If you were on Interstate 10 around Benson driving back to Tucson late night on Saturday, Jan. 20, and thought you heard what sounded like a large group singing, that wasnβt just in your mind β or on your radio.
It really happened.
After the Arizona track and field team finished the Dr. Martin Luther King Invitational in Albuquerque, the Wildcats hopped on a bus for the long 6 Β½-hour trip home.
The trip got even longer when the bus started doing wonky things around 11 p.m., less than an hour from campus.
After pulling off the freeway and onto the side of a frontage road, as the power started shorting out and finally shutting down, everyone was left looking for a new ride home.
Instead of hanging their heads and getting upset, the Wildcats turned to an old standby to pass the time β¦ karaoke.
βI think it was Haedyn (Bambolo, a UA freshman thrower). She had a speaker, and we just decided we were going to play R&B songs,β UA freshman hurdler Keilee Hall said. βWeβre just gonna play music, and next thing we know, weβre like singing like four or five songs. It just keeps going for like 30 to 45 minutes.
ββLoveβ by Keyshia Cole was really the song everyone knew the lyrics. It was so surprising. I donβt know, it was a cool thing. Even people from all different backgrounds, you wouldnβt think listen to the same music as you. To have a song in common and everyone just knew every word to it.β
The Wildcats also played games and had dance battles to pass the time, but it was the singing that stood out.
After going through the experience together, the team is even closer. And itβs not just the sprinters getting tighter, itβs the long-distance runners and the shot putters; the javelin throwers and the hurdlers. They walk into practice and say βhi,β and joke around. It turned into an unexpected bonding activity.
What resonated with UA coach Fred Harvey was the athletes not complaining or getting upset with their predicament; that, after all, would have been the easy reaction. Instead, the Wildcats all chipped in trying to find solutions in getting everyone home.
But, first, Harvey gave one of his talks.
"When it's all said and done, the sun's going to come up tomorrow," UA coach Fred Harvey (pictured in his office in 2018) said to his athletes as the Wildcat track and field contingent was stuck for a bit on the side of Interstate 10 after their bus broke down last month while returning from a meet in Albuquerque. "At the end of day, you had an opportunity to be at a competition and you're gonna have an opportunity to be at another competition. We're just kind of here right now."
He shared a story with them from another time the Wildcats faced adversity.
Hall said that the βTension on the bus and everyone being on edge went away a little bit. People were more chilled out.β
He shared a story from last year when the Wildcats were competing at a tournament in the Bahamas.
Harveyβs story went something like this: βThis is going to be a competition unlike anything youβve ever had in your life. Itβs not going to be like your standardized competitions back at home. Things just happen when they happen. You have to learn how to just ride the wave. And at the end of the day, when youβre riding that wave, always remember this: Youβre in the Bahamas and youβre really complaining about βWow, they didnβt run the long jump at this time, they ran it this time.β Youβre in the Bahamas.
βThe one thing I said to this team on the bus, βHey, some of you werenβt there. Some of you were there, but youβre going to have to just ride this wave. At the end of day, you had an opportunity to be at a competition and youβre gonna have an opportunity to be at another competition. Weβre just kind of here right now. And when itβs all said and done, the sunβs going to come up tomorrow. Itβs just a matter of just how weβre going to deal with it.ββ
True to his word, every Wildcat got home safe and sound that night β errr β¦ early Sunday morning. Many had friends, roommates, or family drive to pick them up. Some, like the student managers and coaches, as well as James Francis, senior associate athletic director of development, waited for another bus to pick them up. Those in the last group got back to McKale Center around 3 in the morning.
They first tried to get Ubers out to their location. No drivers bit. Then they tried to get other UA staff to take 12-passenger vans to transport everyone back to campus. That didnβt work because of all the luggage and track equipment like vaulting poles. Also, by the time the staffers would show up the new bus would have arrived.
Harvey was so impressed with the mentality and reaction of his Wildcats β that includes the student managers, he said β that after he got back to Tucson, he posted what had happened on Instagram. This experience solidified what he had already known: he had recruited the right people for his program.
βYou just have to slow down and take the time to recruit the person, not the mark,β Harvey said. βI say that so loosely in the sense that we do understand that I have to have All-Americans. We have to have that. But take your time to find those people.
βIf we donβt have the elite of elite individuals who have the capacity to be able to overcome what we overcame on that bus and know that weβre gonna be OK. Running hurdles and sprinting, itβs all the same thing. Youβre not going to win all the time. Youβre going to have obstacles that just get in your way and how are you going to deal with that?β
Hall was picked up by her roommates and got home around 1 in the morning. The first thing she did was jump in the shower and then her bed. She was knocked out from the long day.
Hall, who is one of the latest elite hurdlers in the program, ran a personal best in the 600-meter hurdles β 1 minute, 32.01 seconds to finish third β before the bus trip home.
A few weeks later, at the Texas Tech Jarvis Scott Open, Hall finished third again, this time in the 600-yard hurdles. She posted a time of 1:20.08, which is second all-time in school history and just .48 off the mark.
She is also part of the 4x400-meter relay team that took second at the Texas Tech meet with a season best time of 3:38.43.
Harvey said that he loves taking buses because they can bring all the equipment. Hall, on the other hand, would rather not have another six-hour bus ride.
βIt seems like every time weβre on the way back from somewhere, something always goes wrong,β Hall said.
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VIDEO:Β Arizona women's basketball coach Adia Barnes speaks Feb. 21, 2024, on her introduction to new UA athletic director DesireΓ© Reed-Francois. (Courtesy Arizona Athletics)
