.jpg)
Drew Bailey's one and only trip to the MSHSAA Cross Country Championships will be one he and his teammates won't forget.
The Montrose senior ran in the final race of the three-day event, the Class 1 championships and he came in 168th place as he finished the 5K course in 23 minutes, 9.20 seconds.
His reaction?
"It was amazing; It was the first time I got to run at state so it was pretty exciting," he said. "My goal was to run the best I could run. I knew I wasn't the fastest out there but I wanted to be there. It was pretty cool. I couldn't have gotten there without my team. They all worked hard and got me there."
What makes Bailey's story unique is the fact he was able to overcome a tragic farming accident that led to his left leg being amputated below the knee.
Even with his world turned upside down the summer before his junior year, it was Bailey's goal to run again. Getting to state was just the icing on the cake his senior year, where his team placed 13th in the team standings.
"It was great to get back to normal," Bailey said. "Since the day of my accident, I always knew I wanted to run again. It was one of my big goals. I wanted to do it and I was definitely happy to get that done."
Bailey didn't divulge much of how the accident happened other than his dad owns a grain elevator and he was working there when a 'bad accident' happened on Memorial Day in 2019.
In the aftermath of the accident, he had four surgeries in a two-week span at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.
He would spend the next three months at home, trying to get around on crutches, trying to navigate his house and later school. Two weeks into school he had to go back to Kansas City to have surgery for an infection.
Last fall was the first time he had missed running a cross country season, since starting the sport in middle school.
Though he knew he wouldn't be able to compete last fall he still stayed around his teammates.
He traveled down to Granby last summer for the Southwest Missouri Running Camp with his teammates to hear guest speaker Thomas Valles from the McFarland cross country program, one made famous by a Disney movie. He had been at the camp before, running there his sophomore year.
Bailey still attended meets and practices for the Bluejays, coached by George Moore.
"It sucked," Bailey said of watching. "I wish I would've been able to run. We didn't know how it was going to go with cross country. We didn't know if I would get blisters or how it would affect my running. I can't run with blisters, so how much could I do?"
Once he got his prosthetic he started walking and finally worked up to small runs and jogs to see how he felt. Cross country was always his favorite sport and he had his eyes on attaining that goal if it was possible.
If he could make it back to the roster, he would have a chance to run with his little brother, Nate, who was a freshman for the Bluejays.
"Drew and I are pretty close as far as an athlete and coach are considered," Moore said. "Throughout this whole ordeal, I stayed in close contact with him. What is amazing was his mental state of mind and staying positives. A few weeks after it happened, he said 'Coach, I'm going to run again.' I truly believed with his dedication and ambition that he would run again."
This summer the team again traveled south to the camp in Granby. On the final day of the camp, director Jake Holt - who also coaches the East Newton cross country programs - handed out awards. When Bailey heard his name he was surprised as he was given the SWMO Heart and Soul Award.
"He fought hard in all of the camp games and was frustrated when he had to set out," Holt said. "But, he kept a great attitude through it all and demonstrated tremendous mental toughness."
His final season started on Sept. 2 at the Cass-Midway 2-miler in Cleveland. Throughout the year, he ran in meets in Nevada, Drexel, Hermitage, Clinton, Grain Valley, Butler, Humansville and Smithton.
"I was super nervous for the 2-miler," Bailey said. "I didn't run as good as I hoped but it was good to run. It was kind of back to normal after everything being messed up with doctor appointments last year. It was good to be back to normal, which is odd to say with all the COVID(-19) stuff."
Bailey ran with Brendon Engeman, a 2020 graduate from Montrose that was an all-stater in 2019, throughout this past summer. Bailey was one of the better runners for the Bluejays before the injury. He took 20th place in the Class 1 District 6 meet in 2018, just missing one of the coveted 15 spots that moved onto state. He was in contention for a spot through more than 2 ½ miles of the race held in Marshall.
Flash forward a year and he had to learn to run with his prosthetic and was averaging about an 8-minute mile earlier this summer.
The sense of accomplishment for Bailey didn't come until the week after districts and before the trip to Columbia to run at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.
"I made it through the whole season and ran every race, that is when I thought I accomplished my goal," Bailey said. "I made it through the whole season."
Moore noted before the season even started the team's goal was to get to state and have Bailey run there. The Bluejays had gone only twice the past eight years, but the group took second in districts this year to punch the ticket.
That group featured Jaidon Crowder, Bailey Carter, Carson Rohaus, Cameron Davis, Blake Wareham, Keon Engeman and Nate Bailey.
When the team got to state, Moore changed out the Baileys, with Drew getting the chance to run in the state meet as the No. 7 runner.
"The whole team has been lifting him up and making sure he knows we support him in everything he does," Moore said. "We are a pretty close-knit group. He definitely has made an impression on all of us. We didn't make him the total focus of what we do, we didn't necessarily want Drew to feel uncomfortable but we all recognized the comeback he made."