but was told by Meet referee John Blackburn not to waste my time and money (protests cost $25) as they would not overturn an official's call.