MHS Track and Field 4.13.2017 Mustang Outdoor Opener Boys Comment Sheet Visionz WE HAVE A TRACK This meet was the culmination of years of effort. Most of you freshmen don t know, but everyone else understands, that training at UW Stout was terrible. Their coaches are awesome, and are truly gifted. Matt Schauff is one of the best distance coaches around, and Kyle Steiner is an amazing multi-event coach. Great guys. But UW Stout is a massively large, unwieldy, bureaucratic institution. While their coaches are awesome, their facilities people and students aren t always understanding. We are a high school team, after all, and this is their facility. We probably wouldn t want to share our facility with, say, the middle school team. Using Stout s facility was difficult in that we didn t have much control. We were constantly told no by UW Stout, on everything from throwing shot and discus on campus to getting bathrooms open to stretching inside in the front lobby. Their vaulters crowded out our vaulters, so they practiced, mostly, in the fieldhouse. Our throwers were at River Heights. Remember that? River Heights! If you were a thrower, and you wanted to do another event, you couldn t just walk from the throws area to the track. You had to get into a car and drive, sometimes back and forth, from River Heights to UW Stout. Practicing at UW Stout, alongside their athletes, was, at best, tolerable. At worse it was dangerous, with javelins flying on the infield and super fast, muscled sprinters running on the homestretch. These are college men and women, some of them 23 and 24 years old, some of them all- Americans, practicing alongside 14-year-old high school boys and girls. And it was awfully crowded on workout day. It s a small miracle that we never had a serious impact injury a freshmen wandering into lane one only to get leveled by a huge college sprinter or an errant javelin slipping and hitting a kid. And Stout was, for a few years, one of the better teams in the country. They had Tim Nelson, the first NCAA DIII runner to break 14:00 in a 5k in 25 years. He was a beast. How do you think Stout felt having to share their track with the high school? While Tim Nelson, and the rest of their All-Americans, were always polite and gracious and generally good to our athletes, it wasn t easy for them either. If practicing at Stout was difficult, hosting a meet was unbearable. We were able to use their pole vault pits and high jump mats and standards, but we needed to bring our own crossbars. We needed to bring our own starting blocks, chalk, tape measures, measuring sticks, batons, tables, chairs even garbage cans. If we forgot something, it was a four minute drive back to the school, then park, then find the missing item, load up the truck and come back. We had to paint our own vector lines for the shot and discus at UW Stout. And while UW Stout s track has an awesome surface, they don t have a very good facility. Parking is nightmare (our kids always got parking tickets at practice). There will never be any bleachers or lights at UW Stout s track. They don t even have electricity on the infield, so auto timing wasn t an option. Lastly, if we wanted a concession stand, we had to have our people trained by UW Stout s workers, and there were strict
limits on what could be sold (basically we had to buy stuff from UW Stout and then re-sell it), so there was no practical way to run a concession stand. But now we have our own track and what a track it is! Believe it or not, us coaches had quite a bit of input in the lay-out. The throws are at one end, the jumps are at another end. The high jump is away from the 100m start and away from the clerk of course, so athletes don t stack-up and interfere with the jumps while checking-in. Instead, the high jump is near the finish, and by the long and triple jump, so athletes in multiple jumping events can go back-and-forth easily. The pole vault is on the far end of the long and triple jump, so jumpers are not walking across the PV runway to go back to the track. The PV/LJ area is sheltered from the wind. The concessions area is far enough away from the track to diminish congestion, but there is also a big enough concourse area that people can get snacks and watch at the same time. It s quite a good facility definitely better than UW Stout. So, we have a track. And we had our first meet. And it was awesome. But we re not done just yet. We need another $100,000 for lights. And then there are bleachers, bathrooms and a press box. Field Turf would be nice, too. For now, though, we have a track, and life is good. