John Washington

September 7, 2004

So far our team seems to have gotten off to a great start. The first few weeks of school are always fun and exciting and our team has really come together in that time.

Despite a somewhat disappointing finish (second place) Saturday at the University of the South Invitational, our squad is more excited about the potential shown in the race than they are worried about an early season upset. Centre ran great, but we still are very confident that we will be the best team in the region when the season is over and I think we are making the commitment and doing the work to make that happen.

Coming into the season, there was some talk, especially from those not directly involved with the program, as to whether or not we would be able to recover from the loss of the great senior class of 2004. I think we showed that we have.

Our top three were all seniors and ran very strong races. There has been a significant amount of improvement in many members of the team, namely Jon High, which was necessary for us to be able to compete at a high level.

We also got a strong freshman class to fill in some of the holes left from last year. Most obvious is Bryan Forsyth who made an immediate impact finishing as our fourth man on Saturday.

Even though we did not get the finish we wanted on Saturday, our team is ready for a long season. We all ran a lot of miles over the summer and are pushing ourselves everyday in practice so that when nationals is over, the results of the University of the South Invitational will be inconsequential.

John Washington is a senior from Horsham, Pa. He would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.