Cross Country - The First NCSSM Interscholastic sport

by Henry Kuo

Most all of us were very excited to move in and attend NCSSM.  There was a nervousness to being in a new environment, a new experience for most of us at that young an age.  I remember it was just shortly after arriving on campus, there was a sign up to join the men's cross country team.  I vaguely remember a piece of paper sign up on the patio of Hill House - no internet back then, no computers to speak of either.   A small group signed up.  Many of us had run cross country back at our old high school, while some may have been running for the first time.  I remember Doug Appleyard, Brad Ives, Ken Murray, Percil Watkins, me (Henry Kuo), Sean Campbell, Robert Lee, and Keith Promislow.  Anita Warner joined us on occasion.  Sorry if I missed someone.

For some of us it was a chance to do something familiar, though we were late getting started with training for upcoming events.  Branson Brown was our coach, as he was pretty much for most everything.  We began by running around the campus block.  Back then, there was a chain link fence around the front parking lot, so no cutting corners.  No track to train on either, but if there was a sport that did not need a home field for training, it was cross country.  We later began to run in the neighborhoods, having to run a few small hills.  But, as School began, it was not easy to find the time to run, as we all knew academics took priority.

It was not lost on us, that we were the first.  The first to run cross country at NCSSM.  The first to play any sport of any kind, and certainly the first to play against other schools.  We were not the best, but we were not bad.  We finished the season 6-4 according to some other records.  In cross country, when you cross the finish line, you get a popsicle stick with your place, 1,2,3...7,..24, etc.  Then you add the top five on your team for a total team score, with the winning team having the lowest score.  Only the top 5 on each team count, but you can have two "pushers", your team 6 and 7 count to push other teams score higher.  You can run as many as you want, but only your top 5 count, and next two can count to push.  A perfect team score is 15, having runners 1-5 - which is a rarity, especially when cross country meets often have several teams competing against each other.  I don't remember for sure if it was the first year, or the second year, but one meet of several teams, we scored the perfect 15.  I remember hearing an opposing coach tell Branson, it was pretty impressive.  We are all very proud to be part of that first NCSSM sports team, just as all of us from the Class of '82 are very proud to be part of the first NCSSM class.

[Cross country team - 1981 Odyssey yearbook]