CRENSHAW : Cross-Country? This Team Crosses Pacific

Seven members of the Dorsey High School track team recently went a distance that they never imagined they would--6,000 miles, to be exact.

That is how far they traveled to run as a marathon relay team in South Korea. Yet the marathon, the first the students had ever competed in, was not the pinnacle of the trip.

“The race was a challenge,” said 17-year-old Anthony Hinton, “but the real victory was seeing the culture.”

At the invitation of the South Korea-based company Kolon International Corp., the group traveled to South Korea as good-will ambassadors of Los Angeles’ African American community. The delegation also included seven runners from Gardena High. Kolon representative Bronnie Lee traveled with the students, acting as interpreter and tour coordinator.

“We wanted to help try and bridge the gaps between the black and Korean communities,” said Lee, credit manager of the Los Angeles division of Kolon, a billion-dollar import-export firm that manufactures a sporting goods line.

“It was less about winning a race and more about bringing students together through cultural education.”

Kolon picked up the $35,000-plus tab for plane tickets, food and hotel accommodations. The annual national marathon for high schoolers pitted the two Los Angeles groups against 27 relay teams from South Korea, China and Japan. Although the U.S. group--the first Americans ever invited to participate--finished last, students said they were happy just to be part of the event.

“They could have chosen a better team from another school, like San Pedro, but they chose us,” said Hinton, a senior who specializes in the 400 meters. “But we were treated very well. People encouraged us on, waving and clapping. Everyone was so hospitable.”

Dorsey Coach Paul Knox, who with Assistant Principal Beverly Clarkson accompanied students to South Korea, said his team rarely runs more than three miles for an event, even the cross-country runners. None had ever run five-mile legs in a 26-mile marathon.

For Betty Butler, 15, the race was grueling but the trip was eye-opening in more ways than one. “I never thought I’d be able to do something like this,” she said. “I really enjoyed it. The Korean culture there is very different than the culture here.”

During the students’ six-day stay, Lee took them on whirlwind tours of museums, palaces, historical sites and cultural events in Kyongju, Korea’s ancient capital city, and Seoul. Students got a chance to witness a traditional Korean wedding, compare and contrast the countryside with the bustling big cities, hear Korean music and visit a high school that specializes in training athletes.

“That was the most impressive thing--the school, the discipline,” said Anthony Wheeler, 17. “Koreans really seem to support themselves as a people. They buy their own products. That’s something blacks here need to learn.”

The culture shock, from acquiring tastes for seaweed to learning that Korean business manners differ greatly from those of Americans, were not entirely new for Dorsey runner Cyrena Thomas. Thomas’ father is black and her mother is Korean. Still, the trip was something of a revelation.

“I grew up here and only speak a few phrases of Korean,” the 15-year-old said. “My parents were glad about this trip, because they always felt I should know that other side of my culture. Now I feel like I do.”