There are three ways to get your varsity letter for Clarkston's Cross Country team. First, beat the time coach sets for the season, for this year it was 18:00.0 minutes. Another way is to run varsity for five races, which is being one of the top seven on the team. The final way to get your letter is be on the team for three years. I joined cross country my sophomore year and I could not wait three years for the letter because senior year would be too late. Besides, if I were to get it my senior year it is more of a participation award. Everyone gets a letter after three years, it doesn't’ have the same feeling as earning it. I was determined to get my letter this season. I started off by going to summer practices, which are optional practices three days a week until the actual season starts. I missed only two out of the sixteen total practices. I also showed up more than anyone else on the team. Then I went to camp which was located in Gladwin, MI. For the week we had two practices a day with other teams around Michigan. We totaled well over forty miles of running in just five days and about twenty miles in biking.

The season started in early August with a couple of easy practices, which are usually six to seven miles at a moderate pace.The next thing you know, we are up to thirty five miles a week. Eat, sleep, run, repeat. Our first meet was the End Of Summer Classic at Hudson Mills Metropark, our coach put nine guys in the 5k and everyone else had to run only two miles. I was fortunate and was able to run the varsity race. My time was not very well (19:26), but I did receive a medal. Since it was first race of the season, I became more excited about what I could accomplish. I knew I had to work a lot harder if I wanted to get a varsity letter this season. Throughout the month of September, I continued to drop my time down close to the  mark but have yet to reach my overall goal. I dropped my time all the way to 18:17, but coach said it was one of the fastest courses we will ever see.
The next meet was OAA Red league meet at Stoney Creek. During league meets we are allowed to run ten runners in the race and I made the cut as the number nine out of ten. I wasn’t overly thrilled that I was running this race because a lot of the runners in varsity are under eighteen minutes. On the way to the meet, I stayed focused by saying to myself what my mile splits need to be in order to break eighteen minutes, which they are 5:50 for each mile. When we arrived we were immediately greeted by a gust of cold wind biting at our unprotected faces. Separated from the JV runners, we had: separated warm ups, separated stretching and separate everything in between. During our walking stretches, we are signaled over to the start line by our coach, and we finished them over there.

The official makes his way onto the course and gives us instructions on starting the race. He told us about the two start command: verbal, then the gun.

“On your mark” - He delivers to seventy anxious runners.

BANG

The gun goes off. I get jostled around between a few runners as it is way more aggressive than what I was used to. Approaching the first mile I was looking for my time.

“5:20; 5:23; 5:25”  shouts Nolan Sera, giving me my first mile time. I expected to run out of energy there because I did at previous races. I felt good after the mile and I tried to catch up to my fellow teammates just ahead. Approaching the second mile, Derrick Egli was telling me my time just before the two mile.

“Nick! Come on, keep it up to get your varsity letter!”, cheered Derrick as I approached the second mile.
I crossed the two mile mark at 11:16. Nick you can do this, you just have to push through the pain. You're almost there. Then I began to think to myself how fast I have to run the third mile in order to break eighteen minutes, it got me excited and I picked up the pace even more. I caught up to a couple of my teammates and we ran right past coach, who was focused on the guys just ahead of me. I checked the watch on my hand and I was at 16:30. Coach just yelled that I have about a minute left if I picked up the pace even more.

As I saw the finish line in sight I knew it was now or never. I saw other runners finishing, I saw my teammates just ahead of me as I tried to catch up the best I could. I knew that they needed me. I began to sprint as I peeked my head and wiped the sweat from my eyes. I watched  the clock tick 17:35: 17:36; 17:37. A smile grew on my face as big as the Grand Canyon because I knew I had broke 18 minutes. I felt like Grant Fisher except a couple of minutes slower. It wasn’t until halfway through the chute when I realized what I had just accomplished. I did it I finally earned my varsity letter!