HARRIERS

By Joseph and Paul Shivers

Paperback,181 pages

Fresh Writers Books

PO Box 82

Uniontown OH,44685

Fax:707-220-4510                                                  

Review by Peter M. Walsh

This is the book that so many high school cross-country runners said they should have written but didn’t.  Well now it’s been done and the story is more than a diamond in the rough – it’s a gem.  HARRIERS is the story of the Salem High School cross-country team and their unlikely run at the Ohio Division II Championship.  Written by teammates and cousins Joseph and Paul Shivers, HARRIERS covers two years in the life of an eclectic group of young American athletes.  Mentored by the Fresh Writers Writing Program of which the Shivers’ were 2005 Award winners, you can feel the heat of enthusiasm through this well told story. 

HARRIERS is the tale of a cross-country program that has recently turned mediocre and uninspired until the arrival of a new twenty-four year old coach, Michael Almond, a five time All-American from Malone College. His bonding with the team ranges from sharing the recent news of his wife’s first pregnancy to reminding the boys of the glory years of Salem running when the team won the 1993 State Championship. Throughout the book the boys are challenged to find their way as a team along with the young Almond who must discover himself as a coach and guide.  The coach and the team enter each others lives with all the bruises, pain and heartache of high school competition.  “Attitude is our magic”, says Almond as the Shivers remind us of Will Rogers words, “we can’t all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.” But the Shivers especially exhibit writer’s courage and succeed in their story by honestly sharing their teammate’s dreams, antics and sometimes questionable behavior.

HARRIERS  is about high school runners telling the story from the inside.  It’s about youth by youth.  It takes those running diaries that runners all keep, but goes beyond times and numbers. The book gives a personal history filled with rich team interplay.  Cross-country is where thousands of young people dedicate themselves to hardship and pain because they have willpower.  Cross-country is about heart, technique and sweat.  There’s no scandal , I guess it’s too good to be true.  It’s about the best becoming better.  It’s a cerebral sport where humor is necessary to give meaning to what others believe is crazy.  The Salem Quakers are the band of brothers of cross-country.  Even the names sound like a World War II movie;Dombroski, Yanek, Stewart, Newton, Murphy,etc. etc. These kids all run for different reasons, but in the end it’s for each other.  It’s about the team.  According to Joe Shivers running is “the ultimate meritocracy”.  Time to the boys is the great equalizer and the stop watch tells the truth.  When you see a high school cross-country meet you see the future and the future is great. 

Though we hear about the girls team, this story is about the boys. I can’t wait to read the girls version .  Someone out there just do it!  For now our job is to buy this book and pass the word.  Coaches should order copies for their team if for no other reason than x-country is one of the most media ignored sports.  Thank God for small town and suburban newspapers!  Big city and national press as well as television just don’t get it. They’re so used to non-coverage that their memory is bankrupt of cross-country existence let alone consideration.  It’s time they woke up!  Let’s put this book on the map. It might inspire you to run or even write. And yeah it’s only $5.95, so buy some early stocking stuffers, right now!  And most importantly buy HARRIERS because it’s good!