A Senior’s Night to Remember
On Thursday, April 25th, Licking Valley senior Ramen Felumlee would experience a night that he would never forget. It was senior night at the Licking Valley Invitational, already a very special night for the graduating class of 2019. Emotions ran high that night as the seniors ran their last ever meet on the Licking Valley track. Mark McCollough, athletic director, recognized the seniors and where they were headed after graduation as they all stood on the fifty yard line. It was a surreal moment as they had looked forward to this day for so long now.
After the seniors had their moment, it was back to race mode for Ramen. Only two races after, he was about to run the 800 meters. As a freshmen, Ramen ran alongside Griffin Butler, ‘16, who holds the 1600 and 3200 meter records at Licking Valley. The 800m record was held by Corby Butler, Griffin’s dad, for 32 years at a time of 1 minute and 58 seconds. Griffin tried to break his father’s record numerous times but failed each attempt, coming within hundreths of a second to it but never breaking it. From the moment Ramen woke up the morning of the Licking Valley Invitational, he only had one goal in his mind, to break the 800m record. As a close friend of Ramen’s, he told me during class that day that he was breaking the record that night.
Ramen was ready to race but his plan for the race that meant so much to him almost fell to pieces just minutes before he was on the start line. A competitive athlete from New Philadelphia was entered in the race. Ramen had raced against him before and knew that he averaged about a 1:55 800m. Ramen didn’t need to win the race to break the record, he simply needed to beat Corby’s time. The plan was to trail behind the New Philadelphia runner and allow him to pull Ramen to the finish and break the record. The plan was going to work until Ramen got word that the New Philadelphia athlete was scratched from the race. After a few moments of panicking, Ramen knew that he needed to do this himself anyways, it was up to him now and he couldn’t depend on anyone else to do it for him.
As Ramen stepped on the start line, he hugged his younger brother, Rylan Felumlee, who was also in the race, and wished him good luck. I overheard Rylan say to his brother, “This is your race, go get the record tonight.” The gun went off and the race was on. By 100 meters in, Ramen was already in the lead. Based on the runners entered, no one was going to even touch him if he broke the record that night. Ramen ran the first lap in a blistering time of 56 seconds. All of the Licking Valley track athletes lined the field as he entered his last 200 meters. Some were watching the clock while others screamed at full volume. In all of my years at Licking Valley, watching sports of all kinds, I have never heard Randy Baughman stadium erupt so loudly as Ramen crossed the finish line at 1 minute and 56 seconds.
All of the track team was at the finish line screaming our heads off. Everyone was going ballistic. Tears were streaming from Ramen’s eyes as he knelt down on the track and prayed, “Thank you Lord, thank you,” he repeated over and over again. Rylan crossed the finish line a few seconds behind just as Ramen was standing up. The two brothers collided in a tight embrace as they were now both crying. Corby Butler was at the finish line, overjoyed that someone had finally broken his record. “There is no one else that I would have rather broken the record,” Corby said, “That kid has worked so hard, he deserves it.” As Ramen made his way off the track, everyone was crying. From freshmen year, this was the record he wanted to break because Griffin never could. That night, Ramen Felumlee, class of 2019, would forever be marked in Licking Valley history.