I am currently down at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL for a last chance meet. We are a bit scattered since UW-LaCrosse is no longer hosting their usual last chance meet. I came down on Tuesday with some field event guys and Coaches Maxwell and Brady are bringing the rest of the guys later. Coach Joe is at a decathlon last chance meet at St. Olaf.
While I'm sitting in our hotel, I wanted to give a quick recap of the MIAC Championship. Despite the second place team finish, I am really happy with how our team performed. The guys characteristically perform well at championship meets and this performance was no exception. Based on everyone's predictions, Bethel was expected to win the meet by over 50 points. They are the #4 ranked team in the country and have a great team this year. Behind some outstanding performances, they guys managed to get within 11 points and at least make Bethel nervous.
The big performance came from Kevin Arthur (JR, Champlin Park). He has been consistent all year, but was ranked 2nd in the 100 and 3rd in the 200 behind Bethel sprinters. In the 100 prelims, Kevin set the conference championship record with a time of 10.31. In the finals, he gave the Bethel runner a generous lead after a subpar start. However, he blew by him in the last 30 meters and ran 10.32 seconds. In the 200, I will argue that Kevin's race in finals is the best I have seen him run. He ran a great turn from the gun and held his lead over the Bethel runners. Kevin's time of 20.68 is the best time in Division 3 this year. It also set a new school record, the conference championship record, the All-Time MIAC record, and is fifth All-Time in Division 3.
Coach Joe's jumpers didn't want to miss out on the fun as we saw a new school record in high jump. Jackson McDowell (FR, Centennial, CO) jumped 6-10.75. Not bad for his first year in track!
A group of seniors who technically have eligibility left performed well. Joe Charbonneau (New Richmond, WI) won his fifth conference championship in pole vault. Jaeden Frost (Omro, WI) has been all-conference many times, and won his first conference championship. He upset some good hammer throws for the title. Maybe I can convince these guys to use their last season of eligibility!
Across the team, we had strong performances and I am proud of how well they have trained and competed this year. I will provide another update after our last chance meets and hopefully have several qualifiers for the national championships.
Jeremy