Cross country team gives and receives
Published 12:00 am Friday, October 6, 2000
The Austin High cross country team has found this season that it is good to give and to receive.
Friday, October 06, 2000
The Austin High cross country team has found this season that it is good to give and to receive.
The team received some training aids at the start of the season from a group of 25-30 benefactors, most of whom choose to remain anonymous. Then the Packers ran 30 miles across Mower County on Sept. 16 to raise funds for the United Way for a third straight year.
Tuesday night, the Packer cross country team was recognized for its generosity and it recognized the generosity of a group consisting largely of nameless supporters.
Knowles Dougherty, a 1952 Austin High School graduate, spearheaded the group that raised funds for a dozen heart monitors and a series of video tapes that outline the latest training techniques used by cross country and track coaches.
Dougherty himself ran the mile for Austin High when he was in school ("They didn’t have cross country in high school back then," he said), and today publishes the Cross Country Journal.
"Austin has a pretty good crop of track and cross country coaches," Dougherty said. "(Cross country coach ) Tony (Einertson) has some good kids to work with and the team is improving."
The idea to raise money for the training equipment was pitched to Dougherty by a parent of a runner, he said. Letters were sent to about 125 people who had ties of some sort with cross country or track in Austin asking for donations. No follow-up phone calls or any other soliciting was done, Dougherty said, yet the group raised enough money to purchase the equipment.
Einertson said the heart monitors have already had a positive impact on the Packer team.
"We use them about three days a week," he said, "on our easier days. It helps the kids stay under control … not go to fast on the easy days and not go too slow on the harder working days."
Dougherty, who ran for the nationally-respected University of Colorado cross country team after graduating from Austin, said fund raising efforts are still going on. He said the goal is to raise enough funds to purchase a video camera for the cross country team.
While Dougherty and Co. were hard at work raising funds for the long-distance runners, the cross country athletes were raising some money of their own for a good cause. The Packers’ run across Mower County on Sept. 16 brought in more than $1,300 in pledges for the United Way. The Packers split the total pledge money ($2,600) and used their half for a variety of fun things such as team T-shirts, hotel expenses at the Princeton Invitational last month and a trip to the Prairie Walls rock climbing course in Rochester.
"That was a nice team-building exercise," Einertson said of the rock climbing trip. "It got us into a restricted environment where we had to work together and it was a nice feeling for the kids to know each other were there to help out."
The Packer runners have raised more than $3,400 for the United Way over the past three years.
Despeartely seeking Mayo
The Austin Packer girls tennis team has been pushed in a dual meet just once this year. There has been tough individual matches along the way, but Rochester Mayo is the only team that has been able to match up with the Packers player-for-player.
Mayo handed the Packers their only dual loss of the son last week, a 5-2 setback that was closer than the score indicates. Austin coach Levon Larson missed that match while recovering from an epileptic seizure.
Austin was 16-1 heading into Thursday night’s second round Section 1AA match against Eastview in Owatonna. It appears inevitable that fifth-ranked Austin and third-ranked Mayo will meet again with a trip to the state tournament on the line. Larson said the Packers can’t look the road, but he expects a more competitive dual if and when the teams meet for the section championship.
"We’re really looking forward to getting Mayo again," he said after Tuesday’s 7-0 sectional first round victory over Farmington. "I wasn’t able to be there the first time and I think I can help the girls by being there if we face them again. Everybody is looking forward to getting a shot at them."