This is the time of the season when it feels like I’m either at a meet or preparing for a meet everyday. I took a crew of athletes to the meet in California, hosted a home meet on Saturday, had a long day at University of Minnesota on Wednesday and now preparing to travel to Gustavus on Saturday. I even squeezed in an additional one on Thursday to watch my kids compete in their first track and field meet. While it is exciting to see the payoff of all the athletes' hard work, I miss the relaxed atmosphere of the early season and the focus on training. This is the time of the season when it feels like I’m either at a meet or preparing for a meet everyday. I took a crew of athletes to the meet in California, hosted a home meet on Saturday, had a long day at University of Minnesota on Wednesday and now preparing to travel to Gustavus on Saturday. I even squeezed in an additional one on Thursday to watch my kids compete in their first track and field meet. While it is exciting to see the payoff of all the athletes' hard work, I miss the relaxed atmosphere of the early season and the focus on training.
I don’t have much to report about the trip to California to compete at the Brian Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University. Unfortunately, the weather was cold, rainy, and overcast. In fact, the rest of the team enjoyed considerably better weather when they competed at Mankato the same weekend. Highlights were taking Jaeden Frost (JR, Omro, WI) to see the ocean for the first time and we ate well. Also noteworthy The trip was definitely fun, but the weather hindered performances.
Our home meet was the first outdoor home meet we have hosted in three years. Meets in the previous years were canceled due to snow, including one earlier this April I named the Optimistic Invitational. Last weekend we were free of snow, it was barely in the 40’s with a cool wind.
Wednesday at the University of Minnesota was a beautiful day with sunshine and relatively calm winds. We had many good performances as a result of the ideal conditions. Sophomore Mitch Degen (Brainerd) won the javelin with a throw of 172ft-11in. Mitch has been steadily improving all year and is really starting to figure out the event. Kevin Arthur (JR, Champlin Park) continues to run well. He tied his PR in 100m dash prelims with 10.38 and came back to win the 4x100m relay in 41.20 with Emanual Popoca (JR, Bloomington Kennedy), Zach Schaffer (SO, Chaska), Kieran Murnan (FR, Holy Angels). Nick St. Peter (SO, Maple Grove) seemed to enjoy running on this calm evening after having to suffer through the worst conditions in California as he ran his 1500 in 50 degrees and a hard rain. Nick ran an evenly split 800m run for a new PR of 1:54.84. One more notable performance was Vincent Kaluza (FR, Rocori) in the steeplechase. His time of 9:46.63 is one of the faster freshmen we have had in awhile and he will continue to improve on that this year.
National Ranking Updates
Kevin Aurther: ranked 4th in the 100m dash with 10.38 (has run the time twice)
Jackson McDowell: 12th in High Jump with 6-8.75
4x100m relay: 12th with 41.20 (Emanuel Popoca, Kevin Arthur, Zach Schaffer, Kieran Murnan)
Zach Schaffer: 20th in Long Jump with 23ft-5.25in
Kevin Aurther: 21st in the 200m dash with 21.46 (on a cold day in California)
Cooper Smith: 37th in the 400 hurdles with 54.57 (cracks the top five for freshmen)
Jaeden Frost: 38th in Hammer with 179ft-10in (2nd All-Time at SJU)
As mentioned, we are off to Gustavus this Saturday, April 27th. We will be at St. Thomas next Wednesday, May 1st. Stop by if you’re in the area.
Jeremy
BTW: For all the 4x100 fans: We have been running multiple 4x100m relays most meets, often running three teams. Our “B” team on Wednesday ran a respectable 42.68. The team is composed of four guys who did not compete in track in high school. This has been a fun group to train: Brennan Blake (FR, Totino-Grace) joined at spring break from baseball, Joey Moberg (FR, St. Paul Johnson) came from the SJU football team, Matt Hansen (FR, Niwot, CO) is the SJU football kicker, and Aidan Morey (SO, Creighton Prep, NE) from SJU soccer.