Brett, who last year was the fastest junior in the country, running the outdoor mile in 4 minutes, 8 seconds, wanted to win. He always wanted to win. But this race could be tough. Although Robby's personal best was several seconds slower, unlike Brett he had run on this tight, 11-lap track.
Before a crowd of 11,500 and a national television audience, the two lined up with six other runners.
Boom! They were off.
Brett's longer race - the marathon that would determine where he went to college - started two years ago, when coaches and scouts from some of the nation's best schools began e-mailing him and tnen showing up at his meets.
The senior is among more than 126,000 high school athletes annually who parlay their sports prowess to land more than $1 billion in full or partial athletic scholarships, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Sometimes, it gets them into schools otherwise closed to them. About 78 percent graduate.
Recruiters, who must abide by a long list of NCAA rules, anxiously await July 1, the date when they can begin talking to athletes such as Brett.
First, they call.
Then, they make house calls.
And then, to their preferred candidates, they offer all-expenses-paid campus visits, complete with steak dinners, exclusive tours, and meetings with coaches and athletes.
So as hundreds of thousands of students nervously await their college acceptance letters, Brett and his elite counterparts relish the catbird seat.
For them, the offers are many and sweet.
The dilemma is choosing the sweetest.
The calls begin
On July 1, Brett's phone started ringing: Kentucky, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Georgetown.
Over the next few weeks, he would hear from 40 to 50 others: Virginia, East Carolina, Kansas, Villanova, Providence, Iowa, Notre Dame, Syracuse . . .
