by Kevin Byrne
Adam Booth ‘04’s finish at Nationals was so good, his teammates found the English language insufficient to describe it.
“Adam Booth is indeed Unbogabble!!” These were the words of Justin Riley ‘06, one of the eight cross-country runners who drove eight hours to cheer on senior Booth in his NCAA Nationals race. “Unbogabble” is apparently a term in the language “Beast” and means “totally fucking sweet.” That is definitely one way to describe Booth’s efforts in Hanover.
Grinnell College was represented at the NCAA Nationals in Hanover, Indiana on Nov. 22 by the senior All-American Adam Booth. Booth competed against the best Division III runners across the nation and ran to an impressive fourth place finish with a time of 25:12.4 in the 8k race. The Nationals were the culmination of four years of hard work for Booth, who became only the second runner in Grinnell cross-country history to win the Conference meet three years in a row earlier this year. This was no ordinary event, being pitted against some stiff competition, but Booth had a calm outlook prior to the race.
“Patiently aggressive best describes my pre-race mood,” Booth said. “During the race, I felt mostly pain. However, I guess the other guys couldn’t handle the pain because I somehow managed to pass a lot of them throughout the race. It wasn’t so much that I put on a big surge in the middle of the race, it was more that the other guys were falling off the pace even more than I was.”
Whatever it turned out to be, it worked for Booth. Head Coach Will Freeman was also quite pleased with his runner’s performance.
“Adam always runs smart, but this meet was a classic,” Freeman said. “In a fast crowd, most runners in this situation will go out too hard. Adam kept it under control and kept his head. He was in 70th after 1 mile. By mile 2 he was in 10th and with even splits for the first 2 miles.”
Booth managed the traffic and separated himself from the pack. Relying on four years of training and conditioning, he was able to cross the line with the best finish by a Pioneer at Nationals.
“His finish is by far the best ever for a Grinnell athlete,” said Freeman. “We have had several finish in the low 30’s at Nationals–Greg Evans [‘89], Dave Cooke [‘82], and even George Drake [‘56]–but no one has been in the top 10 before.”
“My first feeling was that I wanted to stop running, but some lady didn’t like that idea very much and pushed me out of the way. Once I got to stop running, my strongest feeling was wanting to lay down on the ground. After I got some Gatorade and got to sit down, then I started feeling pretty happy.”
The fourth place finish, behind Josh Moen of rival school Wartburg, Macharia Yuot of Widener University and Marcus Murphy of Loras College, meant ending his career on a high note, and walking away from college athletics with a great achievement. He also set a great example for future and current runners at Grinnell and played an integral role in leading by example for the younger runners.
“Having Booth to chase after from a distance last year and then as a training partner this season has definitely made me a faster runner,” Riley said. “I have also adopted some Booth mannerisms as I’m told. I guess you could say Adam Booth died for my sins.”
Booth’s run ends the season for Grinnell cross-country, a season that was successful not only for Booth but for the whole team. Coach Freeman will look for another stellar runner to step up and lead the way next season. Booth will be missed as a team leader, but his success will be remembered.
“I couldn’t be happier for Adam,” Coach Freeman said. “He has earned this. It was time for rest of the country to [see] him at full strength.”
The week after the official conclusion of the cross-country season, Stupid Week beings. This week of activities tests the physical and mental limits of the participants.
“The cross-country team has a sort of longstanding tradition of stupidity,” said runner Nick Gill ’05, “and stupid week is the culmination and celebration of that stupidity.”
Gill himself is in charge of the kickoff event of Stupid Week, the Beer Mile, a grueling challenge not meant for the feint of heart.
“Each participant gets one hour to drink six beers and then they are given ten minutes to warm up,” Gill explained. “Then, they all run a mile on the indoor track with the goal of breaking five minutes. Each participant who breaks five minutes gets the beer they drank for free, and wins one more six pack of their choosing. Participants who fail to break five minutes for the mile have to pay me back for the six beers they drank before they ran.”
This year, five men earned the right to get their drinks on the house. Adam Booth ‘04 set an all-time Beer Mile record, bettering his record from last year by less than a second with a time of 4:41.8. This time is impressive considering that the NCAA indoor standard time is around 4:15.
“The 5:00 goal of the challenge is a little slower than my 8km race pace,” Booth said.
Mitch Herz ‘05, David Honig ‘05, Peter Cueno ‘06, and Colin Tschida ‘05 rounded out the top five under the five minute mark. Patrick Waldo ‘06, Tom Peter ‘06 and Devin McGranahan ‘04 just barely missed the cutoff.
Three women ran this year, but neither Lola Garcia ‘06, Sam Thomas ‘04, nor Laura Zdunek ‘07 could finish the mile.
The Beer Mile was followed by an arrangement of other events. The rest of Stupid Week has included the No Hands Dinner, Cookie Day (eating only cookies for an entire day), the Weezer Classic (a cross country team basketball game), Towel Dinner and $lum movie night on Thursday (team members go to dinner in a towel, then go to the $lum to watch a movie), and drunken dodgeball today.
- Kevin Byrne
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