Gorches: Aljobeh deserves mental attitude award

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Valparaiso's Ahmad Aljobeh runs with a pack of boys as they approach the finish line during the cross country state finals on Saturday, October 29, 2011, in Terre Haute. | Scott R. Brandush~Sun-Times Media

Updated: January 23, 2012 4:14AM

Whether it was coaches and parents in the crowd at the Lavern Gibson State Cross Country Championship Course, non-Northwest Indiana media members in the IHSAA tournament office, or the Indianarunner.com message board, who was going to win Saturday’s boys Charles F. Maas Mental Attitude Award was a hot topic.

On Indianarunner.com, the topic was started on its forum a week before the state finals. That’s a little over the top, but the debate was interesting nonetheless.

For those who don’t know, the IHSAA honors one senior at each sport’s state finals with a mental attitude award and a $1,000 scholarship given to the student-athlete’s school in his/her name.

To be eligible, a senior must be nominated by his principal and coach, must excel in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability in the given sport.

Valparaiso’s Ahmad Aljobeh won the boys award Saturday, and despite the opinions of some cross country aficionados, he definitely deserved it based on those qualifications and requirements.

Some thought three-time champ Futsum Zeinasellassie from North Central should have gotten it. After all, he came to this country after living in poverty in Africa, dealing with his brother being placed in a refugee camp and has been a humble winner each year.

Then there’s Miguel Lozano of Mishawaka, who has battled and recovered from testicular cancer. He finished sixth on Saturday.

And there’s Jason Crist of Franklin Central, who finished 18th Saturday. He’s dealt with the death of his father and has succeeded in cross country despite being diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma.

I’m all for inspirational stories, and those are three pretty good ones. I don’t know if I could have handled any of their adversity at their age. Not many can.

And they all earned medals in the state meet. But the IHSAA officials who decide any mental attitude award don’t base it on what happens in the state finals. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s chosen before the event.

Those three runners who have overcome real-life drama many of us couldn’t imagine dealing with might not have met the mental attitude requirements as well as Aljobeh.

So he didn’t have a great state meet — 64th with a time of 16:31 after earning a medal (15th place) at last year’s state meet — and his team finished much lower than it was shooting for — seventh with two of its top runners struggling.

But Aljobeh did miss a large portion of the season due to an ankle injury. Putting his actual running aside, he definitely meets any academic requirements — he’s third in his class with a 4.5 grade-point-average, being recruited by high level colleges, including some from the prestigious Ivy League.

Then again, he better get good grades and have superb academic schools seeking him. After all, his father Zuhdi is a professor at Valparaiso University and his mom, Eman, also has dad’s high expectations.

“My parents don’t care if I get first or last,” Ahmad said. “They care about my academics more than athletics.”

While still holding the oversized symbolic check for $1,000, he said it honored his parents and his school.

“This goes to show the standard our school has (academically),” he said.

And to think his coach almost dropped the ball when it came to nominating Aljobeh. Vikings’ coach Mike Prow admitted he turned in the envelope at 11:20 a.m. when the deadline was 20 minutes earlier.

“I told (Ahmad) I had the winning envelope,” Prow said. “He’s the leader of our team. When he talks, the kids listen.”

Prow isn’t the only one who respects Aljobeh. His teammates sound like they would do anything for the senior who will be missed.

“It’s hard to express my feelings,” said junior Landon Davison, who finished 57th, second on the team after Coulopoulos. “I was second on the team but I didn’t want to be second on the team. We’ll be a pretty darn good team next year, but we’ll miss our senior leadership.”

That’s just Aljobeh, the only senior in Valparaiso’s top seven.

And looking into his eyes Saturday, Aljobeh truly felt bad that his team didn’t do better. The Vikings had lofty goals — there was talk of them not only placing in the top five, but challenging for the top.

“The plan was for us three (Ari Coulopoulos, Peyton Reed and Aljobeh) to stay together during the race — we never really ran together,” he said. “Ari had his chance to take off and Peyton got separated and I couldn’t find him.”

Aljobeh is the third Valparaiso boys runner to earn the mental attitude award — Brett Polizotto won it in 1986 after winning the state title, while Don Vandrey won it in 1966 after finishing first in back-to-back state meets.

And there’s no arguing he’s a deserving mental attitude winner no matter what anyone else says.