'smack'
With the sound of the starting gun, Bai Yu and the others, who were already ready, set off.
Bai Yu, positioned in the seventh position, took the lead and quickly moved to the top spot thanks to his speed and long legs.
However, Bai Yu had no intention of being the leader for his competitors; his goal was to be the leader, at least twenty or thirty meters ahead of them.
After all, in long-distance running, the pacesetter is the one who gets the most tired. If you don't have absolute strength, then anyone who takes the pacesetter position is a fool.
Of course, official pacers don't count.
When Bai Yu reached the first position, he immediately chose to distance himself from the crowd behind him, and only a few people in the crowd behind him chose to follow Bai Yu's pace.
This did not include the black-faced guy. He just smiled contemptuously at Bai Yu and the others for widening the gap and continued running with the group.
Five thousand meters is not a sprint. If we consider a standard lap of 400 meters, five thousand meters is a full twelve and a half laps. It's not something that can be completed in a short time.
Therefore, Hei Zi plans to conserve his energy and wait until the latter half of the match to unleash his full potential. If he were to exert himself now, he would only be led by the nose by Bai Yu and fall into her rhythm, which would be detrimental to any player.
The people following behind Bai Yu were all people who knew Bai Yu quite well. These were all track and field athletes, and they knew that once Bai Yu left them behind at the start, they would never have another chance.
Don't they realize that following Bai Yu means entering his rhythm?
They definitely knew, but what could they do? The gap between them and Bai Yu was simply too great. So great that they weren't even aiming for the championship this time, but rather for the four points of the runner-up position.
If they can keep up with Bai Yu's pace and finish the race, advancing to the finals will be no problem at all, and then they will be one step closer to earning credits.
As Bai Yu was running the first lap, he heard footsteps following behind him. He assumed it was Hei Zi who was following him, so he turned around to look at him provocatively.
Looking back during a match is an extremely unprofessional and disrespectful act towards the opponent. It also disrupts one's own rhythm and gives the opponent an opportunity to exploit.
But Bai Yu didn't care. He was confident in his abilities, and he was just deliberately trying to annoy the haters.
But when he turned around, he didn't see the guy covered in black, but four familiar faces.
"Damn, it's you guys? I thought it was Hei Zi following me. I'm not looking down on you!"
Even after completing the lap, Bai Yu was still neither red-faced nor out of breath, and even had the energy to chat with them.
The four people following behind remained silent, only nodding to indicate that they understood. They knew that speaking was absolutely forbidden, as it would disrupt their breathing.
"Long live understanding. Since the four of you are following behind me, that makes things easier. I'll be your pacesetter this time, and we'll try our best to prevent Hei Zi from advancing to the next round."
Come on, everyone, adjust your rhythm and follow my pace. I'll lead the way.
one two one
one two one
One, two, three, four.
When Bai Yu saw that the four people behind him were all acquaintances, an idea instantly flashed through his mind to prevent Hei Zi from making it to the finals: he would lead the four people behind him to run away.
In previous competitions, Bai Yu never gave anyone a chance to follow behind him, let alone lead the way; he always ran solo, leaving everyone else in the dust.
However, while Bai Yu's group of buddies did manage to keep up with his pace, no one joined in his chants, making the scene a little awkward.
On the entire playground, only Bai Yu's shouts could be heard, which always carried a sense of loneliness.
This is also Bai Yu's fault. He didn't realize that not everyone is like him. In a 5,000-meter race, you can't even keep your breathing in rhythm, let alone shout slogans. Otherwise, if you lose your rhythm, you're doomed.
Fortunately, Bai Yu has a thick skin; as long as he isn't embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed.
However, when Bai Yu passed by the stands where the track and field team members were for the second time, he waved to them. He wasn't sure if the others understood what he meant, but Wang Hai definitely did. Now it was up to Wang Hai to cooperate with him. He wanted to add some excitement to this boring sports meet.
As Bai Yu was about to pass by the track and field stadium stands for the third time, his shouts rang out again.
'One two one
one two one
'One two three four'
'One two three four'
This time, Bai Yu's shouts received a response. The response came from the members of the track and field team in the stands. Dozens of grown men's voices rose into the air, startling all the students in the stands, who instantly fell silent.
Not only those in the stands, but also the spectators on the other side of the stands, in the basketball court, badminton court, and other areas, heard it. They immediately turned their attention to the sports field, curious about what had happened.
"Brothers, this is it! Let's get our breathing in, get into the zone, and charge!"
Bai Yu hadn't expected such a strong response to his shout. He got goosebumps all over and immediately led the four men behind him to charge forward.
Of course, Bai Yu didn't immediately lead these people into a sprint; instead, he quickened his pace slightly.
After all, he's not stupid. If he sprints now, even if he can keep going, the four people behind him definitely won't be able to hold on, especially since there are still nine laps to go.
After Bai Yu led the four people to accelerate, the distance between their first group and the second group behind them grew further and further. The initial gap of twenty meters was widened to nearly a hundred meters at one point on a large bend.
It's possible that the runners in the second group were conserving their strength, or perhaps they felt hopeless about advancing and were only focused on finishing the 5,000 meters. Those dozen or so people showed no intention of speeding up at all.
To be precise, the leaders in the second tier don't want to accelerate. If they don't accelerate, then the others who want to accelerate can only overtake them and become the new leaders.
At this moment, Blackie was conflicted. If things continued like this, his chances of advancing would become extremely slim.
But if you make him the leader of the second tier, he's unwilling to shield others from the wind and let him catch up with the first tier? Then he'll completely fall into Bai Yu's rhythm.