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2s_qvasr2c&feature=youtu.be) HOSTING Hosting is stressful, and it s doubly stressful if it s the first meet ever. There were a hundred questions about the meet would the power on the infield work (it didn t), would we be able to get the running events finished on time (we did), would the ticket-booth be big enough for concessions (it was), would the workers show-up on time (they did, mostly), would there be enough light to complete the field events (there wasn t, really, but it s OK)? Would people come (they did)? Would the ribbon cutting ceremony be awkward or meaningful (it was very touching)? Would we run out of hip numbers? Would the timing system work? So this was extremely stressful for us coaches. Add to that the pressure of the competition, and the fact that we have a team on the track trying to PR or run well, and the stress compounds significantly. You see, a track meet is a huge event. We have to find a timing service. We have to send out meet info to all of the schools that are attending. Then, before the meet starts, we need to find about 30 meet workers and hope they show-up. The day of the meet we have to prep the site (rake the pits, put down vector lines, make sure the power works, get the hurdles in the right spots) and print out a whole bunch of meet worksheets for the field events and the clerk. We need to put these worksheets in clipboards and get those clipboards to the right field event. Then there are the tables, chairs, tents, sticks, tape measures, poles, cones, chalk, foul flags, garbage cans, safety flagging and a bunch of other stuff that I can t think of off the top of my head. Everything has to be in the right place for the start of the meet, otherwise you have a mess. We were busy. We had help from the Buildings and Grounds guys, and Mr. Boettcher, and a bunch of parents who took the concessions and ran with it. What would have made this extremely difficult is if we had athletes that where whining or trying to get out of things. It didn t happen. Well, that s not totally true. It did happen with one guy, but he found a replacement in the 4x400m, which shows quite a bit of leadership. But the track is finished, we can host and we have a team capable of handling itself. And while I m extremely proud of our community and school district for providing the resources for the track, I m also extremely proud of the team for allowing us coaches to host this meet without interruption. SPRINTS Husby won. He ran 11.4. Last year Husby ran 11.3 at Sectionals. He ran 12.0 at Rice Lake. He ran 11.79 at Mondovi and 11.3 at Sectionals. So he s already at 11.4. That s good news! He might break 11.0 this year, and if he does he ll qualify for state. You see, you get faster as the year wears on. Those 100m dash races stack-up. You get more fit, stronger, faster and the times drop. It happened last year to Justin Evans and Parker Carlson, too. Those guys ran 12.0 early, then 11.9, then 11.7, then 11.3 by the end of the season. What would they have done if they had started at 11.4? Maybe we ll see with Husby this year. Anyway, Husby won the 100m, and just barely, over a very fast runner from Durand. It was a great race, and a great way to christen our new track. Husby then went on to win the 200m with a 23.5. Last year he ran 24.3 in his first 200m. His goal is a 22.8 for the season. The sprinters, in general, had a great start to the outdoor season. The 100m times were solid, especially compared to last season. Brian is right where he was last year, running a nearly identical
time. But his workouts this season have been soooooo much better. I ve been very proud of his work ethic and leadership this season. Logan just missed a sub 12 in the 100m. That s OK. He ll get it next time. In fact, the next meet will most likely be Logan s last meet for a while in which he does 4 events. We re looking at a 4x100m of Logan, Mitch, Husby and Brian, with Logan and Mitch on the corners. Logan will also have to be in the 4x200m, and the long-jump, come championship season. Speaking of Mitch, he ran a very solid 12.2 in the 100m and had a brilliant 200m dash. I didn t think he d be a better 200m guy than 100m guy, but he might be stronger than he is fast right now. Amundson is an interesting case. He s fast, and he s strong, and it might be time to try the triple jump. What about the 4x100m? Mabye, but it s tough to use him on the turns. The 4x200m? Without a doubt! He has to be on that relay. Amundson is another guy that is stronger than he is fast, and he is surely going to be needed in the 4x200m this year. Alan Grey had a monster meet. He ran 12.6, and was slightly ahead of Mason Platter with his final time. He went on to run a 25.9, which was a two second PR in the 200m. His 4x400m relay split was even better as he ran sub 1:00 for the first time. Way to go, Alan. You kept working hard, you got better and you made significant improvements. As for Adam Wilson, he looked tired. His 100m was awesome, but his 200m was a little slower, and he couldn t finish the meet. He had to pull-out of the 4x400m due to sore legs. He s lifting, playing soccer, and he