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A legacy left as GCCC sophomores move on
Published 11/19/2009 in Sports
By MIKE KESSINGER
mkessinger@gctelegram.com
At some point after they have left Garden City Community College, cross country runners Mohamed Noor, Adam Stainiger and Gabriel Proctor may look back at their Broncbusters' career and smile.
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Courtesy Photo Garden City Community College cross country coach Dan Delgado, first from right, with team members (from left), Mohammed Noor, Adam Stainiger and Gabe Proctor with the third place trophy from the NJCAA National Championships last Saturday in East Peoria, Ill.
It is what their coach Dan Delgado hopes as he does all his runners will do. But, more than anything, Delgado wants his athletes to feel that their time and experience was well worth it. That it is something not only will they smile about but feel it was a life lesson maybe each one will look back on at some point and realize a positive effect it has had on them. It may not be something they really put into perspective two, five 10 years from now. It could be 25 years, but Delgado's hope is that it will truly come to them at some point. And with that, he hopes all his runners leave with an appreciation and love this year's group has provided.
"With these three, it's been pretty special," Delgado said of his three sophomores on the men's team.
In the last two years, there's never been any doubt for what the Broncbusters were going to get out Noor and Proctor. Since they walked onto the GCCC campus last fall, the two Delgado recruited out of Maine and Vermont, have delivered. Going back and forth, they have always been the Busters' 1-2 finishers. When the program has needed them to be at their best Noor and Proctor always came through. As their GCCC cross country careers ended last Saturday in East Peoria, Ill., they once again showed what each has always been able to provide to the program -- All-American. The Busters finished with their second straight third-place team finish at the NJCAA national championships for the second straight year, leaving this sophomore trio as the most decorated group in school history.
"We had a good season, and we have a great team," said Noor, who earned his second All-American honor by placing seventh, two spots ahead of Proctor. "We are strong, better than last year."
One of main reasons for the Busters' improvement this year was the personal growth of Stainiger. Delgado will point it out more than anyone. A year ago, the Busters coach remembers sitting down with Stainiger and basically laying it out for the freshman at the time that he needed to be better. There was no ifs about it, and Stainiger took it to heart. As he wears the Busters' ring from the national championships last year in which he didn't run, Stainiger has two words on the inside of it, the message simply reads "Unfinished business." As he came on strong at the end of the year, placing 23rd at nationals, to earn All-American honors as well, Stainiger said he feels now that he has accomplished what he set out to do.
"I finished it." he said.
Delgado sat in the Hall of Fame room inside the Perryman Athletic Complex on Wednesday afternoon an appreciative coach for what this group of sophomores and the others before them since he became the head coach in 2005 have provided for the GCCC cross country program. But more than that, Delgado is proud of what he has now, and he is thankful for what he describes as a complete workmanlike group. He appreciates how Noor, who emigrated to the United States three years ago with his family from Somolia, and Proctor, a U.S. citizen, who was adopted out of Ethiopia, have always run so strong. Delgado says that the two are understanding the American dream and what it takes to work so hard to fulfill it. He prides himself on Stainiger's progress over the last year, and how he's dedicated himself to making the team better. So, as this group leaves GCCC, they will always have a special place in the program's history, and that alone makes Delgado smile.
"For the first time in five years, this group of sophomores proved they weren't going to be shamed," Delgado said referring to his three sophomores that finished as the top three placers on the team, setting an example for next year's second-year runners.
And while their coach smiles, a group of sophomores leave GCCC with a belief that what lies ahead for them isn't just positive, but that the Broncbuster cross country program will be as well.
"At nationals a pretty good majority of the top 30 or 40 finishers were sophomores," Stainiger said. "Our freshmen were at the top of the freshmen, and so I think they'll be able to hold their ground pretty good next year."
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