After much deliberation, he realized that both options were extremely disadvantageous to him, and he was reluctant to choose either one.
Just as Blackie was still struggling with his decision, the race had reached the eighth lap. As they passed the grandstands once again, Bai Yu started shouting the cheers again.
'One two three four'
'One two three four'
This time, the response to Bai Yu was no longer limited to the members of the track and field team, but the entire stands joined in the shouting, even the four people behind him joined in, completely disregarding whether the shouting would disturb their breathing.
Because every time they shouted the work chant, they felt their bodies filled with power. With this power, what did it matter if their breathing became disordered? They could still run the 5,000 meters.
The 5,000-meter race seemed to change under Bai Yu's leadership. No one present could quite put their finger on what was different, but they just had that feeling.
At this point, the third-tier team had already given up on advancing to the finals, because they had already been lapped by the first-tier team in this lap.
Between them were the second tier of contestants, consisting of only one person, Blackie, who broke out of the original second tier in order to advance to the finals.
However, in order not to become the pacesetter for others, and not to fall into Bai Yu's rhythm, he is now sandwiched between the two groups, keeping a distance of about half a lap from Bai Yu and the others.
With four laps remaining in the race, it's not entirely hopeless for Kuroko to catch up with and overtake the leading group within those four laps, but the chances are extremely slim.
And that was indeed the case. Every time they passed the stands, Bai Yu and the others would let out a shout, and then, emboldened by the shout,
No matter how fast Kuroko accelerated, he was still nearly fifty meters away from fifth place in the final sprint. After fifth place crossed the finish line, Kuroko was still twenty meters away from the finish line.
In the event that Hei Zi excels at, he failed to even reach the finals. I wonder if Coach Li is satisfied with this result.
Anyway, when he crossed the finish line, Coach Li, as the referee for the race, had such a wide, uncontrollable smile on his face.
"Bai Yu, I knew I hadn't misjudged you. You did a really great job this time. If you can take down this guy in the 10,000-meter race tomorrow, I'll personally give you another five points. I guarantee you'll graduate smoothly!"
"Really? If we win tomorrow, I'll be guaranteed to graduate? Coach, if you dare to say that, then I'll believe you. Don't try to fool me."
Upon hearing Coach Li say that he could graduate smoothly, Bai Yu's interest was immediately piqued. Why did he participate in the sports meet and strive for a good ranking? It was all for those few credits so that he could graduate smoothly in the future.
"Uh, you've been too kind. If you win tomorrow, I'll give you five more points. As for graduating smoothly, we'll have to see how you perform at next year's Universiade. Keep up the good work, I believe in you."
Under Bai Yu's persistent questioning, Coach Li reached up and touched his nose. He had been too excited and said something a bit too much, and now he felt a little embarrassed.
Although he is the head coach of the track and field department, ensuring that a student with special talents can graduate smoothly is not a problem for him.
However, he was afraid that if he told Bai Yu now that he would guarantee his graduation, Bai Yu would lose interest in next year's Universiade, so he had to change his mind again and give a different answer.
But it's alright, at least Bai Yu got five extra points from Coach Li, and if they win tomorrow, those five points will be theirs.
After finishing the 5,000-meter preliminary race, Bai Yu's morning competition came to an end. He helped the other two runners walk along the track.
Bai Yu finished the 5,000-meter race. Apart from being a little out of breath, he was in pretty good condition. However, the other four people couldn't keep up and collapsed on the track after finishing the race.
As is well known, you should not lie down to rest immediately after a long run, as this is very detrimental to your condition.
The best option is to walk along the track first, giving your body some time to recover.
After Bai Yu's group finished running, it was time for Group B's competition, where more than ten people were competing for five qualifying spots.
However, this group of matches lacked a lot of excitement compared to Bai Yu's group. After all, some things only cause a sensation the first time they appear, and the reaction is much weaker the second time they appear.
After watching this group's match, Bai Yu and the others went to the cafeteria for lunch, and then took advantage of the lunch break to go back to their dormitories to rest.
In the afternoon, during the 5,000-meter final, Bai Yu changed his style from the morning and returned to his usual solo approach, taking the lead and not giving anyone a chance to ride on his coattails.
Moreover, after the morning's competition, the other nine contestants who advanced to the finals also realized one thing: the gap between them and Bai Yu was too big. First place was out of their reach, so they should conserve their strength and strive for second place.
The final result was obvious: Bai Yu took first place by lapping the last-place finisher by more than a minute, and also broke the best record for Ocean University in this event, improving the record by more than a minute.
Wang Hai also won first place in the 800-meter event in the afternoon. Bai Yu thus earned eight credits, and Wang Hai earned sixteen credits.
The extra reward is for breaking records; each project adds three points.
Upon hearing this news, Bai Yu was so angry that he slapped his thigh repeatedly. Why didn't anyone tell him that breaking records would earn him academic credits?
If he had known this earlier, he would have held back during the run, so he could have broken the record again at next year's sports meet, and then again the year after that, and so on, thus accumulating a continuous stream of credits.
Unfortunately, it's too late to say anything now. Bai Yu and Wang Hai have already broken the record, and they did so with all their might. Whether they can break the record again depends on whether their strength has improved.
In addition to the academic credits, Bai Yu and Wang Hai also received a champion's certificate and a cash prize of one thousand yuan.
Bai Yu was very happy about this; anyone would be happy to receive money.
As night fell, the second day of the sports meet came to an end. The only events left are basketball and the 10,000-meter race, and the results for those will be available tomorrow morning.
.............
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com