DEVILS LAKE, ND (WDAY/CNN) – Every once in a while in sports the results don’t matter.
Hundreds of cross country runners were in Minnesota for a race, but the winner from the event
was someone who didn’t even place, but instead showed compassion for a fellow runner.
Devils Lake senior Melanie Bailey carried an injured and distraught Danielle Lenoue, who runs for Fargo South, across the finish line at the EDC cross country meet at Ponderosa Golf Course near Glyndon.
“I was past the 2-mile mark, I was right around the corner from the finish line,” Lenoue said. “It happened instantly, like I was just running along and felt like a little pop in my knee and down I went. It was that fast
.”
Lenoue’s left knee buckled during the race and she injured her patellar tendon.
“Just sobbing and everything, so I just started walking and I stopped cause I couldn’t go any farther and all of a sudden this girl comes up and she grabs my arm and she said ‘here, come on.’” Lenoue said. “And we just started walking and couldn’t walk at all. And she was just like ‘this isn’t working’ and so she said ‘here hop on my back.’ And she bent down, picked me up. She’s like half my size.”