Matt Rossnagel did the decent thing. The kind thing. The right thing.

And he would do it again.

Rossnagel, 17, is a thoughtful, well-spoken junior cross country runner at Midland Park High School. He got bit by the running bug early in eighth grade and is now a full-year runner topping out around 40 miles a week over the summer. He was third in the 2017 NJIC Patriot Division championships.

Last Saturday, Rossnagel competed in the Bergen Meet of Champions for cross country at Darlington Park in Mahwah. Runners always know when they have it, and when they don’t, and Rossnagel wasn’t feeling it that warm morning.

Neither was North Arlington senior Sirish Modhagala. This was Modhagala’s first appearance in the Bergen Meet of Champions and honestly, the excitement probably caught up to him.

“I was hanging tough, but the third mile was the killer,” said Modhagala.

“It really wasn’t his day,” said North Arlington coach Stephanie Sinclair. “Sometimes you have an off day as a runner.”

Around the 2.5-mile mark, Modhagala came off the gravel portion of the route and on to the cement. His dreams of making the top 20 were dashed, but he wanted to finish strong.

“I go to change gears [speed up] and my legs just gave out,” said Modhagala, 17. “I kind of did a face plant.”

Enter Rossnagel.

For some reason, memories of the 2016 Bergen Meet of Champions in cross country had been in Rossnagel’s mind all week. That year, a friend and rival, former Bogota star Danny Daurio fell at the start. It bothered Rossnagel that he was boxed in and had no way to get to Daurio.

“He was my friend and I couldn’t help him,” Rossnagel said. “I was kind of mad about it.”

This time, Rossnagel was a few steps behind Modhagala when he saw him slip off the course.

“He kind of dove off to the side,” said Rossnagel. “I couldn’t tell if he tripped or what, but I was like, [forget] my time and let me help Sirish.”

So he stopped.

Rossnagel and Modhagala are casual acquaintances. Besides a ‘good luck’ at the start, or a ‘great race’ at the end, they haven’t talked that much. They don’t have a group chat or anything, but Rossnagel knew Modhagala was a good runner, and a senior. This was the biggest race of his life to that point.

Rossnagel told Modhagala to get up and they would run together. They stayed together for a little while, until Modhagala stumbled again. He told Rossnagel to finish without him.

In case you’re wondering, Rossnagel finished 44th and Modhagala was 62nd. Humanity was the winner.

“In a dual meet, OK, I could understand stopping, but in a meet like BMOC, everyone is looking out for their times,” said Modhagala. “He impeded his own race to pick me up. I can’t thank him enough. I can’t put into words how much that means to me.”

“I would have felt like a terrible person if I ran by,” said Rossnagel. “It’s one of those things. I’d rather sacrifice for someone else than look good. I might have another BMOC in the spring [for track], and hopefully next fall, but he might not. I figured I’d rather help him.”

High school sports almost seem infected these days by players and coaches doing whatever they can to win. There are still schools bringing in players from foreign countries to help them succeed. There are still programs and coaches that don’t seem to understand what the purpose of high school athletics is supposed to be: part of the educational process of a young man or woman.

Success is awesome. Players who work hard and succeed should be rewarded. But we lose sight of the proper values. We should be gratified to know that there are other lessons being instilled in young athletes like Rossnagel.

Maybe it’s just a running thing. Running, the solitude involved, the grueling pain, gives you plenty of time to think. And when you have time to think, you know, a lot of times you think about being nice.

Rossnagel could have run by. He probably would have shaved 10, maybe 15 seconds off his time. No one would have blamed him except himself. This story probably wouldn’t even have gotten out.

After the race, Rossnagel sought out Modhagala to see if he was OK. Modhagala thanked him. A couple of kids from other schools congratulated Rossnagel for his sportsmanship.

“I don’t think I was able to express how much I appreciated him,” said Modhagala. “I know he’s a genuine kid, but I feel like….I just feel like he legitimately is one of the kids who cares.”

“I ended up finishing my race,” said Rossnagel. “I didn’t run real well and that was my fault, but I was just happy to be able to do something good out of it.”