A Winner-In 211th Place!
Picture this, if you will:
6 foot, 5 inch, 185 pound cross country harrier, Josh Ripley, running for Andover High School in the Applejack Invitational Meet in Lakeville, Minnesota, is in his first mile of a 2 mile junior varsity event.
Suddenly, he hears loud screaming, and as he rounds a corner, he sees Lakewood South's Mark Paulauskas, 5 foot, 5 inches, and all of 100 pounds, leaning against a fence, bleeding badly from a bad gash in his ankle.
The larger boy scooped up the injured competitor, and carried him more than a quarter of a mile, before handing him off to his coach.
Mark was taken to a nearby hospital emergency room, where he received 20 stitches to close the wound.
After making sure The injured runner was in good hands, Josh jumped back into the race, and eventually passed 50 runners, to finish 211th out of 261 runners.
As he crossed the finish line, however, you would have thought he had won the race, as Mark's coach and all of his teammates were there cheering him on, and thanking him for aiding their fallen teammate.
It's not what you do for yourself, but what you do for others that counts!
No one would argue that this inspirational high school athlete was a winner, though he finished in 211th place.
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That's awesome, it always makes you feel good when you help others.
Thanks for reminding us of that.
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First place in my books!
I'd say so, too, Susan! :)