Hearing the happy news

Dispatch from Morgan Beasley, team leader — May 19, 1997

Outside surprises the four students at their homes in Astoria, Oregon

Well, it still hasn't set in that we have won. The way we found out was such a HUGE surprise. Our parents had all known we had won since Monday and had told us we were one of three teams in the running. Then we were told by our parents we were one of two. Then we were told that there was going to be a teleconference at Bill's house to answer some last-minute questions from the judges, so we went over there at about 6 p.m. and expected the call around 7.

We had a barbecue, and were just finishing dinner when a yell came from the kitchen, "Get in here quick, you guys." We ran inside expecting a phone call, and there, coming through the door, was a procession reminiscent of Publishers' Clearing House. At first we thought it was more of Bill's relatives — then it dawned on us that we had been tricked when John Alderman came through the door, shook my hand and said, "Would you be willing to go up to British Columbia for Outside magazine and Hi-Tec and climb Mount Sir Sandford?" After that I cannot remember much, although I do remember that we all screamed, hugged each other, and I knew that I have never been happier. Later that night we learned more about the details of the trip and got brand new Hi-Tec cross-training shoes and Hi-Tec water shoes.

On Sunday, we went to REI in Portland and found out our sizes for the new gear. Today was our first formal training day. We went up to Shively Park in Astoria and ran around the park, up and down some stairs, and ran on some trails surrounding the park. Bill also used this time to collect some leaves for his dreaded biology leaf collection. After that, we walked back to Morgan's house and did some crunches. Next week we will try to get a ride up to Saddle Mountain and stay the night up on the mountain. The whole team is still so incredibly excited we can't wait until school's out and we can really start training.