PORT ANGELES — They didn’t talk about how great of a distance runner she is; in fact her athletic accomplishments were mentioned mostly in passing.
What they did talk about, person after person during Gracie Long’s letter of intent ceremony, was what a great teammate, competitor and human being she is. In the words of one classmate, whenever she was strugging with a subject in school, she would motivate herself by saying, “What would Gracie do?”
Long, a four-year cross-country runner, long-distance track runner and basketball player for the Roughriders, is wrapping up an impressive career, with four school records in track and cross country.
She signed a letter of intent Wednesday to run track and cross country for Corban University, a private NAIA school in Salem, Ore.
Girls track coach Bill Tiderman said Long battled a lot of physical problems in cross country, including a serious ankle injury and asthma. Tiderman talked about having to literally carry her after she finished a race because she couldn’t put weight on her ankle.
Whether she was running at the top of her game or fighting physical problems, Tiderman said she always had the same look in her eye. And that look was, “I don’t care, you’re not going to beat me. She has that attitude a lot.”
Head track coach Bob Sheedy said that a lot of girls who are elite track athletes run track year-round, yet Long takes a break from running to play basketball in the winter. He noticed two things when he watched her play basketball. First, she’s a basketball player and secondly, “She makes friends with all the girls she competes against.”
Her basketball coach, Michael Poindexter said Long’s leadership was a big part of the Roughriders’ winning the Olympic League 2A Division sportsmanship award.
Corban track coach Norm Burney made the trip all the way from Salem to Port Angeles for the signing. He’s made a few trips to the Olympic Peninsula … to watch Long play basketball.
“I’ve never actually seen her run, I’m glad to hear that she can run,” he joked.
But, he added that after meeting her and hearing about her, “I feel she’s going to fit with our team. I don’t drive to Port Angeles to get people. We felt she was really worth it. She’s our top recruit,” Burney said.
“It was nice to hear everyone say such nice things,” Long said. She said when she visited the Corban campus, she experienced a “caring community that would support me no matter what.”
Actually, Long was originally looking at a different Oregon school, the Oregon Institute of Technology down in Klamath Falls, but decided to check out Corban on the way, according to her mother Alyssa Long.
“She felt that’s where she belonged. Her favorite coach is coach Sheedy and she said the Corban coach reminded her of coach Sheedy,” her mother said. And being just five hoursaway, Corban is close enough to make a day trip to Gracie’s meets (schools in Corban’s conference also include The Evergreen State College in Olympia and Northwest College in Kirkland).
“We’re completely at peace with her decision,” Alyssa Long said.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
