Tebow Time

I'm rooting for Tim this weekend. I have been rooting for him ever since he became the starter in Denver. Yes, I am a huge bandwagon fan, but hey I don't really care. He's a unique story and he has his very own hour dedicated to him on sportscenter right now. That just screams superstar.

Now naturally, as I watch this sportscenter and see the Tebowmania I thought, hmmm, are there any runners who are like Tim Tebow? Anybody who came out and surprised everyone with last second heroics? Anyone who was a huge underdog who pulled out the victory? Anyone who doesn't have much talent at all but pulls out wins anyway?

Well the first guy I could think of was Matt Withrow, a huge upset against Galen Rupp and Shadrack Kiptoo highlighted an unreal run to the Footlocker National Title. He didn't have the talent or the genes or the great footspeed, but he had the guts and the balls to burst forth at the end of the race and take the victory. Now he's got a poster named after him: "Ballerness". If you haven't seen it, you should see it, it has laptop background written all over it.

But it is tough to think of a Tim Tebow esque player, because it is very hard to come from nowhere to win at states. Jason Weller was clutch and pulled off two big upsets over a guy with all the numbers on his side, Paul Springer, sub 4:10 PR, state record in the 2 mile. But Weller managed to outkick the guy at Outdoor States his senior year and pulled out a clutch win.

Weller, however, was a 3 time XC state medalist, 14:54 5k PR for him, and he was the reigning cross country state champion. So not quite Tebow in my opinion.

How about Conner Quinn? Kind of Tebow like. Came into XC states a relative unknown, young gun. No extraordinary PRs, one state medal, finishing just 20th. His 2 mile was only a shade under 9:40 and plenty of other guys had better times, splits, and achievements that season. However, Quinn pulled out the victory without a big kick or fancy surges or race tactics. He just ran hard, believed in himself, and pulled out the victory against a lot of odds.

The truth is, its rare, very rare, to see a guy win with limited skill sets and just heart. How often is someone with just guts going to hang and outkick Magaha or Willig? How often is a distance runner going to come from nowhere to outlast Dustin Wilson in the 3k?

This has been a year of a lot of breakout performances, especially in XC: Conner Quinn, Dan Jaskowak, Dan Savage, Tom Coyle, Brendan Shearn, the list goes on ... But this track season will we see any Tim Tebow esque performances? Will we see an unpraised, under the radar LaSalle team take down a state meet record? Will we see an underappreciated Archbishop Ryan team shock the Nationals scene with a National title from the slow heat? Will a young man named Luke Lefebure come from nowhere to upset Tom Mallon in the 800?

One can only hope that this state meet, it will be Tebow time.