Columbia Blue? Not This Time

Columbia senior Kyle Merber is not only a sub-4 guy who has now overcome big-time adversity to reclaim a position of prominence in college running. He is also a talented writer.

First he penned a remarkable piece about his experience of losing the Heps Cross Country Championship by a tenth of a second. And now he has shared the story of his Lions shaking off their 'near-miss' label at the NCAA Regionals last weekend.

He set up the story like this:

For the first three years of my college career, Columbia was the first team out of Nationals. The 'what ifs' became a regular discussion. In 2008, if Syracuse finishes fourth instead of fifth, we make Nationals. In 2009, if we run one runner in the varsity race, rather than having him win the open race at Pre-Nationals, we make Nationals. In 2010, if one of our top three runners from the year before doesn’t get hurt, we make Nationals. And as these moral victories piled up, we all became exhausted with the excuses.

He also explained his team's regional approach, taking on a new skin with its new attitude:

We got our new uniforms — plain, all-black. There was no sign of us being Columbia, except the Puma logo. We were to blend in, and take any potential targets off our backs. For the first time since high school, I opted to go headband-less, to take the chameleon effect one step further. We were to sit in the front pack, and tough it out together.

Now on Monday, it looks like the Light Blue will be light blue once again:

I'll never be more proud to dawn the Columbia blue [after a week in black] in Terre Haute on Monday. Without each other, we'd have no guys on that line at Nationals. But together, we find a point to running despite the slim chances of ever achieving Olympic medals — the friendship, the team.

For the entire piece, click here.