Southwest Invitational: A tribute to Rylee
October 17, 2018
Lee Stubblefield
Spectators at the annual Southwest Invitational Cross Country Meet were initially puzzled by the white headbands adorning the Southwest runners. Sweatbands went out with disco, except for a few diehard, old school hobby joggers. The word quickly spread: the bands were a tribute to Southwest team manager Rylee Adams. Rylee is currently staying at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., awaiting a heart transplant.
In fact, Rylee signed every one of the headbands for the Trojans and sent a video to Coach Rusty Roe, showing her wearing her own “Southwest CC” band.
“Hey Coach Roe!” she hollered into the camera. “I just wanted to tell you to tell the team I said good luck today on their run, and to run as fast as they can.”
The “Win one for the Gipper” speech by Ronald Reagan in the Knute Rockne All American movie pales in comparison to this real life drama. On this day, the Southwest Invitational became more than a race.
But there would be no Hoosiers ending for Rylee’s Southwest boys team. Missing two of their top five runners, the Trojans settled for second behind a strong Spokane squad in the varsity race, 19-45. Purdy took third with 70.
Travis Sickles led Southwest with his second place finish in 18:10. Spokane’s Sam Shuman won the gold medal with his 17:28 performance.
But it was all Trojans in the other races...Southwest, led by individual winner Brylee Wilson’s 21:29 run, won the varsity girls division. Both the Southwest boys and girls teams were victorious in the middle school races. Roper Varner was the top Trojan for the junior boys, taking first place in 9:19. Likewise, Southwest’s Cally Bowyer took the junior girls gold, running 10:47.
Lee Stubblefield
Spectators at the annual Southwest Invitational Cross Country Meet were initially puzzled by the white headbands adorning the Southwest runners. Sweatbands went out with disco, except for a few diehard, old school hobby joggers. The word quickly spread: the bands were a tribute to Southwest team manager Rylee Adams. Rylee is currently staying at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., awaiting a heart transplant.
In fact, Rylee signed every one of the headbands for the Trojans and sent a video to Coach Rusty Roe, showing her wearing her own “Southwest CC” band.
“Hey Coach Roe!” she hollered into the camera. “I just wanted to tell you to tell the team I said good luck today on their run, and to run as fast as they can.”
The “Win one for the Gipper” speech by Ronald Reagan in the Knute Rockne All American movie pales in comparison to this real life drama. On this day, the Southwest Invitational became more than a race.
But there would be no Hoosiers ending for Rylee’s Southwest boys team. Missing two of their top five runners, the Trojans settled for second behind a strong Spokane squad in the varsity race, 19-45. Purdy took third with 70.
Travis Sickles led Southwest with his second place finish in 18:10. Spokane’s Sam Shuman won the gold medal with his 17:28 performance.
But it was all Trojans in the other races...Southwest, led by individual winner Brylee Wilson’s 21:29 run, won the varsity girls division. Both the Southwest boys and girls teams were victorious in the middle school races. Roper Varner was the top Trojan for the junior boys, taking first place in 9:19. Likewise, Southwest’s Cally Bowyer took the junior girls gold, running 10:47.