MSHSL Boy's Class AA Race Full of Drama

There was enough drama and backstories in the boy's Class AA race for a Hollywood blockbuster.  While Wayzata's team and Richfield's Obsa Ali have been ranked number one since the beginning of the season, both looked vulnerable at the MSHSL State Championships prior to Saturday.

At the Roy Griak Invitational earlier in the season, Wayzata coach Bill Miles saw a formidable opponent for his team in Edina emerge as a legitimate challenger to his team's early season dominance.  Then Stillwater's Eli Krahn returned to the  Pony squad that had also sensed vulnerability.  "At Rochester we came close," said Krahn.  "After that I couldn't sit on the sidelines."

So, how did Wayzata respond to the challenge?  Their top five at State ran their fastest average time(the total time of their top five finishers divided by five) of 15:59.4.  They stepped up their game to meet the threat.  Lead runner Connor Olson ran his fastest time of the season to narrowly miss beating Ali.  "I just wanted to score the best I could for the team," he said.  His best was almost too much for Ali, who had some challenges of his own to overcome.

Obsa Ali(21) and Connor Olson(22) enter the
woods with about a mile to go. Photo by
Gene Niemi

The defending 3200 meter champion on the track had not had a smooth run up to the State Meet.  First there were shin splints, an injury that caused him to run very little during the three weeks prior to the meet.  Then there was a cold that had him coughing and hacking after the race.  "I was just breathing out of here," Ali said sticking his finger in his right nostril. "Earlier this week I didn't know if I could finish in the top ten."  At the lowest point, Richfield coach Marty Huberty did everything he could to bolster Ali's sagging confidence.

He took Ali out on the St. Olaf course several times during the week before the race, going over the race plan, approaching the event as if nothing was wrong.  He convinced Ali that he even if he had declined in fitness, he was still fully capable of taking the title that he had sacrificed playing his first sport, soccer, this year in order to concentrate on cross country. "I grew up playing soccer," Ali said after the race.  It was his first love and he wasn't about to have made that sacrifice in vain.

As another incentive one of the Ali family's friends produced lifesize pictures of Ali's face.  Richfield fans, Huberty, and Ali's mom and two brothers either had the photo mounted on a stick or somewhere on their body to show support for him.  Just when things seemed to be going well for Ali, however, about a mile and a half into the race, another runner stepped on Ali's right shoe, pulling off the heel. Ali's shoes were both wrapped in duct tape to make sure that an untied shoelace that had forced Ali to stop to retie it during the Section Meet didn't happen again. So the right shoe did not come off, it just flapped around clumsily and forced Ali to alter his gait.

He now had to run for about half of the race with his shoe half on and half off.  "Once we got off the rocks(coming out of the woods about a half mile from the finish) I just took it off." "I could see him reaching down, trying to do something," said Olson, who was unaware of the exact issue Ali was dealing with.  After removing the flopping shoe, Ali was still able to surge in front of Olson down the stretch to win by 2.2 seconds.

The "loose shoe." Photo by Gene Niemi

"I didn't have my usual zip at the end," Ali said. "But I was able to get by (Olson)."I just tried to run my race," said Olson.  "You've got to take it out of him."  Try as he might to sap Ali's strength, it didn't work this time, but that doesn't deter Olson.  "It(the loss) just makes you more hungry."

As Ali crossed the finish line and headed down the chute, Huberty, who was inside the finish area, motioned and called to Ali.  Outside the plastic fencing, Ali's family was waiting.  Friends were clapping, cheering.  Ali embraced his mother in a long hug, eyes closed, savoring the moment. Huberty put a sweat shirt on Ali and gave him a glass of water and had him sit on the ground so Huberty could take off the other shoe and get Ali's sweats on his legs and flats on his feet.  As Huberty did the shoes, Ali balanced the cup between his teeth and a smile broke across his face.

Despite all the obstacles, he'd done what he set out to do.  The cold, the sore shins, the effort it took were all fading memories.  He'd done it, and it felt great.

Shoe discarded, Ali heads for the finish.
Photo by Gene Niemi

Boy's Class AA Results are HERE.