I got into running in junior high since I struggled in team sports. Not that I was a bad player, but working as a team was difficult, and my teams just weren’t that good. I decided that I could succeed alone if I had to as a runner. I quickly discovered that I wasn’t very good at it. My times were average and I never scored any points in a junior high track meet meet. In fact, my freshman year of high school, my XC coach told my mom that I wouldn’t need spikes that season. She was right when I found myself in the back third of my XC team. So after that year of mediocre running, my older brother and I decided we wanted to get good at this sport. So as a sophomore, I started training year-round and running everyday. I introduced weight training and set specific goals for my seasons. By the time I was a junior in high school, I had worked my way up to the top 3 on my team and made the goal to run for BYU. I finished high school as the school’s best XC athlete and setting the home course record. It sounds great, but my times still weren’t good enough  to run for BYU. But I got in academically and determined that I could just walk-on to the team. How hard could it be anyway?

I showed up for tryouts as a true freshman where about 20 kids were trying out. Coach Eyestone has us run repeat miles on the track - 3 of them. It was hot and miserable. After the workout was finished he read off 6 names of tryouts who would continue to train with the team for a couple weeks until official cuts were made. I wasn’t one of the 6, but believing that I should have been, I went up to Coach Eyestone after and did my best to convince him I just had an off day. He was kind and let me join the 6, until I was simply cut 2 weeks later. I was devastated and angry that I had failed so quickly, but determined that I would continue to train and try again later. Regardless, it was difficult to accept. Finding the discipline to train without a coach or teammates wasn’t easy. That year was spent with a couple friends running, while awkwardly avoiding the BYU team since we weren’t allowed to be at their practice. 

When I returned from a church mission in France 2 years later, I showed up for tryouts after 2 months of running. Coach Eyestone had us run repeat miles on the track - 3 of them. It was hot and miserable. This time he read off only one name of someone who made the tryout period. It wasn’t me. but believing that I should have been included, I went up to coach after and did my best to convince him I was running well given my circumstances. He was kind and let me join for the tryout period until I was simply cut again 2 weeks later. This time the failure hurt a little more than the first. Despite running really well right off of my mission, I felt somewhat disposable as an athlete and unwanted. I talked with my dad and friends extensively about transferring so I could at least have a collegiate career. Ultimately, I wanted to run for this team, not a different one. And I knew that I would be the best I could be if I stayed here. So, determined to give it one more year, I spent the year awkwardly avoiding the team again training. Although this time I had some extra help from Isaac Wood. By the time spring came, I was in good shape and desperately wanted to run fast prove to coach Eyestone I belonged on the team. My dad flew out with me to San Francisco where I ran my first 5k on a track. I did good enough to get some attention. I looked good against several BYU athletes who performed poorly that day. It was the performance that gave me the hope to continue. Then after a good summer of training and a good XC race the next fall, Coach Eyestone finally gave me a roster spot. 

As great as it was to finally have all of the benefits of being a team member, I also now had the responsibility of training like one and competing. My first 2 years of XC with the team we’re mostly spent trying to earn a spot with the travel squad, where I was mildly successful. My efforts to contribute to the team were as a training partner and cheerleader. Watching my elder teammates compete was inspiring and intimidating, and it wasn’t until the 2019 XC season that I was able to experience it fully. It had been my dream for many years to represent BYU, and I was finally living my dream. I had never imagined how difficult it was going to be to get there. And now having been a contributing member that season, I was able to compete for BYU as we became the first men’s team in school history to win a national title. It is difficult to describe the sense of accomplishment that I have felt from this experience. I have learned that XC is not the individual sport I once thought it was. It takes a team to do great things. And I have been privileged to be adopted into such a novel one.