Chapter 41

TUESDAY, both the boys’ team and the girls’ team traveled to the Wheelers’ for a coed meet. The races were mixed up again and Lana was asked to run four races instead of high jump. She agreed without hesitation and ran in the 100, 400, 4x200 relay, and distance relay. She finished just out of scoring position (top eight) in the individual races and in 9th with Bobbie, Amy, and Leanne in the 4x200. But surprising everyone, including themselves, Lana, Judith, Diane, and Tori took first in the distance medley. Ardith had put as much emphasis on the relays as possible and the girls poured it on, winning the 4x100 and sprint medley, and placing fourth in the 4x400. Jaydyn had placed first in the 200. The girls once again walked away with third place overall.

Dennis watched the boys’ events as much as he could and didn’t like what he saw. No Bartley boy placed in the top eight in any event. The boys all looked a little shocked when they placed eighth in the sprint medley. It was the only point they earned during the meet and gave them twelfth place of fifteen teams for the meet.

“Hey, Lonnie,” Dennis called to the boys’ team manager. “How come Donnie didn’t run today? I mean Dave ran alone in all three sprints and no one ran in the 1600 or 3200 at all.”

“He quit,” Lonnie said succinctly. “Dave’s the only real contender we have left on the team in any race. I overheard Coach Andy talking to Coach Byers about whether they should just shut down the track team for this season, but they want to give the guys who are sticking it out a chance to improve. You should see our team bus. I swear no one says a word coming or going to meets. It’s like death.”

“Geez! That’s terrible. They all seem to be working hard in conditioning. I don’t get why they aren’t placing occasionally,” Dennis said.

“Maybe they’ve all decided conditioning is the only sport they want to participate in, Coach. I don’t know.”

Dennis watched Lonnie load the starting blocks into the bus and walked back to the girls’ bus. Thoms was directing Rae and Debbie in stowing the equipment.

“Hey, Rae, what do you think of John Hamm? I was thinking I’d drop a bug in his ear if you’re interested,” Dennis said.

“You’re so out of touch, Dennis,” Rae replied. “John’s got a girlfriend and I’ve got a boyfriend. And not each other.”

“I sure didn’t hear you had a boyfriend. Anyone I know?”

“No. It’s funny in a way. Some of us single girls were out a few weeks ago to the Audubon for a movie. We met some guys from the Bulldogs, of all things. As things worked out, four of us left the theater with dates for the next weekend.”

“Really? Who? Is everyone paired up?”

“Jaydyn, Janice, Sharon, and me. It’s been kind of fun going out. The guys are perfect gentlemen and we usually double or triple date. I’m not getting laid yet, but sometimes I get touched a little, you know? I’d almost think the guys were taking lessons from you in being polite,” Rae said.

“Wow! Four girls dating Bulldogs. I didn’t expect that.”

“You snooze, you lose,” Rae said. She turned away to get on the bus. Dennis started to follow Debbie but Thoms snagged his sleeve and walked around in front of the bus where they couldn’t be seen.

“What’s up, Thoms?”

“I don’t like it. I mean, I can’t say anything because I’m not interested in any of the guys or any of the girls. I don’t want them thinking I am. But there’s something fishy about all the girls who are dating Bulldogs. Mostly cheerleaders and athletes.”

“Maybe they decided our girls were more available than theirs,” Dennis speculated.

“Maybe, but I don’t think so. No offense, but the guys they’re dating aren’t like you—I mean like you used to be. They’re popular, athletes, class officers. They’re the kind who could date any girl in their school—especially if they were interested in freshmen and sophomores, like the Bartley girls they’re dating. I’m afraid freshmen and sophomore girls are really easy to seduce if an older boy takes an interest,” Thoms said.

“But Rae says they aren’t fooling around with them sexually. I’d think that would be the first ulterior motive they’d have if they were just not wanting to foul their own nest.”

