Iowa City Regina’s bittersweet cross country season reaches its climax at the state meet

IOWA CITY — Godspeed.

It’s a word, etched in small gold letters on the white warm-up T-shirts worn by Iowa City Regina’s cross country runners.

It’s an expression of good wishes to someone beginning a journey.

Those T-shirts — “The last thing the kids take off before they race,” according to Regina Coach Chad Swope — were designed before the season by Aidan O’Neil.

Godspeed. It’s a way of saying goodbye.

Regina qualified both its boys’ and girls’ teams for the state cross country meet; the Regals will run in the Class 1A competition Friday afternoon (girls at 2, boys at 2:45) at Lakeside Golf Course, Fort Dodge.

The Regals captured the 1A boys’ title last year. O’Neil was their top runner, placing sixth.

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“I’ll take a team title over an individual title every day of the week,” he said, happily, after the race. “Next year, I’m going to push for an individual title. But today, I’m just going to celebrate this with the guys.”

On July 12, O’Neil took his life. He was 17.

“He should be there with them (Friday),” said Jennifer O’Neil, Aidan’s mother.

Jennifer spoke Tuesday, candidly and emotionally (“I don’t want to overshare,” she said).

Outside, it was a perfect late-October afternoon. Summer was making its last stand, the leaves in a dazzling array of yellow, orange and red.

“Today is a bad day for me, just because this is the time they went to state last year,” Jennifer said.

“Bright, sunny, fall days are hard. It’s the end of the season. It would have been the end of Aidan’s cross country time at Regina.”

That same afternoon, the Regals stretched before practice, less than 72 hours before their state race.

Swope recalled his first meeting with Aidan, then a freshman, the first day of track practice.

“He was the most mature freshman I’ve ever met. I would have sworn he was a junior.”

Swope asked what he ran. Aidan said he didn’t know, that he’d run a 5K once.

Distance running, it was.

“When he first started racing, he was like a newborn colt, with legs flailing all over the place,” Jennifer said. “Pretty soon, he was a racehorse.

“Running was an outlet for him. It was a great source of pride for him. He told me, ‘Mom if you go out and put in the work, there’s a payoff.’”

Faith Boileau, a captain on the girls’ team, called Aidan “fun-loving, loyal and kind.” Matt Takacs said he had “a good sense of humor.”

A day, maybe two, after Aidan’s death, three former Regina runners began a vigil or sorts in his memory.

One mile per hour for 24 hours.

“They saw something about that on TikTok,” Swope said. “It started one night at 7 o’clock.”

By the next morning, word spread and participation ballooned. At 9 o’clock, the Iowa City High squad ran with the Regals.

The last mile ended at the Regina track and featured more than 250 participants.

Even before Aidan’s death, this was going to be a season of transition. Three key seniors graduated from last year’s title team, and without Aidan, they had lost their top four runners.

At the first meet of the season, according to Swope, the Regals were collectively 6 1/2 minutes slower than last year.

But determination can be a powerful thing.

“When our guys are in their circle at the starting line, you can see the fire in their eyes every meet,” Swope said.

Since July, Swope and his runners have made it a priority to check on each other.

“If somebody’s having a bad day, you check in with them, you text them, you talk to them,” Boileau said.

Swope said. “We keep an eye on each other. ‘How are you doing? Thumbs-up? Thumbs-sideways? Thumbs-down?’”

Through the season, that 6 1/2-minute gap closed.

At last week’s district meet on their home course, the Regals’ five scorers — Samuel Welter (sixth), Ambrose Nuxoll (10th), Howie O’Rourke (11th), Evan White (14th) and Olney (15th) — ran within 23 seconds of each other.

They won their district and ran only 48 seconds slower than they had a year ago.

“A lot of these guys weren’t on the varsity team last year,” Olney said. “It’s cool that we’re still up there.

“We think about Aidan a lot. Yeah, we’re running for him. He always pushed us to do better.

“I think everybody will run their best race Friday.”

If so, who knows what might happen?

“I don’t ever count our guys out,” Swope said. They want the balcony (for a top-three finish). They want to win it.

“It’s a tall task, but I don’t ever count them out.”

Jennifer O’Neil has wavered on whether to make the trip to Fort Dodge.

“It will be hard, but I think I’ll go,” she said. “I think it will be the right thing for me.”

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