The joy of victory. The agony of defeat.

These are considered the tenets of athletics and competition. Of course, there is some middle ground, some pride that comes with competing. The bond of teamwork towards a common goal. But at the end of the day, it comes down to winning and losing.

For those who love athletics, it’s the entire point. There has to be some coming to terms with this reality. But perhaps the results have had an outsized influence on society at large. The inherent cutthroat nature. The exclusion and selection as the best athletes rise and the lesser ones are pushed aside. Within all this there is a darker question: have the core tenets contaminated the sports environment with toxicity?

There are numerous examples of this. There is a reality that gets swept under the rug when fans, parents, and coaches undermine the success, and human value, of the athletes they are supposed to help. Meanwhile, the athletes that are left behind are forgotten.

For the cross-country team at College of the Redwoods, they are daring to forge a new path forward. The Corsairs are challenging the tropes of athletics. They are creating a new version of competition from

scratch. One that shows how sports can be better, for athletics and society.

Sports will still always be about winning and losing. But maybe it’s time to redefine those terms.

The coach

“Students are looking for something different.”

College of the Redwoods cross country and track coach Reed Elmore explains as he watches his team during the warm-up stretches. Tall and athletic, Elmore looks a bit more like he could be coaching offensive lineman than long-distance runners. But his calming tone certainly suits his sport quite well.

Elmore’s mom was a tennis player and Oneida Native American. The Oneida people are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in upstate New York. She went on to have a career as a developmental psychologist and teacher, having a profound impact on Elmore.

“That was really instilled in me,” said Elmore. “A real student-centered, athlete-centered program.”

His father was a sociologist, so the kind of innovative thinking that Elmore brought as a coach shouldn’t come as a surprise. And while his approach could seem the result of an epiphany, it’s the result of years spent refining a process.

“Everyone has a role. No one is more important than anyone else,” said Elmore.

Elmore ran cross country and track at Arcata High School before moving on to then-named Humboldt State. He recalled the fun of running in the woods while a student-athlete. Elmore only ever references the joy of being an athlete in college. What he doesn’t mention is that he was an All-American his senior season in both track and cross country. He won the conference championship in the steeple chase. When he was finished, he had various coaching stops but eventually took the head coaching job at McKinleyville High School before moving on to College of the Redwoods in 2009.

Elmore frequently jokes about being a hippy or being so focused on inclusion in an authentic way. There’s another fact about him that’s as clear as the sunny day of practice on the Redwoods campus: He’s a damn good coach.

There are too many good coaching tidbits to count that come out of Elmore’s soft-spoken tone during practice. But there is one example that crystalizes both his approach to competition while simultaneously altering the very nature of competition itself. This perspective comes from a question.

“Would you rather PR (personal record) or would you rather win the race?” Elmore says of his proposition to athletes.

The question seems simple on the surface. Inevitably, both are good outcomes. It also forces reflection: There is a joy in winning and being the first across the finish line. Who cares about the personal record?

Then one has to contemplate further, with the help of Elmore. Would one rather the opponent falls down? Gets injured? Fails to be their best? A personal record means, unequivocally, an athlete has done their best. If that’s also good enough to win a race, then that’s even better. But knowing someone could beat you, but then failed to do so because of outside circumstances, means you’re not celebrating your victory. You are celebrating their failure.

So it comes back to the question: What does it mean to win?

The star

Hannah Hartwell is probably going to win.

Objectively speaking, the 21-year-old is a generational athlete unlike anyone who has found themselves racing for College of the Redwoods. At a recent meet in Oregon, Hartwell finished 2nd in the competition. She finished second to a runner at Division 1 Portland State who competes for the Czech Republic. Hartwell finished 26 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher, a senior at Division 1 University of Hawaii and was previously at the University of Pittsburgh. She finished 45 seconds ahead of the best runner from Cal Poly Humboldt.

And yet, all this dwelling on standing and competition is precisely why Hartwell had stopped running in the first place. She stopped running after her sophomore year of high school in Carlsbad. She subsequently fast-tracked her academics and graduated a year early before coming to Humboldt County. Her first job out of high school was the quintessential experience of the area.

“When I first came up here, I was working on a weed farm,” said Hartwell with a chuckle. “The classic Humboldt experience.”

Hartwell has a bubbly and joyful demeanor at practice. With blond hair and a slim athletic build, it seems she’s almost always smiling while at practice. Her quirky personality is exemplified by her choice of training attire at this practice: a blue, patterned button-up shirt. Even in the midst of a rough workout, Hartwell has no shortage of humor and banter with her teammates.

When looking at her athletic achievements on paper, the question is why she’s competing at little College of the Redwoods. When meeting with her in person, the answer is that she wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for her being here.

“What we have in common is that they’re out there by choice,” said Hartwell of the joy of the Corsairs’ environment. “It’s the perfect balance of taking it seriously but not taking ourselves too seriously.”

