A Cloud of Witnesses

Henry Van, a.k.a. Saint Henry, a longtime, beloved member of the maintenance staff, always arrives on campus before dawn. One morning earlier in the fall, Henry was so struck by what he saw that he shared a photo with faculty and staff. “The new bridge connecting the lower parking lot to the hidden field looks like a nighttime tunnel to Heaven, and it makes a big difference on the campus; we are so grateful and blessed,” he said.

In the daylight, it is possible to see, just to the left of the bridge, these always inspiring words from the Letter to the Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of Faith.” Certainly Steven Reinemund ’99†, whose vision inspired the new cross-country trail and to whom it is dedicated, as well as all the other alumni, monks, lay faculty and family members who have passed on, now make up that “cloud of witnesses.” They will be looking down, cheering on the “perseverance” which all practice of distance running or some derivative activity.

Kenneth Adams ’90 recalls that running cross-country began as a corrective imposed by his father as he prepared to enter Form III.He had returned from his summer in Japan quite chubby, after being happily fed “every sweet treat possible” by an indulgent Japanese aunt. While he hated every minute of running off that extra 20 pounds, “there was something in the shared suffering that brought me back to the cross-country team in Form IV,” said Adams. Though admittedly never a great runner, the experience was a fundamental turning point in his life. All the aerobic exercise prepared him for his true passion, cycling: “Cross-country made me fit enough to race bikes, and I did that all through high school, college, medical school and in the 23 years since finishing residency in 2001.” Kenneth has had success, and a lot of fun, competing in races all over the world.

Nick Shea ’08 used his cross-country training in high school to fuel his goal of competing in an Ironman Triathlon before the age of 30, which he accomplished in 2019 at age 29. Peter Graham ’02 credits his crosscountry training with getting him through the U.S. Army Airborne School where many others were dropped for failing the daily runs.

Peter McCormack ’03 and Theilen both learned the value of what they had suffered through running cross-country at Cistercian only later, once out of college. McCormack was chiefly in other sports at Cistercian, and running became a barely endurable penance for keeping in shape. In his mid-30s, he reassessed the value of his Cistercian cross-country career and resolved to start again. After an initial struggle, he now runs 20 miles a week. “Running crosscountry taught me persistence. Perhaps all sports do, and that’s why we love them. But the simplicity and accessibility of running makes the lesson universal. Besides that, it has improved my general mood, and my health is better than in my 20s,” McCormack said. Theilen picked up running again, believe it or not, in medical school, running his first marathon in 2008. He has since run too many half-marathons to count and has even run the Grand Canyon rim to rim. He confesses that he runs when “a thirst develops that can’t be quenched until I pound pavement for an hour or two or bag a peak near my home in Salt Lake City.” Long-distance running is a passion that for Theilen isn’t pursued “so that my gut can get tighter, but instead just to push harder, get faster, and see if I can be broken.”

Victor Arias '00 continued to run well into his 30s, becoming more and more aware that "the mental health benefits were almost more than the physical." Arias has recently cofounded a mental health start-up with Daniel McSwain '01, and talk of their cross-country experience at Cistercian comes up often and offers many positive lessons which they are trying to incorporate into their practice. "The cross-country team felt like a brotherhood of strong-willed misfits trying to do the best with what they're given but being intentional about pushing and uplifting each other in order to win. That's the only way it would work."

In Alan Sillitoe’s short story, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,” Smith, the main character and long-distance runner, sums up the challenge and significance of the run, reflecting not only Arias’s experience, but that of many of our alumni: “the longdistance run of an early morning makes me think that every run like this is a life—a little life, I know— but a life as full of misery and happiness and things happening as you can ever get really around yourself.” Grit, discipline and the ache of muscle and lungs, the relentless pounding of shoes, the feelings of misery and the triumph of perseverance—it’s a tale, for sure, both of running and life.

