L egacy — the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life. When you cut to the chase, it’s what we all want deep down. To leave things in a better place than we found them, to be remembered for our achievements, to be someone others look up to and want to emulate. As Laura Kautman sits and chats about the upcoming fall season for her Gilbert girls cross country program, it’s a word she utters more than once. Not her own legacy, which will be vast when she ulti- mately decides to step away (hopefully many years from now), but that of her athletes. The Tigers’ head coach sees the impact these student-ath- letes can have on a yearly basis, and it’s important both in the present and future. “Taking a look at it historically, that’s what’s gotten us here and why we do have the running tra- dition we have here at Gilbert,” Kautman said. “Then it’s also being able to build on that and leave a mark of your own.”
Gilbert is good at cross coun- try. Why? There are myriad rea- sons, but when you slice it down to the core it’s because success breeds success. The teams of the late 1980s and 1990s pushed those teams in the early 2000s to want to keep the tradition alive. And that cycle of success has continued over the years. The numbers are staggering when you delve into them and let them marinate in the brain for a few minutes. Just stop and think about the historical achievements for a moment: •28 state meet appearances. •10 top-five finishes at the state meet. •Two state championships (1989 and 2013). •Three state runner-up fin- ishes (1990, 1991, 2014). •17 conference champion- ships. •16 district/state qualifying meet titles. We could go on and on ... and on. But you get the picture. Kautman knows all of those numbers, of course. She could
26 GAME ON | FALL 2024
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