Triple Cross

Her stride lengthened, causing her to bound more than run as she finished the curve and blew past the girl committed to Syracuse. In the far outside lane, the young lady set to attend Florida was flying. So was the girl from Richmond. They were all neck and neck entering the homestretch.

The crowd in the stands roared louder when Jannie hit yet another gear and swiftly opened up a ten- and then twenty-yard margin before blazing through the finish leaning forward. The high-schooler from Richmond finished second and the Florida-bound recruit a winded third.

Jannie took her foot off the gas, slowed to a jog, and turned.

The Florida athlete appeared astonished. The Richmond girl had her arms overhead. The coaches were going wild.

But my focus was on Jannie. One of the track officials had run out and was saying something to her. My daughter looked at the man incredulously before she fell to the track, sobbing.

CHAPTER 25

“WHAT IN GOD’S NAME just happened?” Nana Mama demanded.

“Did they disqualify her, Dad?” Damon said.

Ali cried, “No, she was in her lane!”

“I thought so too. I’ll go see,” I said, my stomach souring as I tried to get down through the crowd in the stands and onto the track.

Disqualified? She’s going to be heartbroken.

I passed the women’s coach from the University of Texas, who slapped me on the back and said, “How does that one feel, Dr. Cross?”

I thought that was an odd thing to say, and I turned to look at her. “That Jannie was disqualified?”

“Disqualified?” the coach said, and she threw her head back and laughed. “She wasn’t disqualified! Jannie just ran fifty point seventy-four!”

“That’s good, I think,” I said, relieved.

“Good? Your daughter just tied the national high-school record in the four-hundred, Dr. Cross!”

My jaw dropped. “What? No.”

The coach had tears in her eyes before I did. “Yes! And I know I told you she should be a heptathlete, but I would be absolutely honored if she came to Texas to run the four-hundred for the Longhorns.”

“Not if she comes northwest to the land of Nike,” said the coach from the University of Oregon, a long, lanky guy who was now standing beside the Texas coach.

Several other coaches I recognized were all looking at me for hope.

I wiped away my tears, threw up my hands. “Your guess is as good as mine!”

After yelling the news up to Ali and Nana Mama, I got down on the track and ran to Jannie, who was back on her feet and surrounded by athletes, coaches, officials, and spectators, all clapping and congratulating her. She saw me, burst into tears again, and ran into my arms.

“Tell me,” she said, trembling against me. “Fifty point seventy-four seconds. Tell me I just did that, Dad.”

“You did. I saw it. We all saw it.”

“I just ran my race,” she said, weeping. “I just stuck with the plan and believed.”

“And a miracle happened,” I said, only then realizing I was still holding my phone. I lifted it off Jannie’s back and peered through my tears at the screen.

Bree was gaping at me. “Is this for real?”

I nodded at her. “Can you believe it?”

Behind my wife, Marjorie, the store clerk, started jumping up and down and pumping her fists, cheering.

“That was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen on a phone!” Marjorie yelled.

In my arms, Jannie started to laugh. She turned to look at my phone.

“Unbelievable,” Bree said, tears flowing. “I’m so proud of you, Jannie.”

“I am too!” Marjorie yelled.

“Who is that behind you, Bree?” Jannie asked, still laughing.

“Oh,” Bree said. “That’s Marjorie, my personal shopper!”

“Woot!” Marjorie cried. “You’re a rock star, Jannie!”

My daughter thought it was hilarious when the young lady came closer, waving. She waved back and then left to take a urine drug test because she’d been invited to a national development camp in June and the U.S. Track and Field Association required it.

“And I have to get fitted for my gown,” Bree said. “Thank you for filming that, Alex. I’ll never forget it.”

“I don’t think any of us will,” I said. “Have fun with the dress.”

Her face disappeared from the screen.

Ali and Nana Mama came down to the field after the eight-hundred-meter race ended. Jannie returned from taking her drug test and there were more hugs and congratulations.

A photographer and a reporter from the Washington Post appeared and spoke to Jannie and her coach and me. Many of the coaches who had recruited Jannie were watching from the perimeter. Then Gail Andrews, a popular local television sports reporter, and her cameraman came onto the scene, and we had to do it all over again.

As that interview wound down, Andrews gestured at the pack of coaches still standing off to the side and then looked directly into the camera. “Jannie Cross is one of the most heavily recruited track athletes in the nation,” Andrews said. “Fifteen top Division One schools have offered her full scholarships.”