Life is full of "what ifs."
What if a hamburger were actually made of ham?
What if Don Denkinger knew the difference between safe and out?
What if everyone knew the difference between right and wrong?
What if Christian Brune hadn't pulled a hamstring three weeks into the season?
Answers: A bad thing, depends on if you bleed Red or Blue, keep dreaming, probably the difference between third and first.
Brune, a Fatima senior, entered this weekend's Class 2 Track and Field Championships as the two-time defending state champion in the 100-meter dash. He finished second in the 200-meter dash last year.
That's 18 points.
But in early April this season, Brune pulled his right hamstring. He gutted it out the last six weeks and --- with his hamstring tightly wrapped --- finished fourth in the both the 100- and 200-meter dashes Saturday at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
That's 10 points.
The Comets finished seven points shy of a state championship Saturday. You do the math.
What if ...
"I'm a little disappointed," said Brune, who's headed to Truman State. "But with the team finishing third and with me winning four state medals, I'm not too disappointed.
"We're putting a (track and field) banner up at the school for the first time in school history, so I'm fine with that."
Brune hurt his hamstring during practice, no less. I wonder what Allen Iverson would think about that? Practice?
"I pulled it early in the year and it's kind of been bothering me, and I haven't been running much and I'm kind of out of shape," he said.
"But it didn't turn out too bad."
Still, it's too bad this happened. One pulled muscle can change everything.
Like Brune, however, Fatima coach Marcus Bridges took it in stride. Sports, and injuries, happen.
There's no "what if" in his world.
"It's hard to think that way," Bridges said. "Things happen to all the teams, we're just fortunate to have an athlete like Christian on our team."
Cleveland NJROTC won the Class 2 boys title with 51 points, Fatima --- bolstered by sophomore Tom Zeilman's second-place finish in the 800-meter run --- was third with 45 and Linn sixth with 25.
The Comets, who scored in all 10 events in which they were entered this weekend, finished sixth last year and fifth in 2010.
"Their goal was able to break into that top four this year and they worked hard to do it," Bridges said. "I'm really proud of them."
This caps a great school/calender-year for Fatima sports --- four/five top-four finishes. Last fall, they were second in volleyball, third in boys cross country and fourth in soccer; the Fatima girls were third at the state track meet 12 months ago.
It's a great time to be a Comet.
"It's been a good run," Bridges said. "It's just a good group of kids and they work really hard, and I'm just proud to be a part of it."
IIIIIIIII
For the Fatima girls --- and like Brune --- senior Lauren Allen entered the weekend as a defending state champion.
Also, like Brune, she had an injury, a broken pinky on her left hand suffered at Project Graduation last week.
Fortunately, she throws the discus with her right hand and she backed up last year's championship effort with another one Saturday, a toss of 135 feet, 3 inches.
Breathe here, Lauren.
"Thank God it's over," she said. "I won it last year and it's harder to win it one year and come back back the next. Everyone's expecting you to do the same.
"Taking first was a great accomplishment, but if you're not a senior, you've got to do it again. After the last throw, there was so much relief."
Allen was third in the shot put Friday and scored 16 of her team's 17 points.
"Lauren is a great competitior and she has her best throws every year at state," Bridges said. "We're really proud of her.
"There's that pressure that something could go wrong, but she came out and did what she was able to do."
The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons surged to a third-place finish Saturday, capped by sophomore Jessica Clark's second-place finish in the pole vault (11-3) --- an event that lasted more than an hour after the rest of the meet was finished.
"We had kids finish the meet off who scored big points for us," Blair Oaks coach Marc Keys said. "It was pretty dramatic.
"We knew first or second (by Clark) would get us a trophy, so that was performing under pressure. It was a great end to an exciting weekend."
Also Saturday, Emily Cumpton took second in the 3200-meter run, as the Lady Falcons racked up 34 points.
"I think we had some great performances," Keyes said. "It started Friday with Amanda Kiso in the high jump (third) and it continued Saturday.
"I'm just really happy we could finish on a high note."
Also in Class 2 girls, California's Sydney Deeken --- who's only a sophomore --- won the long jump (16-11.5) and triple jump (36-8.75) on Friday, and was third in the high jump (5-4) on Saturday to score 26 of the Lady Pintos' 28 points. California finished sixth, while Centralia was eighth.
Finally --- and this is definitely worth nothing --- Princeton senior Blake Goodin capped an amazing career with an amazing weekend. He won the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter runs in Class 1 to finish with a state-record 11 individual state championships.
He also won that triple crown the past two years and, in his freshman year, he won the 1600 and 3200 and was second in the 800.
Sometimes, there are no "what ifs" necessary. Wow.
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