Johnnie track and field athletes are exceptional at welcoming everyone to the team. Our athletes help coaches create a supportive atmosphere where everyone can pursue their goals and find success. They celebrate their teammates’ improvements whether it is breaking a school record, qualifying for the Johnnie track and field athletes are exceptional at welcoming everyone to the team. Our athletes help coaches create a supportive atmosphere where everyone can pursue their goals and find success. They celebrate their teammates’ improvements whether it is breaking a school record, qualifying for the conference meet, or setting a personal best.
Sometimes those personal achievements are highlighted by absurd coincidences that truly showcase the moment. Enter “Yakety Sax.” If you are not familiar with this song, I suggest you check it out. For me, it conjures up the memory of watching the Johnny Carson show with my grandmother. Immediately following Johnny Carson was the Benny Hill show with the theme song “Yakety Sax.” I don’t know how to describe it other than a comedy show revolving around an absurd old man and containing lots of double entendre that made little kid Jeremy (and probably current age Jeremy) very uncomfortable. And Yakety Sax was the show’s soundtrack.
What does this have to do with track? We had two meets last week to provide opportunities to qualify for this week’s MIAC Championships. Wednesday’s meet at St. Thomas had some very good performances and set the team up well. We traveled to St. Olaf on Saturday with a smaller group of guys who either needed an additional competition to prepare or still needed to qualify. One of those athletes needing to qualify was freshman Conor Brynteson (Robbinsdale Cooper). He was not on the radar to qualify in the hammer throw and even asked last week “How realistic is it to PR by 5 meters to qualify?” Going into Saturday’s meet Conor’s PR was 33 meters.
Conor’s first throw on Saturday was a foul into the cage. After some adjustments, he had a small improvement and was feeling good. His next throw was over 34 meters and there might have been a little celebratory hoot afterwards. He threw over 35 meters on his next throw and joyously jogged down the sector line to retrieve the hammer from the official. Then Conor let loose a throw over 37 meters. As it landed, an even louder yell was released from Conor while he was still in the circle and then he ran down the sector line. Coincidentally, the song Yakety Sax was playing at the track and was perfectly timed to his run. I’m not sure if anyone else witnessed this, but it was a fantastic moment to see an athlete excited for their improvement and brought a bit of levity to what can sometimes be a long day. In the end, it was also enough to qualify Conor for the MIAC conference meet- congratulations Conor!
The MIAC Outdoor Championship meet started last week at Carleton College with the decathlon competition. Our decathletes kicked it off with great performances. Max Lelwica (JR, Brainerd) finished second with 6,432 points and Anthony Thurk (JR, Waconia) scored 6,269 points for sixth. Max and Anthony have been fun to watch develop for the last three years. Those scores raised them up in the national rankings (13th and 24th respectively) and could mean a trip to NCAA championships in two weeks.
The rest of the conference meet is this Friday and Saturday at Hamline University. Field events start at 2pm on Friday and running events begin at 2:30pm. Saturday’s field events commence at noon and running events start at 1:30pm. We hope to see some alumni there.
Follow along with the MIAC Outdoor Championships this weekend: