Army Fans,
For the Army West Point cross-country team, Labor Day Weekend provided the first opportunity to let the dogs run wild and compete since May. Arriving at the University of Maine Friday afternoon, we conducted our team and individual pre-meet routines. While Coach Smith provides the down-to-the-minute, excruciatingly detailed running and warm-up plans, he also understands to let the peculiarities of each athlete's psyche be in the twenty-four hours before a race. Superstitions range from Mitch Dutton enthusiastically picking out movies for the bus before falling asleep himself halfway through them to Ryan Smathers' room-temperature bath time to Jon Valeri waking up to "It's a Beautiful Day" by U2.