Trojan cross-country runs game ball from Keokuk to Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield High School boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams started a new Homecoming tradition on Friday when they ran the game ball for that night’s football game all the way from Keokuk to Fairfield.

Fourteen runners drove to Keokuk, the football team’s opponent that night, bright and early that morning to start their lengthy 68-mile jaunt back home. The students ran along the shoulder of the highway through Donnellson, Farmington, Bonaparte, Keosauqua and Birmingham before finally reaching Fairfield High School just in time for the Homecoming Parade. The runners took turns carrying the football in a backpack as they were escorted by three support vehicles.

Senior runner Carley Seeley said the team arrived in Keokuk just after 6 a.m. that day, posed for a few photos at the school’s football field, and then used tissue paper to write the letters “FXC” for Fairfield Cross-Country. Seeley said it was just the team’s way of “leaving a little mark” and was intended to be harmless fun.

The group, consisting of eight boys and six girls, followed a set rotation where they would run 4 miles before taking a break to allow another runner to take over. Senior Ben Boatright was the first to go, and he handed the ball to Seeley. She said their handoffs were always quick and efficient, and nobody “fumbled” the ball. Near the end, the runners were doing shorter segments of about 1 mile before they rotated out.

Due to construction on South Highway 1, the runners did not enter Fairfield from the south but rather went to the east edge of Fairfield where they were met by a police escort near Overland Sheepskin, who followed them for a couple of miles into town. Trojan supporters gathered along the side of the road to cheer on the runners as they entered town.

“It was an absolute blast,” Seeley said. “All of us had so much fun. When we were switching in and out of cars, we did it in less than 30 seconds every time. Our coaches were so supportive, and they had food for us. We’ve got so many photos and videos to commemorate this first time. It’s definitely something we want to continue.”

Fairfield Cross-Country Coach Jerrod Belzer said he was happy to see the “welcoming committees” at various points along the route, especially in the final two miles heading into Fairfield.

“It was a great way to get the cross-country team involved in Homecoming,” Belzer said. “They felt like they were part of something important.”

Belzer said that the idea to do this run from Keokuk to Fairfield came from FHS’s new associate principal, Andrew Carbajal. Carbajal brought up the idea to Belzer even before the school year started, and they agreed it could become a fun tradition for the cross-country team. Seeley and Boatright are also members of the FHS Student Council, and when Carbajal ran the idea by them, they couldn’t wait to get on board.

Carbajal said he knows of many other high schools and colleges that do a similar thing, running the game ball from one town to another. At his high school in Camanche, Iowa, he appreciated the fact that he got to play in the Homecoming football game while his brother, a member of the cross-country team, got to run the game ball.

“I sat down with Carley and Ben and I asked them how they wanted to leave their stamp on their senior year,” he said. “I threw out some ideas, and this was one of them.”

Carbajal said that, even before moving to Fairfield, he was fascinated by stories from the Parsons College era, when people would parachute onto the football field with the game ball. He said he hopes this tradition of running the game ball from the opponent’s town can catch on in Fairfield like it has in other towns.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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