Blood Brothers

If you haven't seen this article already, check it out. Great story about our sport.

At Nike Cross Nationals, an Albuquerque runner trades peak fitness — and the team championship — for his ill brother

Of all the stories coming out of last Saturday’s 6th Nike Cross Nationals high school championships in Portland, Oregon, the one that remains to be told is that of a boy and his brother, the ravages of fate, and a courageous run at the back of the pack.

It was Albuquerque Academy's fifth appearance in the national event, which invites 22 boys teams and 22 girls teams based on regional qualifying meets and at-large selections, as well as individual qualifiers. Each race totaled 199 runners.

Like most contenders, Albuquerque, which had placed as high as 3rd in 2007, began training in earnest over the summer. With a number of key runners returning from the Chargers’ 11th-place team in 2008, and young talent moving up, the head coach, Adam Kedge, felt that Academy might have another shot at victory.

But in late July, as the boys were putting in their base mileage, it was learned that the brother of team member Neil Longenbaugh, a junior and third scorer at NXN in ’08, was seriously ill. Nick Longenbaugh, a year older than Neil and a 2009 Academy graduate, was diagnosed with leukemia—specifically, acute myeloid leukemia, a rare, virulent form of the disease. AML is characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal white blood cells that accumulate in the bone marrow, interfering with the production of normal blood cells.

“We’re really close so it was hard,” Neil told me the day before NXN. After Kedge and Academy assistant coach Alan Vraspir had apprised me of the situation, I asked if Neil would agree to discuss his thoughts. The coaches checked with Neil and he said yes.

Neil continued with summer base work as Nick was first admitted to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque for tests. An exceptional student, Nick had played soccer, run cross-country for a season and graduated with accolades. He was accepted to Harvard and after the diagnosis his admission was deferred for a year.

To read the rest of this article, go to the following link:
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18322&PageNum=1