“Maybe. I just don’t like it. They’re messing with our girls.” Thoms walked away and boarded the bus. Ardith approached from where the coaches had met to get scores after the meet. She handed the clipboard to Dennis.

“Third,” she said. “Again.”

“And dead last,” Dennis affirmed without looking at the score sheets. They boarded the bus and headed home.

Even though spring break had ended just over a week previously, Bartley had parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday with no school on Friday. Dennis made the decision to cut his high school classes Wednesday so he could go to class at DMACC with Brenda. The next week was finals week at DMACC and the end of semester was just a week away. He was supposed to be in class in the morning at Bartley on early out days but these two were more important as far as he was concerned.

“What’s got you so pensive, lover?” Brenda asked as they drove into class.

“I’m just worried about the track team,” he said. “I think the coaches are, too.”

“What’s wrong?” Brenda asked, alarmed. “Our girls haven’t said a thing!”

“Our girls aren’t the problem. They’re doing great. Coach Ardith is just trying to figure out who to run where to get the biggest bang for the runners. It’s the guys I’m concerned about.”

“Oh, Bartley boys are known for not doing the hard work to win,” Brenda said.

“Maybe,” Dennis sighed. “But I lead them all in conditioning exercises and I’ve only seen their kind of dedication with our girls before. These guys are working. Lonnie said he thought they were considering conditioning to be their sport and didn’t care about track.”

“That’s weird. I forgot about conditioning. I’ll cut my last class and go back with you.”

“Not to worry. I told Coach I wouldn’t be back in time for conditioning today. The cheerleaders and team managers will lead conditioning,” Dennis said. “Talk about people who consider conditioning to be their sport.”

“The cheerleaders are still active? I thought they’d just fold up after basketball season was over,” Brenda said.

“They aren’t coming to any meets to cheer, but they’re still leading workouts. Um ... the seniors aren’t. I guess seniors just have too much going on to be bothered with spring sports. Except Daniella and Roberta. I think they’re going to be involved in any sport they can be. But the freshman, sophomore, and junior cheerleaders are still active. Rae is one of my team managers and Sara is dating one of the team managers. They’re all over the workouts,” Dennis said.

“So, what are you going to do about the boys, Coach?” Brenda asked.

“It’s not really my problem, is it?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to sit back and worry about it without doing anything.”

“No. Um ... I made an appointment this afternoon. With your coach. I thought I’d talk the situation over with him and see what a completely neutral third party who is an expert in sports thinks,” Dennis said.

“He’ll probably have a bunch of girls waiting for you to work out with,” Brenda laughed. “I wondered what he had up his sleeve.”

“Why?”

“He called a team meeting this afternoon.”

“Oh, boy.”

“Dennis, when you called to set up an appointment, I saw an opportunity,” Coach Dearborn said. “I’m taking your request seriously and we’ll have our meeting, but afterward, I’d like you to do a dunking clinic for the team. I’ve done a lot of investigation online and I could see where you were going with it based on Brenda and Donna’s performance. But I don’t think I can teach it like you did. Dunking isn’t a key element in most basketball games, as I’m sure you know. But there is little that can give a player more of a sense of satisfaction than slamming the ball home.”

“That’s why I’ve worked with my team on getting them there. It was impressive when they ran onto the court and three of the girls blitzed the basket one after another to slam dunk a shot,” Dennis agreed. “I think all season, Daniella dunked it three times, Roberta once, and Natalie has yet to dunk it in a game. But they feel great knowing they can do it.”

“Exactly. Now, let’s deal with your problem first. You phrased it in terms of motivating your team. Tell me about the problem.”

Coach Dearborn listened carefully to what Dennis had to say about the Wolverines, asking questions along the way to clarify things. He went back to the basketball season when the team fell apart in the last four games. He went online to Varsity Bound and looked up the statistics on the games and on the meets. Dennis knew that even the previous night’s meet would have been entered and uploaded by Olivia early this morning. Dearborn went back a year and checked performances in track from the previous year. The guys were never great, but they hadn’t routinely been last-place finishers the year before.