Gaveliers
Cross Country team report

Greetings, Gaveliers Nation.

A winning cross country team is like a personal injury law firm facing the imminent imposition of a legislated cap on damage awards: anxious about payments on the Tesla and highly motivated to get to the finish line at lightning speed.  I am happy to report on our likeable and successful cross country team.

I can’t say enough about our inaugural group of fleet-footed judge-athletes, especially our team captains, Hon. Scott Lewis and Hon. Sarah Demeret.

At our first quad meet of the year – the first in our program’s history! – we faced three legendary running programs:  Oregon, Texas and Parklane Hosiery. Not only did we outpoint all three of our rivals, but Judge Lewis, who was coming off a complicated six-week trademark-infringement case, ran a 14:20 5K. That was fastest ever recorded on host Parklane’s difficult to negotiate home course, which consists of steep, densely wooded hills and a fragrant stand offering freshly cooked onion rings.

What a race Judge Demeret ran! At 4,000 meters, Sarah, who is known for her unconventional juris prudence, found herself trailing the leader by a full minute. She then executed a maneuver I’ve never witnessed in my 20-plus days of coaching. Calmly and with a graceful economy of motion, she issued a restraining order forbidding the leader from coming within 25 meters of the finish line.

I have to tell you, on the bus back to Reno it was all high spirits and high fives for Judge Demeret and the next day a letter from her Judicial Ethics Review Board.

Sports teaches us important life lessons. As we say around the Gaveliers Athletics offices, “Winners never quit, and quitters never continue doing whatever it was they were doing, I don’t remember.”

Not only did both our men’s and women’s teams out of the meet 1-0, but six of our judges have already qualified for the end-of-year PAC-12 Championships, which this year will be run at Deposition Hills, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Maryland’s championship golf course, preceded by five days of testing on bankruptcy and maritime law, so advantage NJC.   

As a reminder, the holiday season is upon us, not unlike a monotone expert witness in forensic accounting on a Friday afternoon. The good news is you can purchase exclusive   officially licensed Gaveliers fan gear right now for the sports fan in your family or courthouse at The NJC Shop. Click the Gaveliers tab to peruse Gavs fan gear (two pages) or buy any of the less-athletic stuff in the shop. All purchases provide effective skin covering and a smidgen of financial support to The National Judicial College.

If you have questions about our running program, including assistant coaching opportunities, simply reply to this email. I’ll try to answer the questions in my next team report.

Go Gavs, and remember to run like the wind, invisibly.

Hon. Lauren “Lady Law” Langdon
Cross Country and Track & Field Coach

NJC News