Since the 2022 LHSAA State Cross Country Meet, Parkway junior Gabe Falting has had a good run of bad luck. If it could go wrong, it did. Everything from sickness to someone picking up his spike bag.
His father, Kent Falting, who doubles as his coach, thought last Saturday's LSU Last Chance Qualifier would be different.
"We thought all of those things were behind him," Coach Kent Falting said. "And this would be the weekend that he could just have fun."
Then the 1600m happened and Falting took an elbow to the mouth during the waterfall start.
Who says distance running isn't a contact sport?
Bruised, but not broken, Falting joined the Parkway 4x800 later in the meet. The squad had a new member-freshmen Ben Ruliffson, who was running the 800 distance for only the second time in his career.
"He asked me 'how do I run this,'" Falting said. "I said 'Hey man, just stay with the pack. Don't think about the pain. Just stay with the pack."
Rulifson followed the coach's orders. Next was junior Gary Smith. And sophomore Jesus Cordova. Their job was just to keep Parkway within striking distance for the anchor-Falting.
As Smith was running, Falting used the wait time to follow in his father's coaching footsteps and give his teammate Cordova some motivation.
"I was telling him to get back up with the main pack," Falting said.
Once Falting got the baton-in fifth place-he had one mission-to catch the runner in front of him. While he passed a runner from East Ascension on his first 200 meter lap, Falting was still in fourth place.
With 100 meters remaining, Falting made his move to pass the anchor leg from Brother Martin. A battle ensued and Falting pulled away with 50 meters remaining, crossing in a school record time of 8:24.
"It's not about where you are when you get the baton," Gabe Falting said. "It's all about where you finish at the end of the race. The timing is important because you've got to make sure you can hold them off once you pass them."
Falting's split was 1:59.2- the fastest split run by any runner in the relay or the open 800m, which was won by Calvary Sophomore Jackson Burney with a 2:00.15.
"It feels great," Falting said. "We were joking with Ben that we were glad he was on the team which set a school record, but we told him we are going to break it again in two weeks."
The coach was proud of the team. And the father was proud of the son.
"I'm just so happy for all of those guys," Falting said. "To put the pain aside and to be able to run a school record time is really special.Listen, the 800 hurts. Those guys put the pain aside."
And the father?
"For Gabe to put all of those unfortunate things behind him and have the confidence to motivate his teammates and the run the way he did, it's a testament to the positive spirit he brings to the team every day," Falting said.
And now Parkway will wait until the LHSAA State Indoor Meet on Saturday, February 18th and go after yet another podium finish and school record.