Sprinter's life was short but sweet

This is an article from my hometown newspaper the Santa Barbara News Press. John Zant was the writer that used to cover our high school meets when I was coaching at Santa Barbara High School. This is one of the best articles he has ever written. Life is so precious and short, but this young lady ran a great race. I know here father and I know how tough this has been on him and his family but their faith and beliefs sustained them and will continue to sustain through this. Our thought and prayers go out to the Smelly family.

Sprinter's life was short but sweet
John Zant , July 7, 2006 8:03 AM
Alyssa Smelley hit the finish line Tuesday.
"It was time," Russell Smelley said.
His daughter's life was a sprint, ending just a few weeks past 15 years.
But it was beautiful while it lasted.
"She soaked up life to the last moment," Smelley said. "There was nothing she missed out on until the end."
She wanted to be a sprinter on the San Marcos High track and field team. Smelley, who coaches the sport at Westmont College, could see she had promise. In the seventh-eighth-grade County Championships last year, Alyssa ran the second leg of La Colina Junior High's winning 400-meter relay team.
But in August, before she could start high school, Alyssa suffered a seizure caused by a brain tumor.
Months of treatment followed at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, but the inoperable tumor would not go away.
Alyssa came home in February to spend the rest of her life with her family -- parents Allison and Russell, and her 10-year-old brother, Travis.
They did some outings together. The Make-A-Wish Foundation enabled them to spend several days at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.
"Alyssa was in a wheelchair, and the first thing she wanted to ride was the California Screamin'," Smelley said.
That's a gnarly roller coaster.
"Allison couldn't look."

Another time, Alyssa wanted to get on the trampoline in the backyard. "She was able to bounce on her hands and knees," her father said.
Late May brought some happy times. One of Smelley's Westmont runners, senior Jessie Goulder, won the women's marathon at the NAIA national championships in a record 2 hours, 49 minutes, 14 seconds. And defying expectations, Alyssa made it past her 15th birthday on May 28.
But everybody knew she wouldn't be around much longer.
"You approach it like you're walking backwards," Russell Smelley said.
His choice for summer reading was David McCullough's biography of John Adams, a founding father who persevered though his own family tragedies.
"John Adams was a marvelous man," Smelley said. "Two hundred years later, I was getting encouragement from him."
The Smelleys also received generous support from close friends in their couples group, fellow members of the Free Methodist Church and Westmont colleagues.
About 20 of them were gathered in the Smelleys' home three days ago. Alyssa's breathing had become shallow. Travis got home from a sports camp at 1:10 p.m.
"We have a blessing song we sing to our kids," Russell Smelley said. " 'May the Lord bless you and keep you . . .' We were surrounding her and singing when she took her last breath at 1:23 p.m."
It was the Fourth of July.
"John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day (in 1826)," Smelley said. "She's in good company."
A celebration of Alyssa's life will take place at 2 p.m. July 15 at the Westmont gym.
John Zant's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail: jzant@newspress.com