However, lest I fail to report the “other side” of alumni recollections, I must remember some of those lighter, more humorous moments. Chris Buchanan ’91 recalls that, while a disciplined workout in search of an improved personal time and improved positioning for an improved team score were laudable goals for “the chumps,” some “enlightened thinkers” chose a “higher path” which led them to finding ways “to discern opportunities” to turn practice into a “less strenuous affair.” He then remarks, with tongue firmly implanted in cheek, “Is this not a driving force at Cistercian: to undertake the impossible, the improbable, and succeed (with panache and cunning)? Carpe diem!” There were also the funny recollections of “coach moments.” Chris Kribs ’85 remembers learning from a guest coach (most likely, as he remembers, someone’s dad) about the advanced technique of “fartlekking” which always brought a few chuckles and a sense that they all had gotten “pretty advanced” since middle school. There were the memories of Coach Saied Baghvardani (known affectionately as “Coach Saied”), an excellent soccer coach who was also tasked with directing the cross-country program. Chris Stewart ’91 remembers that Coach Saied’s daily remarks to his players, made in his thick Iranian accent, always began with “beer at 2:45” which always got his runners’ hopes up. “To this day,” Stewart said, “if someone says ‘be here,’ I hear it in Coach Saied’s voice.”

Then there were the stories of being told by a coach to just run across Hwy. 114, touch Texas Stadium, then run back, or of being dropped off somewhere in Las Colinas and told to run back to campus, which generally involved running along the 114 access road as cars whizzed by at 70 miles per hour. There were also fond memories of the “freshman initiation day” which, as Chris Davidson ’03 remembers it, began with a senior telling him (but not explaining why) to ditch the school colors “and procure a pair of red running shorts instead.” Freshmen were then told to run to Las Colinas and to jump into the murky waters of the canal—an action frowned upon by the Las Colinas security patrol. “Once we’d climbed out, now dripping wet, we were told to run as quickly as possible back to school. If noticed and reported, we would not be wearing Hawk black and white, but the red and white of another local school,” said Davidson.

But the most enduring story, told by many as a favorite memory from all of high school, was the tale of the trip home from a meet when Coach Ryan Gorman got one of the small white buses stuck under a low overhang in a parking garage. Once they had managed to barely scrape their way in, there was no way to get back out without destroying the top of the bus. John Armitage ’08 remembers: “Someone (I think it was James Hansell ’06) finally had the bright idea of deflating the tires enough to make the clearance. We piled off the bus and pulled off all our gear to save the suspension, then removed the fire escape hatch while Coach drained the tires.” The deflation worked, they eased out of the parking garage, and “we counted that as a bigger victory than our race that morning,” recalled Armitage.

While running through the neighborhoods of Las Colinas, to the horses in Williams Square, or on Campion Trail might spark a sense of adventure in some, having a beautiful and challenging course right here on our own campus is a dream come true for many. Though the current track will certainly be a professional grade course fit for real competition, it is not the first trail to be blazed on campus. The thought had come up in the mid-to-late 90s that, with all our land (by then we had possession of all 82 acres), we ought to think about establishing a cross-country course on campus—but such a project was tagged a low priority, given the need at the time for a second gym and more practice fields. However, Reinemund, then in high school—who did not know the meaning of “no,” “not now,” “not a priority now”— figured it wouldn’t cost much just to rent a tractor to carve out a simple trail on which to practice. As a young Form Master, Greg Novinski ’82 found himself spurred on by Reinemund’s irresistible enthusiasm, renting and driving back to campus one Saturday a Bush Hog with the intention of turning this non-priority into something of a reality—not professional grade, but good enough for practice. The distance was ‘more or less’ accurate, the saplings were chopped off at ground level, the grass and dirt were bare, and the course cut its way through the woods immediately surrounding the Abbey and School (including the woods which have since become the Hidden Field and those through which the Stations of the Cross Trail now winds). But to keep the trail fully usable took a level of care that the School, at that time, had neither the motivation (Steven graduated in 1999) nor the manpower to sustain, and the trail soon went back to nature.

The idea of a trail through Cistercian’s woods, however, did not die, but receded behind other priorities before re-emerging as a trail to incorporate an outdoor Stations of the Cross, a project which had been envisioned years earlier and supported enthusiastically by Reinemund as well. The establishment of the Stations of the Cross Trail was finally accomplished as a confirmation project in 2011 by the Class of 2015 and then beautifully refurbished in the spring of 2024. The area now provides a peaceful and more permanent invitation to a prayerful walk. Such an attractive and creative use of the landscape rekindled the desire to revisit the possibility of establishing a professional, meet-capable cross-country course on campus. The goal was to build an abiding and beautiful creation which would, as much as possible, harmonize with the natural beauty of its surroundings while providing the School with a uniquely challenging cross-country course.

The renovation of the Stations of the Cross Trail, its combination of natural beauty and a welcoming openness, quickly grew into the desire to create another trail, one on a larger scale which would offer both a professional, competitive cross-country course for the School’s athletic department and a beautiful, contemplative walking trail for the entire Cistercian community.