s sore. For now he s in the varsity 4x200m, but he s going to have to work hard to maintain his spot, because some of the younger guys are hungry. But we are really counting on Adam to lead and get stronger and run faster, and I know he ll do it. Mason ran a very nice 12.7, and he s going to need a few of these 100m dash races to get ready for the throwers 4x100m. We might take the throwers to the Old Abe Invite and have them run the 4x100m just for practice. Mason is going to be a big part of that relay. But could Mason break 12.0 this year? Maybe. And that would be something. Giljohann is a pole vaulter, and a really good guy, but the 100m dash races are there to help him develop some speed for the vault. He s getting faster every day, too, as he transitions from swimming to running. And is vaulting is getting much, much better. Joey asked to run the 100m and 200m, then he wanted to pole vault. Well, he cleared 8 in the vault, so I think we ll focus on that! It s not very often that someone clears 8 in their first meet, so this was outstanding. The 100m and 200m can wait. Cooper looked much more confident and relaxed this meet when compared to last week. He seemed more focused and sure of himself. 100m / 200m / Triple Jump is his trio of events, and I think he ll stick with those three for a while. He beat 17 guys in the 100m, and 20 guys in the 200m, so that s a nice accomplishment as well. Wyatt also ran the 200m, but he didn t run the 100m. Wyatt is an 800m guy, but he doesn t know it just yet. His 200m time was OK, but he s faster than 25.8. He should be able to run 24.8, but maybe he was a bit tired. As for Emmet, wow he ran a great 400m. 57.9 is an outstanding time, and is one of the best of the year for MHS runners. Emmet has found a place in our varsity 4x400m, and he s deserving. While that 400m time was outstanding, I think he was a bit tired for the 200m, so his time was a little slow. That s strength and fitness, more than anything. James is a good 400m runner. Sub 60 for his first two meets. I didn t break 60 until half-way through my 2 nd year of track. The 2 nd 400m, in the 4x400m dasy, As for Mitch M, he ran his 1 st 100m dash of the season, and he stayed for nearly the entire meet. We have a few small goals for Mitch take the bus, workout every day, stay for the entire meet. He stayed the entire meet at River Falls, but it isn t uncommon for Mitch to get bored and go home. This year, though, he s generally staying until the end, and I m sure that this isn t all that easy. Jon ran his first 100m race of the season as well. He looked quite good, and he was able to get slightly ahead of Mitch. Mitch and Jon are lucky to have one another. They can train together and improve together and compete together. So enjoy it, boys. I remember very fondly my training partner, Ted. We worked really hard every day for three years, and we were very successful because of one another. Mitch and Jon, work together and get better together. R-E-L-A-X If you want to have a successful athletic career you need to be relaxed and focused. At the same time. Relaxed and focused. You need to smile, shrug, laugh but have that killer stare. Relaxed
focusness is a trait of all successful athletes. No one watching Micahel Jordan during his prime saw a nervous, fidigity basketball player. They saw a guy that knew he was going to be successful. No one watching Michael Phelps sees a nervous guy. They see a guy having fun. Focused and relaxed. The best example I can give that you would know is Aaron Rodgers. Watching him play football, he almost looks bored. Same with Tom Brady. They look focused, but relaxed. They see everything. Their eyes move. They don t overreact to anything. They play and stay calm and have fun and when they score a touchdown, they jump up and down and celebrate. Do we have runners that are both relaxed and focused? Yep. Husby, Kieffer, Channer, Mitch, Sam, Brian (usually, although he s have trouble doing this in the high jump). These guys are always relaxed/focused. They smile, have fun, then get down to the business at hand and they race (or jump or throw). That s what we need. Quite a few of you younger runners look scared all the time. I was the same way. If I could have been more relaxed and focused, instead of worrying about my competition, I would have been a better athlete. Our girls distance runners are very, very good at this. They laugh, relax, dance, have fun and then it s time to race and they set their mind. So, are you relaxed? Are you focused? Are you smiling and having fun and enjoying the moment, or are you so nervous or worried or full of pressure that you can t enjoy this? Relax, everyone. Relax. Just do what you know you can do. Don t press. Don t run (or jump or throw or vault) outside of yourself don t try to do things you can t do. Just do what you can do, and what you ve done. And relax.
