Teacher/runner hands a lesson to linebacker
Jim Castor
Assistant Sports Editor
(June 11, 2005) ? Teachers know best.
Mike met his match.
The race between 33-year-old Sarah Nazarian-O'Connor of Fairport and 16-year-old football linebacker Mike Finney turned out just as her English department co-workers, and hundreds of students, had predicted.
"That lady is a machine!" Finney gasped, sprawled out on the pavement of a sizzling-hot parking lot at Pittsford Mendon High School on Friday afternoon.
"I'm feelin' a little light-headed right now. I'm trying not to puke. I have never, I mean NEVER, been so tired in all my life."
The Pittsford Mendon junior had just confirmed what he'd admitted privately months ago. He wasn't about to beat one of the Rochester area's top distance runners at her own game.
All that trash talkin' in the halls these past few months after challenging her in a public speaking class last fall was just hype.
Just the night before, O'Connor had taped a note to his locker. "May the best 33-year-old mother of two with lupus win."
But he's taken it all in stride and never gave a thought about backing down. There was some face-saving here, and money to raise for two worthy charities.
A crowd of several hundred students, faculty, parents, graduates and even some Pittsford Sutherland students gathered after the last Friday of school and screamed encouragement the whole race.
A few, like fellow English teacher Keith Boardman and junior Chris Jacobs, wore white T-shirts with a picture of Finney on the front and O'Connor on the back.
"I support the Underdog" was under Finney's mug, written backward and misspelled to tweak their English teachers.
"Mike, beat Mrs. O'Connor. She's overpopulating the world," was reversed and jumbled on the back. O'Connor is a mother of two pre-schoolers. "Ah, kids. They don't get it yet," she laughed. "Some day."
Eight of her students staked out the top row of the bleachers, each holding a card spelling "O ? ' ? C ? O ? N ? N ? O ? R."
When Principal Karl Thielking gave the "go" sign, the student and teacher ran side by side through the first lap, taking a minute and 10 seconds.
O'Connor admitted later "I was scared. He was keeping right up with me."
But after two laps Finney's shoulders were sagging and O'Connor pulled ahead.
"I started really hurting the end of the second lap," Finney said. "I couldn't go any farther."
Instead of slowing to a jogging pace he swerved off the track and cut across the football field to intercept her as she was rounding the last turn.
"It's all o-ver," rose from the crowd.
Finney caught her near the end of the bleachers, turned around and ran backward, hands raised. They both laughed their way under an inflatable finish-line arch erected by race directors Dave and Ellen Boutillier of Fleet Feet Sports.
With a lap to go, amazingly, Finney put on a final surge. He caught up to O'Connor and broke the tape first at the finish line.
"Why'd you cheat, Finney?" someone yelled from the stands.
"I had to," he said, collapsing on the grass while O'Connor cooled down with her hands on her hips, hardly sweating.
She had run the four laps in 5 minutes, 38 seconds, and that's with some second-lap lane-switching that Finney also pulled to slow her down.
One lap on the track is 400 meters long. Four laps is about 10 yards short of a mile.
"It's a great time for a hot day like this one," said Mendon track coach Jim Erwin. "If it was 50 or 60 she might run a 5:20. Mike did well to run a half-mile."
Finney, officially declared disqualified by Boutillier, was still catching his breath when a student came rushing up to O'Connor and handed her a bottle. "Here, Mrs. O'Connor. Some cold water."
"Hey, what about me?" Finney said.
C'mon, Finney," O'Connor said, "I'll carry you back to school. We'll find some water for you."
"Way to go, Mrs. O'Connor," screamed one of her students from the stands. "You are my idol forever!"
"Thank God that's over," O'Connor said. "It's my first and absolutely last match race with a student.
"I'm going out like Michael Jordan. On top.
"I'm so thankful I don't have to quit my job now."
A few minutes before they had started their race, Mike spotted his dad standing at the perimeter chain-link fence.
"Remember the strategy," reminded Michael Finney to his son. "Be humble."
As the crowd was leaving, Finney was asked who he'll have for English next year.
"I don't know yet," he said, "but I've asked them ... I don't care what English course I take as long as my teacher is Mrs. O'Connor."
Link
Nice story especially since they raised money for worthy causes.
