Just like Michael Jordan and Brett Farve before him, this week Gavin Gee said "I'm going to be doing my last splash and dash...again." One year after his shocking return to the event Mr. Gee is calling it quits as he once again leaves BYU for a job in Texas. After silencing many of the naysayers in last years 3rd place finish, Mr. Gee was considered a favorite for the coveted 3rd place finish. However, when a former BYU Hawaii cross country runner showed up at the pool before the start of the race it appeared that Gavin's hopes were shot. With the extra competition and a lagging head cold the odds of a 9th 3rd place were distant at best. In the mile swim Gavin appeared sluggish and as he emerged from the pool it was clear he was exhausted. "Your in 4th place!" Mr. Gee's wife, Denny, called out to him as he slipped into his tennis shoes.The first mile of the 10k didn't go well. Running in shoes for the first time since last years race gave Gavin a strange awkward gait and he seemed to be kicking his ankle with every stride. However, 2 miles into the race Mr. Gee seemed to find a groove as he passed last years champion, Eric Otto.
Although Gavin dropped over 3 minutes from his previous 10k time he stilled finished several minutes behind the other two leading contestants. "I was so excited to get another 3rd place award that I ate three oranges and three bananas to celebrate!" However, third place was not in the cards for Mr. Gee this year. It wasn't until several minutes later that Gavin was informed that the second place finisher had only swam half a mile making him disqualified and putting Mr. Gee in 2nd place. "It was hard after all these years to give up the third place title and hand it over to someone else. I just hope they can live up the heavy responsibilities of a third place finisher" commented Gee on the loss of his third place title.
The second place finish completed Mr. Gees collection of splash and dash victories - 1 1st place*, 1 2nd place, 8 3rd places.
When asked to comment on what his secret was to his 10 spectacular finishes he said, "hard work, healthy eating, and low participant rates...but, mostly the low participant rates"
*denotes a team victory that was more due to the help of Ryan Daniels than to anything Mr. Gee did
