The finish line tells the story of a cross-country meet.
The starting line usually is an afterthought, but it was much more than that Saturday for the Noble Street Charter boys cross-country team.
As the school’s six runners stepped to the start of the University High Class A regional on a cool, overcast morning at Washington Park, relief mingled with expectation. Less than 24 hours earlier, after all, it was doubtful the runners would make it even that far.
The reason was a violation of Illinois High School Association rules, an inadvertent violation stemming from the most charitable of intentions but a violation nonetheless.
It all started when Noble Street boys coach David Biele asked his athletes if any of them wanted to run in the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Biele had run it last year as part of an effort to raise money to fight AIDS.
He planned to do this again, and seniors Oscar Ortega and Jorge Mena and junior Isidro Garcia agreed to join him.
Two juniors not on the team and two Noble Street graduates also joined the effort. All seven and Biele prepared for the 26.2-mile race by using the National AIDS Marathon Training Program, which carries a fundraising requirement.
Biele didn’t realize an IHSA rule prohibits participation in road races and the like during the cross-country season. He found out about it 2 1/2 weeks before the Oct. 9 marathon and told Ortega, Mena and Garcia they had to choose between the marathon and the state cross-country series.
All three chose the marathon. The eight-member Noble Street contingent, all of whom finished that race, raised $10,000 for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
Garcia said he had a long-standing dream to run a marathon and couldn’t give it up, especially after working so hard to fulfill it.
“It’s not because the marathon is more important but because it’s a more personal goal I needed to accomplish,” he said. “I had been training with my friends for six months, and we had worked so hard raising money because we really, really, really wanted to run a marathon.
“It’s too bad the IHSA wouldn’t let us run in the regional, but I guess it’s a rule.”
The IHSA also warned Noble Street officials that the entire boys team faced possible expulsion from the state series, but the officials, believing only the three runners should be sanctioned, either didn’t take that warning seriously enough or decided to take a chance.
After the marathon, IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman barred the team from the regionals. Noble Street officials appealed the ruling, pointing out they had removed Ortega, Mena and Garcia from the team.
Finally, on Friday afternoon, Hickman told Noble Street President Michael Milkie he would reinstate the team if Biele did not coach it or watch it race in the state series. Milkie agreed.
Hickman said he had not been fully aware until late in the week that Noble Street had removed the three marathon runners from the team. That made a difference, he said, though he still believed Biele should be sanctioned.
“The coach is responsible for knowing what the rules are,” he said.
Biele didn’t contest that point.
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“I’m just thrilled the team gets to run,” he said. “That’s what was important to me all along.”
In eligibility controversies, the IHSA often can’t find such a Solomon-like middle ground. Fortunately, it did in this case, and the kids didn’t have to suffer from a coach’s mistake.
There are no villains here. Biele started Noble Street’s running program in 2000 and is the prime reason 54 boys and girls, more than 10 percent of the school’s enrollment, ran this fall. He saw a chance for his runners to have the experience of a lifetime and fight AIDS as well.
The IHSA, on the other hand, has a legitimate interest in ensuring that runners don’t gain a competitive edge with unsanctioned in-season competition. One benefit of this eligibility snafu is that Noble Street officials, whose school is only six years old, now realize they have to know the rules.
“It’s a good lesson to learn,” Milkie said.
Garcia is relieved that his marathon effort didn’t wind up costing his friends the chance to compete in the state series. He regretted missing Saturday’s race but has no second thoughts.
“It was fantastic, the best experience ever,” he said of the marathon. “Seeing all those people cheering you on was great, just great.
“I thought back to all the work it took to get to that day, and it was worth every single second.”
The six Noble Street runners had similar sentiments at Washington Park after they finished fifth, thereby qualifying for the Lisle sectional next Saturday. No one was happier than the team’s top runner, junior Victor Adalid, who missed the previous week’s Chicago Public League meet because of the IHSA’s initial ruling.
“When I found out we could run, I was really happy,” said Adalid, who finished 20th in Saturday’s 3-mile race in 17 minutes 36 seconds, a personal best. “I didn’t understand why the rule affected me since I didn’t practice the marathon or run in the marathon.
“This means all the hard work the last two years really paid off.”
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