Jim Castor
Assistant Sports Editor
(June 11, 2005) ? Teachers know best.
Mike met his match.
The race between 33-year-old Sarah Nazarian-O'Connor of Fairport and 16-year-old football linebacker Mike Finney turned out just as her English department co-workers, and hundreds of students, had predicted.
"That lady is a machine!" Finney gasped, sprawled out on the pavement of a sizzling-hot parking lot at Pittsford Mendon High School on Friday afternoon.
"I'm feelin' a little light-headed right now. I'm trying not to puke. I have never, I mean NEVER, been so tired in all my life."
The Pittsford Mendon junior had just confirmed what he'd admitted privately months ago. He wasn't about to beat one of the Rochester area's top distance runners at her own game.
All that trash talkin' in the halls these past few months after challenging her in a public speaking class last fall was just hype.
Just the night before, O'Connor had taped a note to his locker. "May the best 33-year-old mother of two with lupus win."
But he's taken it all in stride and never gave a thought about backing down. There was some face-saving here, and money to raise for two worthy charities.
A crowd of several hundred students, faculty, parents, graduates and even some Pittsford Sutherland students gathered after the last Friday of school and screamed encouragement the whole race.
A few, like fellow English teacher Keith Boardman and junior Chris Jacobs, wore white T-shirts with a picture of Finney on the front and O'Connor on the back.
"I support the Underdog" was under Finney's mug, written backward and misspelled to tweak their English teachers.
"Mike, beat Mrs. O'Connor. She's overpopulating the world," was reversed and jumbled on the back. O'Connor is a mother of two pre-schoolers. "Ah, kids. They don't get it yet," she laughed. "Some day."
Eight of her students staked out the top row of the bleachers, each holding a card spelling "O ? ' ? C ? O ? N ? N ? O ? R."
When Principal Karl Thielking gave the "go" sign, the student and teacher ran side by side through the first lap, taking a minute and 10 seconds.
O'Connor admitted later "I was scared. He was keeping right up with me."
But after two laps Finney's shoulders were sagging and O'Connor pulled ahead.
"I started really hurting the end of the second lap," Finney said. "I couldn't go any farther."
Instead of slowing to a jogging pace he swerved off the track and cut across the football field to intercept her as she was rounding the last turn.
"It's all o-ver," rose from the crowd.
Finney caught her near the end of the bleachers, turned around and ran backward, hands raised. They both laughed their way under an inflatable finish-line arch erected by race directors Dave and Ellen Boutillier of Fleet Feet Sports.
With a lap to go, amazingly, Finney put on a final surge. He caught up to O'Connor and broke the tape first at the finish line.
"Why'd you cheat, Finney?" someone yelled from the stands.
"I had to," he said, collapsing on the grass while O'Connor cooled down with her hands on her hips, hardly sweating.
She had run the four laps in 5 minutes, 38 seconds, and that's with some second-lap lane-switching that Finney also pulled to slow her down.
One lap on the track is 400 meters long. Four laps is about 10 yards short of a mile.
"It's a great time for a hot day like this one," said Mendon track coach Jim Erwin. "If it was 50 or 60 she might run a 5:20. Mike did well to run a half-mile."
Finney, officially declared disqualified by Boutillier, was still catching his breath when a student came rushing up to O'Connor and handed her a bottle. "Here, Mrs. O'Connor. Some cold water."
"Hey, what about me?" Finney said.
C'mon, Finney," O'Connor said, "I'll carry you back to school. We'll find some water for you."
"Way to go, Mrs. O'Connor," screamed one of her students from the stands. "You are my idol forever!"
"Thank God that's over," O'Connor said. "It's my first and absolutely last match race with a student.
"I'm going out like Michael Jordan. On top.
"I'm so thankful I don't have to quit my job now."
A few minutes before they had started their race, Mike spotted his dad standing at the perimeter chain-link fence.
"Remember the strategy," reminded Michael Finney to his son. "Be humble."
As the crowd was leaving, Finney was asked who he'll have for English next year.
"I don't know yet," he said, "but I've asked them ... I don't care what English course I take as long as my teacher is Mrs. O'Connor."
Link
Nice story especially since they raised money for worthy causes.
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