“Once the project is completed and the site is allowed to heal from construction, the space will become another opportunity to experience the natural beauty that sets the Cistercian campus apart,” remarked David Hocker ’96, who is responsible for designing and implementing much of the natural landscaping which adorns the campus. “The project,” Hocker continued, “grew out of an extensive, fruitful conversation with a lot of people from the Abbey, school administration, maintenance and coaching staff, parents, and perhaps most significantly, the Reinemund family, for whom the project became a labor of love—both in honor of the School and of their son Steven.” His remarkable spirit, his optimistic vision, his love of the outdoors will be remembered in many ways on the trail, and every competitive run and quiet walk will add another moment of gratitude for his legacy.

Coach Dennis Harris, now in his fourth year as head track and cross-country coach, is quite excited:

“One of our advantages this year is our new on-campus course. As I told the guys, and they’ve learned because they practice on it every day, this is the toughest course you’ll run all year. It’s also unique with all the woods and twists and turns.” Coach Harris is also very pleased that the course is so heavily mulched, which makes it more impervious to mud and all the issues that brings. “For high school runners, there is simply nothing like this trail—for its beauty, its challenge, its complexity—anywhere, either in the Metroplex or the entire SPC. It is one of a kind.”

At first, like a lot of other coaches whose primary sport was something else, Harris saw coaching crosscountry as just something he did to get ready for track. “But here at Cistercian, I have fallen in love with the sport; I’ve begun to dig in and learn—it’s fascinating once you get into it. Besides, I love to win, and in the SPC, you’ve really got to be on your game to compete.” Apparently, that love is contagious, because each year, Coach Harris’s teams seem to get better and better. Winning the SPC track title last spring—the first in Cistercian’s history—has sparked the desire to do the same thing in cross-country. Harris also has a couple of runners currently (junior Ben Brittian and freshman Henry Litton) who have a shot at breaking the long-standing Cistercian SPC record of 16.15 set by Robert Patrizi ’00 in 1999. “That would be a great accomplishment for the boys and the School,” said Harris. It would make their coach very proud too.

As Abbot, Fr. Peter Verhalen ’73 is charged with taking the long view, whether of the Church, the Order or, closer to home, of our local Cistercian community. Thus, looking out at the prospect of completing yet another beautiful addition to the landscape of the entire Cistercian campus, he is led to reflect on the significance of having these 82 acres, accrued during the early decades of the School’s existence. At first, the School acquired land to create a buffer between the Abbey and the bustling growth of Las Colinas. The purchase of land was in fact the one place where the monks would break their cardinal rule of fundraising: you build only when you have the money. There were to be no long-term loans— except, if need be, for the purchase of land.

“The Abbey wanted to safeguard as much as possible the quiet and natural beauty of the land which helped define the character of the Monastery and School,” reflected Fr. Peter. The full 82 acres first sat largely unexplored (except by the occasional botanist, ornithologist, or adventurous miscreant). “We have now begun to experience the land, to discover, within the general urban landscape of the surrounding area, the rich variety of this place we call home,” said Fr. Peter.

What Fr. Peter has come to understand more fully is that beneath that practical desire to acquire land was the more profoundly providential bestowal of a gift— “the restorative quality,” Fr. Peter reflects, “of being able to go for a walk in the woods, to pray in a more natural solitude, and to enjoy the surprising variety of wildlife which the campus affords.” Such important activity requires a slowing down and an adjusting to the rhythms of nature.

Place into that revelation the creation of the new cross-country trail, which meanders through the full 82 acres, opening up vistas from a scenic spot now known as “the peninsula” to a peaceful stretch along the Trinity River, as well as an interval along “the pond.” It also explores the wooded areas on all parts of the campus—and manages to conform its use to the rooted traditional and liturgical rhythms fostered by the monastic life. Nature abides, and we run (or walk) through her diverse beauty, bringing our happiness and our misery, our sense of adventure and our sense of loss. God abides, and we feel his Presence, and as Wendell Berry concludes in his poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” “For a time/I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

Henry’s “tunnel to Heaven” beckons all of us, and we need to be ever thankful for that “cloud of witnesses” who, in the company of Steven Reinemund and all the rest who have gone before us, cheer us on as we, with as much perseverance as we can muster, run the race that is set before us. •