For me there are several ways to understand why McVries saved Garraty. If it were me in a real life situation, I would have reacted like Olson because Garraty is a competition and everyone wants to win. The allegory that caught my attention in this paragraph, however, was the idea that this is a team competition, but also an individual competition. Just like on the track, for example, you want to win for your team, but also for yourself. I think it comes down to the idea that McVries would rather Garraty win than someone random, or Barkovitch. If you and a friend were both competing in the 400 meters, you would most likely want to beat your friend, but you would also rather his friend win than the other one