THROWS No one died, and that s saying something. Discus in the dark is generally not a very good idea. A spotter can be hit. But everyone was safe, and that s good. We have four guys that have already thrown farther than 100 this year. Last year we only had two guys. And Amundson is close, with his 94 throw. We should have five guys above 100 very soon. Channer is at 115, and Harmston is at 110. How can these two, with such different body types, throw approximately the same distance? This event is a mystery to me. Anyway, Mitch threw 106 and Mason was at 101. Amundson was just behind, with a 94. That s five very solid guys all guys that can break 120 in good weather. Boyette, meanwhile, threw in the 80 s in his first ever discus competition. That s quite good, and he s going for that 100 throw before the end of the season. DJ threw in the 70s. He s a shot-put guy, mostly, but throwing both is important. You become a better shot put guy if you throw the discus, and you become a better discus thrower if you throw the shot. Meanwhile, Daniel The King, a middle distance runner, threw the discus in the 70s, and he beat 17 guys. That s quite good as well. Outdoor throwing is different from indoor throwing. It s different. You need to warm-up much more thoroughly. You can t sit around. In-between throws you need to run, or hop around, or do something to stay warm. Jump rope? That might be a good idea it s a very quick way to heat-up. So let s bring a jump rope to the next meet and if you guys are getting cold, let s jump around a bit. In-between throws you need to stay covered. Get covered and stay covered. During the throw, when they call on deck, take off the sweatshirt. Before that, though, stay covered in the cool weather. Throwing outside is different, especially if it is cool outside. In the heat, you throw much further. But we can t control the weather. We can only control how we prepare for it. So, stay covered. As for the shot putters, they scored some nice points for the team. Channer was 2 nd, Mitch was 6 th. That s awesome. Without Channer and Mitch, we might have been beaten by Durand! Well, maybe not. But having those guys makes a big difference. Last year, Link threw 44 and Mason threw 43 by the end of the season. Our next best thrower was 33 feet. Not good. This year, we have three guys above 40, one guy above 46 and six total guys above 33 feet. This group has improved greatly, thanks to the seniors that came out and are leading the way. Anyway, Mitch was able to have a very nice PR in the shot put (and he ran quite well too, so it was a very good day for Mitch). DJ also had a nice PR, but the rest of the crew didn t match their indoor best. It s hard to throw outside. Adding the discus makes things even more difficult. Add in the fact that Mitch, Tyler, The King and Mason were in running events and things are difficult to balance. Still, no one was terrible. Everyone was close to a PR, or within a narrow range at least. And DJ is throwing extremely well right now, by the way. We had two throwers place in the discus and two in the shot in a meet with over 60 competitors in those two events. That s a great day, boys. I m proud of you. VAULT When it s cold, it s very important to stay warm during the vault. Run around a bit. Keep the arms warm. Stay relaxed and warm. Trap the body heat. Last season at this time, we had two guys at 10, three guys at 7 6 and one more at 7 0. This year we have two guys at 10, one guy at 8 6 and FOUR more guys at 8 0. Antiny broke 9 as a freshmen, and that was a big deal. A rookie breaking 9 is amazing. Well, how many guys will do that this year? Devantae broke 9 as a freshmen (then he quit). How many guys are going to do that this year? Last year, By the end of the season, we had one guy at 11 and another at 10 6 and another at 9 and another at 8. We have two vaulters that have smashed our expectations about what a rookie vaulter can do. Jake became the 2 nd rookie to break 10 this season. He joins Shawn in the double-digit club. Jake got on a new pole, and it made a huge difference. I don t pretend to understand the pole vault, and I know it s complicated, but we have two amazing coaches, and they know their stuff. The question is, how high can our vaulters go this year? 11? 12? How high? Maybe it s just 10, but doing 10 constantly. That would be a nice goal, too. And Jake was in the newspaper, which is pretty cool. Joey broke 8 in his first competition, which is also pretty cool. That s a nice vault, and I didn t even know Joey wanted to be a vaulter! Meanwhile, Adam had a nice PR, hitting 8 for the first time. That s awesome. Ben and Matt are consistent at 8, and consistency at 8 is the first thing