Hartwell’s mercurial journey, as an athlete and person, encapsulates a lot of the spirit of Humboldt County. After high school, she encountered medical issues that further undermined her efforts as an athlete. Her personal life had struggles as well, and she left and returned to the North Coast multiple times. When she returned in 2019, she began running with the Six Rivers Running Club. From there, she ended up being recruited to join the Humboldt State cross country team. But after once again struggling with the stresses of a highly competitive environment, this time in college, she left after a semester. She traveled around various places and slept in her van, still trying to find herself as a young person. Athletics had become the least of her concerns.

“I definitely was depressed for periods,” said Hartwell. “It was just really hard to stay motivated.”

Hartwell explains that she came to the realization she needed to find some stability. She forced herself to make a choice and commit to going to school at College of the Redwoods. And having had some familiarity with coach Elmore, she also recognized it would be an opportunity to start running again which could improve her mental health.

She started running for Redwoods track season in the spring of 2022. That first year, she broke the school record for virtually every event she competed in. But as everyone in the program comes to realize, that’s not what is most important.

“I’ve just been happier and happier,” said Hartwell. “I still feel like I am.”

The athlete

Wyatt Wheetley has been competing in athletics for almost his entire life.

“Wyatt’s a very talented athlete,” explains his father, Mark Wheetley. “So we push hard in all of these sports.”

Pushing hard had to come early for Wyatt as he prepared for a lifetime of competing in athletics. At a young age, Wyatt was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and couldn’t walk without a walker until he was 5. Faced with this challenge, it almost seems unthinkable that he now competes in soccer, basketball, swimming, bocce ball, and softball year round.

“And bowling,” adds Wyatt as his father lists off the numerous athletic endeavors. Wyatt competes in events as part of the Special Olympics while also coming to practice every day for the College of the Redwoods cross country team. In addition to all the sports he competed in, Wyatt is also an Eagle Scout. And of course, he ran all throughout high school for the cross country team at Arcata before now moving on to join the Corsairs.

“This is a very unique opportunity,” said Mark Wheetley. “It allows for that integration of athletes with special needs within a mainstream program.”

Now 22 years old, Wyatt is also finishing up his communications degree at College of the Redwoods and has his sights set on potentially continuing his education at Cal Poly Humboldt. He is also the athlete representative on the Torch Run committee at Special Olympics for the Northern California region.

Within the spectrum of athletics, the model at College of the Redwoods is an uncanny vision of what the future of sports can look like. There is room not just for inclusion, but for purpose.

“I was feeling kind of down or just low energy,” said Hartwell of her teammate. “I would do my run with Wyatt and he always would make me feel so stoked on it again.”

But with only two years of eligibility at the Junior College level, the time on the team is unfortunately brief.

“He’s been there the whole time I’ve been on the team,” added Hartwell. “It’s gonna be different without him.”

For Wyatt, it’s all bittersweet. He’s enjoying this final year with the team, but also admits he’s looking forward to taking a break after pursuing so many different athletic and personal endeavors.

“I’m going to do track again in the spring,” said Wyatt. “Then I’m probably going to take a break.”

It’s well deserved.

The future

For all of the members of the Redwoods cross country team, there’s plenty to look forward to. But they’re also all hesitant to enjoy anything other than the present.

Wyatt’s path may have a bit more clarity as he aims to continue his education and efforts within the Special Olympics community. He is hoping to be considered for the Law Enforcement Torch Run’s final leg at the 2023 International Special Olympics in Berlin. It seems hard to think of a more qualified candidate.

Hannah gets asked about her future a lot, and always politely indicates she’s not really thinking about it. But of course, there is interest from multiple college coaches. It’s rare to describe her tone as emphatic, but one thing she is uncompromising about is pursuing competitive running in any way that isn’t fun and enjoyable. She knows all too well what the stress of athletics can do, the last thing she wants is to return to competition and lose the joy of running. She also knows that there’s more to it than the level of competition, and no matter where she goes in life she’ll always be running. Not for anyone else, but for herself.

And for Elmore, well he seems pretty content. But he’ll admit there’s a hope that he can attract more athletes given the high-profile nature of the recent success. There’s a visible level of pride as he sees after years, his refined coaching style works. More importantly, it has brings fulfillment to a spectrum of human beings.

There is a quote that encapsulates what it means to be an athlete. “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” That is the athlete oath of the Special Olympics. The point of it all is that it is true of all athletes.

So maybe Wyatt won’t get to reach the highest echelon of the Torch Run. Maybe Hannah won’t compete at the highest levels of running if it compromises her happiness. Maybe Elmore won’t see adoption of his coaching model beyond his teams at College of the Redwoods.

Maybe they won’t win. But they’ve redefined what winning means. And all of them have been incredibly brave in the attempt.

Jake Matson can be reached at 707-441-0526.