Building consistency and routine are important to Track and Field. This not only applies to training, but also carries over to our meet planning and preparation. We typically frequent the same hotels and restaurants to simplify planning for staff and consistency helps reduce mental friction for athletes. When the Conference Meet is in Northfield, you’ll find us exhibiting our best Benedictine values by living simply and staying at the Motel 6 in nearby Lakeville, MN. This is a tradition that Tim probably started because it shares a parking lot with Subway and McDonald’s and allows him to maintain his daily routine. I like it because the Motel 6 is next to a great barbecue restaurant.
This year’s Seniors made the same trip when they were First-Years; same Motel 6 and same restaurants. One story from that trip three years ago has lived on. After the Day One excitement of the MIAC Championships, we checked into the motel and dispersed to Subway or Baldy’s BBQ. At Baldy’s, we all waited patiently for our meals to arrive and engaged in the normal silly discussions that are usual for teams to share after an event. The server would call out an order and bring out the food. After several orders, we eventually hear “Full rack of ribs.” We were the only customers in the restaurant, so it has to be someone from SJU. Who orders a full rack of ribs on the track team budget? That was the tall freshman who must have been feeling confident after his fifth place finish in the 55 meter dash. He received no shortage of heckling from the team and skeptical glances from the coaches. Thankfully he followed it up with a good performance on Day Two in the 200m and 4x200. It has been a team joke ever since.
That tall freshman is now senior Drew Schoenbauer. Last weekend, Drew had another impressive meet. We were back at Baldy’s Friday night after he finished second (6.99) to teammate Ryan Miller (6.96) in the 60 meter dash and he had an even better second day on Saturday. Drew led off of the winning 4x200m team who ran 1:29.06 to break the school record by more than a second. Later in the afternoon, Drew also won the 200 meter dash for his first individual title and broke the school record with a big personal record of 22.19 (his previous pr of 22.52 was from the prior week).
All in all, this was a fun conference meet. We scored over 100 points and have a good mix of new athletes and upperclassmen. It was very gratifying to qualify the maximum number of athletes (we are allowed six in the top twenty-four athletes) in the 60m and 200m, and half in each event scored points toward the overall team score. Based on their performance at the Conference meet, there are four new entries for the SJU Top-10 All-Time 200 meter dash: Drew is 1st, Omavi Collison is 5th, Ryan Miller is 9th, and Jack Young is 10th.
Besides Drew’s performance, many upperclassmen had great championships. Max Martin had a strong 2nd place in the hurdles and ran on the 4x200m team; James Mathison ran a gutsy 5k; Kai Barber placed in both the shot put and weight throw after not competing the past two seasons due to injury; Kevin Lamb scored in the 1000m and 800m; Collin Trout had a big PR in triple jump.
An indoor season surprise is two of our Bahamian freshmen contributed mightily to the team: Michael Wallace in the jumps and Omavi Collison in the sprints. Michael learned the triple jump in January and he finished 4th in the MIAC with 13.84 meters. The 400 meter alumni can appreciate that Omavi even split is 400m race: 25.3 for each lap! Omavi also led off our 4x400m team of freshmen and sophomores who ran a strong 3:23.65 (with Tyler Johnson, Jackson Devereaux, and David Russell).
The stories of Drew’s Conference Meets as a First-year and as a Senior seems to sum up the Conference Meet experience as a coach. We have fun performances by Freshmen who show a lot of promise and we, as coaches, get excited about what they can achieve. It’s also really gratifying as a coach to watch Seniors put it all together with great performances and leave their mark on Johnnie Track & Field history.
I am really excited for the rest of this year and hopefully we have solid performances at this week’s Last Chance Meet to secure several spots at the National Indoor Championships in Boston on March 8th & 9th.
P.S. If you are ever looking for a good meal in Lakeville, I strongly recommend Baldy’s BBQ; Tim suggests McDonald’s or Subway.