Ocean Lakes Makes Coach's Dream Come True
Sitting next to his mother Nikki in the bleachers of Landstown High School last week, Chas Lowery watched his Ocean Lakes classmates run and jump their way through the Beach District tournament meet. After 14 years of trying, and taking fifth place the last two seasons, the Dolphin track team were finally primed for a run at their first-ever district title.
With athletes from across Virginia Beach barreling around the track, and hundreds of friends, fans, and coaches on the sidelines and in the stands cheering for them, it was tough for Chaz, a Lakes freshman, to keep track of everything that was happening. But he couldn't stop thinking about someone who wasn't there.
About two years ago, Chaz's father Ed, who'd been leading the Dolphin track stars for two seasons, was diagnosed with lymphoma.
"He was sick for a long time," Chaz recalled. "It was gradual; we never saw anything drastic. He was always just Dad to us. He was always there, always coaching." Aside from track, Ed also led the girls' basketball team, which was itself led in part by his daughter Jenna.
"He was a man of dedication," Chaz said. "He was always calling. I'd be in the stands on the phone with him, giving him play-by-play. Whether or not he was there in person, he was there with us. He knew the second they won a race. When he was discharged out of the hospital, he'd make sure he was discharged early enough to make the next game."
As the track season started in early spring, seniors Caleb Doane, T.J. Cowart, and the rest of the squad prepared for one last run (literally and figuratively) at local history - and everyone hoped that Ed would be there with them.
"(Ed) has been with us so much, helping us, so it was sad when he wasn't healthy," said senior Caleb Doane. "Over the summer, he'd gone into remission, and we all thought he'd be fine. He was always hopeful and always had a positive attitude, so we didn't really know how bad it was."
That's because Ed never let it show, said first-year coach Chris Scott.
"His mindset all the time was just to keep plugging," Scott remembered. "When he was in the hospital, he was picking out uniforms for the next season and telling me about attending the next game. We tried to carry that over, not just into track, but into all the sports here."
Last March 31, Scott arrived to visit Lakes' coach. That's when he learned what no one ever wanted to hear. At 51, Ed was gone.
"When he died, it hit us like a ton of bricks," Scott said. "We all bonded together and pulled together, trying to carry on his traditions. He was here for four years, and he left his impact on everyone."
Last Wednesday, the team had one more chance to show that impact to the local track community.
"He was always out there encouraging us," said junior Anne Reiner. "We were so pumped up - we wanted to win for him and do something in his memory."
The men didn't waste time- Caleb, his younger brother Conor, Drew Paisley, and Chris McGarry shot through the 3200-meter relay, notching a time of 8:03.16 - 11 seconds faster than second-place Princess Anne, and nearly four seconds faster than the district record set by Cox in 2003.
Meanwhile, Justin Hunter took to the sky. In his first full season of Lakes track competition, Hunter won the high and triple jump, and notched second in the long jump, one spot ahead of Cowart.
"I was nervous, because I didn't really know what to expect," Hunter said. "I felt good, because I knew that Coach would be proud of me. He taught me to try my best." (he continued his ways the next weekend at Eastern Region competition, winning the triple jump and taking second in the high and long jump)
Dolphin James Rainey got third in the shot put, one ahead of teammate Dan Pitts.
Rainer, Stacey Nobles, Peri Bowman, and Natalia Kuhn notched their own 3200-relay first-place finish, and Cowart, Shamarko Thomas, Walter Davis, and Reggie Owens took second in the 400-relay.
With the event at its midpoint overnight, the Dolphins were in first, but Green Run was close behind.
"We knew what we had to score, and we were ready to do it," Caleb said. He and his brother showed as much on the second day, as each recorded personal bests in the mile run, taking second and third. Paisley got fourth with his best time of the season, and McGary was sixth.
Soon after, it became clear that the Dolphins might be getting just a little extra help from somewhere special. Slated to finish back in the 100-meter pack, Cowart got fourth. After taking fifth in the 200-meter preliminaries, Thomas pulled up second in the final race. Over on the girls' side, Kuhn won the 800-meter dash.
For their final individual race, Caleb, Conor, and the rest of the Dolphins prepared to put their final mark on not just a season, but a vision that was slowly turning from fantasy to reality.
"We had a double reason to do the best we could," Caleb said. "We all knew that (Ed) was looking down on us, happy to see it." Once again, he, Conor, and Paisely were second, third, and fourth.
As the meet wound down, Nikki asked Chaz to head down to the track and get a report on how things were going. Stepping across the grass, Chaz went over to distance coach Mike Nestor.
"He gave me a head shake," Chaz said. "He told me we had it."
They had the first district title in school history - and Ed's dream in their hands.
"It was amazing, just all the memories coming back through my mind of the hours spent at the track," Chaz said. "So many hours that I'd spent with him on the track all just came back to me. I knew that they did it for him. It was something that he'd worked for so many years to achieve, and it finally happened."
They'd slipped away from Green Run for the title, 138-118. Lakes' ladies notched fifth place in their respective meet.
"It was really exciting," Reiner said. "Even though the boys won the team final, it was like we'd won it too." She and Nobles also won at regionals, finishing first and second in the 1,600.
When the awards were announced, the entire team went up to grab the trophy. The Dolphins held it up, passed it around, and waved to the cheering crowd.
Then they went over to Nikki, and handed it to her to hold the award for which her husband had longed. She held it up, and Justin and several other athletes hugged her.
Watching the celebration he'd help occur, Cowart remembered what he'd never forget
"(Ed) taught me how to run, how to jump, everything," said Cowart, who'll head to Old Dominion University this fall. "I learned so much from him. We knew he'd always be looking at us. We got the championship for him."
