Sometimes, it is not about winning.

At the Oak Harbor-Lake Stevens track meet Thursday, April 2, at Wildcat Memorial Stadium, Viking sophomore Trevor Allen raised his hands in jubilation at the end of his 3,200 meter race.

The gesture, usually displayed by a winner, might have seemed odd to those watching from the bleachers because Allen finished second to Oak Harbor’s John Rodeheffer.

Allen wasn’t confused; he knew he finished second. What he did do, with the help of Rodeheffer, was set a personal-best time of 9:55.

Though Allen had never met Rodeheffer, he approached the Oak Harbor senior before the race and asked what his strategy was for the event.

Allen knew he most likely couldn’t defeat Rodeheffer, one of the state’s best distance runners, but knew Rodeheffer had the ability to help him achieve his goal of running the distance under 10 minutes.

To reach that mark, Allen needed Rodeheffer to pace him, running laps at a clip of 74-75 seconds.

Rodeheffer, who said he planned to use the race as a training run, agreed to help.

“I was fine with it,” Rodeheffer said. “It was an opportunity to help another runner do his best.”

Allen stayed on Rodeheffer’s hip for the first seven laps of the eight-lap race, using Rodeheffer to pull him toward his goal.

“With 700 yards left,” Rodeheffer said, “I told him I was going to pick up the pace at 600 yards.”

Allen couldn’t quite keep up, lagging behind over the final 200 meters and finishing seven seconds behind Rodeheffer —  but five seconds below 10 minutes.

“As a coach, it was one of the coolest displays of sportsmanship I’ve seen in a long time,” Oak Harbor coach Eric Peterson said. “Two runners from two different teams working together on the track to accomplish a goal.”