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Throwback Thursday - 1993 Mead XC - DyeStatPublished by
20 years ago: Mead's cross country nirvana By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor Pat Tyson thinks back on the team he coached 20 years ago at Mead High School in Spokane and sometimes it feels seems like it happened last week. --- Enter to win a free copy of Pat Tyson's book written with Doug Binder: Coaching Cross Country Successfully So vivid were the characters on the 1993 Mead cross country team -- and so dominant -- that the Panthers are on a short list of the greatest of all-time. This was the peak year for a Mead program that ran roughshod through the decade of the 1990s in Washington, winning nine straight state championships (and 12 total under Tyson). The 1993 team was second in a row to be ranked No. 1 by Marc Bloom's Harrier Magazine.
It was the team that went 1-2-3 at the Washington state cross country meet. It was the team that set the Woodbridge course record in California that lasted for 17 years, until Arcadia broke it in 2010. And it was the team that put two runners -- brothers Matthew, a senior, and Micah Davis, a junior -- in the Top 10 at Foot Locker Nationals. "When that team was running together it was a beautiful thing to watch," said Tyson, now the men's cross country and track coach at Gonzaga University. "Perfect arm motions, perfect strides, they looked collegiate. They just had it." Mead -- and it's centerpiece, in particular, Matthew Davis -- have come to stand for a particular time period. In the early 1990s, the grunge rock blasting out of amplifiers in Seattle was heard loud and clear across the state in Spokane. Think mosh pits and flannel shirts, and a boys cross country team swept up in its own collective desire do something great as a "band." Davis was not a prototypical runner. He was muscled and barrel-chested, an update of the Steve Prefontaine mold. And his coach, Tyson, preached the lessons he learned from his 1960s idols, Gerry Lindgren and Rick Riley, and Pre, his former college roommate in Eugene. Davis fit in with the skateboarding and grunge crowd. A star at cross country meets, he was approachable and unassuming out of his blue-and-gold singlet. In the halls of school, he often wore headphones plugged into a Walkman that spun the cassette tapes of obscure, full-throttle alternative bands. As a runner, he set himself apart with three Washington cross country titles and a three-mile best of 14:09 as a senior in 1993 at Sun Willows Golf Course. He ran with the same wild abandon as the music that blared in his head. But he never tuned out his teammates, or his coach. "I never listened to music while I ran in high school," Davis said. "I always felt like you'd lose your mental toughness." Mental toughness was an attribute that was frequently attached to Davis. Prior to the Foot Locker regional meet Davis slipped on a sheet of ice in Spokane during a hill workout and injured his knee. He didn't run a step for more than a week prior to the race in Fresno and yet when he got there he won it, beating Meb Keflezighi. A week later, and after another lost week of training, Davis ran with the leaders at the Foot Locker Finals through the mid-point before Adam Goucher (the winner) and Keflezighi got away from him. "He didn't let an injury consume him," Tyson said. "There was no negativitiy, no self-doubt. He just went for it." In the week that followed, Davis underwent surgery to remove the ilio-tibial band in his injured knee. But the Mead team was more than Davis. Four runners on that team went on to run for Tyson's alma mater -- the University of Oregon -- during Bill Dellinger's final seasons as head coach. "It's really rare when you find a group of people who choose to unite around one purpose," Davis said. "There was such an energy between us and Tyson. What he said was it. Period. There was no (needing to) convince of anybody." At the state cross country meet Mead's five ran 14:09, 14:46, 14:48, 15:13 and 15:43. Fifth man Skiy DeTray actually had an off day. He would later run 9:06 in the 3,200 on the track and qualify for Foot Locker in 1994. "I was relentless about not letting the 1960s and 70s disappear," Tyson said. "We carried on (those lessons). We were not going to let up. We were going to carry the stick with the cutting edge stuff but it was all about running the landscape, throwing out the watches and (just) running." All five of them -- the Davises, DeTray, Rob Aubrey and Greg James -- won at least one Washington state track title in either the 1,600 or 3,200. (That was possible, in part, because Matt Davis was injured in the spring of 1994). All five ran under 4:13 for 1,600 meters. In the spring of 1995, DeTray beat Micah Davis in a thrilling state final of the 1,600, 4:08.51 to 4:09.15. "We combined our energies," DeTray told the Seattle Times. "We're a part of each other. We use each other. It's just a spiritual experience." That's the way it felt back then. In Greater Spokane League dual meets, the Mead team of that era practically flew over courses like flocks of Canadian geese, connected and yet free at the same time. The Mead dynasty was influential throughout the Northwest, but particularly in the history-rich Greater Spokane League. Teams like North Central, Ferris, University and Central Valley all found ways to step up and respond to the challenge of competing against Mead. "I was still getting started then, and wet behind the ears," said coach Jon Knight of cross-town rival North Central, whose team won the 2008 NXN title. "I remember getting whipped by them. I love Pat Tyson. He's one of the few guys that can go 1-through-7 on you and make you feel like you've had a good day." Tyson's way with his runners was also a big reason why his teams were special. "Especially for young guys, he has that weird sense," Davis said. "He believes in you more than anyone else can. He's casting a vision for you and you start to see the vision for yourself. He's very smart when it comes to his ability to coach." Mike Lee, who coaches Lewis & Clark High in the Greater Spokane League, is a 1995 Mead graduate who witnessed and ran with the 1993 team every day. "Dream Team is a pretty good descriptor of it," Lee said. "It was group of guys that had a few things going for it. One was natural running talent. Two, was a great coach. And three, they bought into it and worked together to accomplish their goals. Sometimes we see these great pieces but it's not often when we see all those things come together." Davis' injury problems lingered after his final cross country season, not only ruining his senior track season but diminishing his long-term potential. (He was, however, an All-American at Oregon several times over). During his three years at Mead he was widely regarded as the best athlete in the school. The football coach once told Tyson, "He's the greatest competitior in our school. I wish he could have played football for me." But what Lee remembers about him is that he was also the coolest kid in school. (Today, Davis is the CEO of a creative agency in Michigan). A month after the 1993 Foot Locker final, where he got third, Nirvana played at the Spokane Coliseum on Jan. 6, 1994. "I was there and Matthew was there," Lee said. "Nirvana was very big and this was their last show (in Spokane). But I remember him saying 'Nirvana is way too mainstream for me. I'm here to see the (opening act) Butthole Surfers.' "Such a cool guy," Lee said. "Just when I felt like I had something in common with him, and he was ahead (of the curve) into something else."
1993 BOYS HARRIER NATIONAL RANKINGS
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