If you ever despair over the direction of the nation, try a college cross-country meet. The bigger the better. The more Midwestern the better.
Both of those bills were filled by the Division III national cross-country championships Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind., dubbed Cross-Country Town, U.S.A., specifically at the 250 acres of the LaVern Gibson course, “engineered for cross-country,” I was told by one participant, who happened to be my daughter. She was not speaking metaphorically, as in the many spectator viewing spots afforded by a giant loop of a course with switchbacks and no woods, as I’d initially assumed, but literally, referring to an extensive use of subsurface drainage tile, like perforated tubes, to remove excess water from the footpaths.
What you see at these meets is focus, striving, earnestness, a “wholesome” activity, as was once said, involving fresh air and greenery, all under the steel-gray skies of fall. It’s enough to rejuvenate even the most sedentary of the teams’ bus drivers living on Chick-fil-A and cigs on the sly.
“This is one of the best shots in all of sports, as the entire field begins that hurtle down the home stretch for the first time,” Noah Droddy said in calling the start of the race for the N.C.A.A. webcast. He spoke over a drone shot of a 290-woman phalanx of runners surging forward and gradually narrowing their massing to a point, like prairie animals funneling into a canyon pass. In person, at ground level, it’s more like the charge of an advancing army.
“The quest for glory starts now,” his announcing partner, Stu Newstat, added, alluding to the duo’s top-notch, game-changer of a podcast, “D3 Glory Days.”
Division III. Those are the non-scholarship-granting programs, the real student-athletes. Consider, for instance, that the brainiacs of M.I.T. won the women’s team competition, their first title ever, trailed closely by the University of Chicago and Williams.
The fans show up with fervor. My daughter’s team, SUNY Geneseo, has a hollering mob of traveling students sporting blue body paint and running a whipping G flag from point to infield point — rivaled, at least on Saturday, only by Washington U. of St. Louis, whose cheering section paraded up and down in their red-and-green skivvies, blowing vuvuzelas.
The kid fought to overtake nine runners in the final 1K to grab third place. And thus a fine college cross-country career goes out with a rewarding glint of bronze.