necessary for a 9 vault. Both are getting closer and closer. As for Emmet, he didn t vault. He s apparently dealing with some injury issues, but he did have a heck of a 400m dash! Great job, vaulters. And check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtvmn-rc1ew MID / LONG DISTANCE While it wasn t great sprinting weather, it was certainly amazing distance weather. No wind, about 52 degrees, the setting sun, teammates, great competition prime weather for a nice PR, and we had plenty of PRs. But, more importantly, we had plenty of good racing! Matt led things off with his amazing 4:50. The race went out very slow, but Matt was able to open up a significant lead going into the last lap. Will from River Falls was able to close the gap and catch Matt. Now, Matt isn t going to outkick many people, but he did manage to hang-on for 2 nd place, getting ahead of the Lakeville North kid. 1:11, 1:13, 1:12, 1:14 that s only a three second differential, and he needed every bit of his leg speed to run that 1:14 on the end. But this was a great step forward for Matt. Simon, Dane and Tyler Burr ran together for most of the race. They were all together, running 1:14, 1:16, 1:22 for the first 3 laps. That s a bit uneven. They teamed-up to slow down on lap 3, responding to another group ahead of them that slowed down. But it was the final kick that was most entertaining. Simon ran 1:15, whereas Dane and Tyler ran 1:20 and 1:18. Not bad. Tyler ran 5:14, along with Dane, while Simon ran 5:11. Simon looks like he s ready to break 5:00, but he has to keep working hard and getting sleep. 9 hours of sleep every night, Simon. Then you have to hit 1:14/1:15 for each lap. While you re at it, you need to take Tyler with you during that race, so we can have two freshmen sub 5:00 milers. Wouldn t that be amazing? Anyway, nice splits and nice race, boys. As for Dane, there is still the disconnect between his workouts (endless 1:13s) and his races. We ll figure it out, though. Kevin broke 6:00 for the first time ever. Way to go Kevin!! He did it by being patient and running even. When he moved around a competitor, he moved with a purpose. That competitor, a kid from EC North, would eventually catch Kevin back, but it wasn t because Kevin didn t try to make a move and break the guy. The guy just had a huge kick, and kicking isn t Kevin s deal just yet. Still, it was a great race and a nice PR. As for Cole, he was clearly in pain. He ll figure it out and improve. That s part of the process, and you have to trust the process. JUMPS This group is struggling. This isn t to rip or cut them down. It s just a fact. Why are they struggling? Well, there are three reasons. First, it s colder outside, so you have to warm-up effectively. Second, most of the jumpers are running as well. They are tired by the time they get around to jumping. Thrid, though, is that we are hosting meets, so Coach Wilson isn t always available to come over and help. Sometimes she s running the jumps pit. What can we do about this? There are easy answers. First, warm-up and stay warm when you jump. Second, we are not hosting for a while now, so Coach Wilson will be right there with you. Third, as you get stronger it will be easier to double and triple. So you have to gut out these tough times and keep moving forward. And be Relaxed / Focused! In the high jump, Brian tensed-up at 6 0. He cleared 5 10 easily but then got tense. Be fun and funny, Brian. Relax. That s how you will go 6 4. Logan cleared 5 4 and Kevyn cleared 5 2. Outside jumping is a different animal, so stay relaxed, boys. You ll get there. In the long jump, it was crazy. Logan hit 18 3 and Sam was 17 11. These aren t very good jumps from either boy. But it was cold, and outside. Ryan was five or six inches away from his lifetime PR. Wyatt and James and Jed also missed PRs. Alan jumped for the first time ever, and he hit 12 10, missing the board. We need to work on those approaches, boys. In the triple jump, Sam wasn t himself. His hurdles looked great, though, and it s tough to have four great performances at the same meet; maybe two great performances, and two that aren t so great. As you get more fit, this gets easier. Anyway, James and Cooper both had nice jumps, and it s great that we have them triple jumping. Still, this entire group needs to relax and focus, because the talent is there. HURDLES Sam Zbornik is the real deal. He very nearly beat Brandon Powers, from New Richmond, in the 110h. Brandon made it to state last year, and is a beast of a hurdler. Still, Sam was only.6 seconds
away. And Sam floated. But Sam really showed some great chops in the 300m hurdles. His time, 43.3, was outstanding. Can he get into the 41 s? Maybe. That s a very fast time, but I think Sam can do it. Both his 110m hurdle time and hi s 300m hurdle time place Sam in the top 10 all-time in those events. He s there for the triple jump and high jump, too. What an amazing start to the season! Labs ran 46 seconds for the 300m hurdles. That is also a wonderful, amazing start. If he can get into the 44 s (run a 44.9) that would be the greatest improvement in track and field history since I ve been coaching. Labs has come a very long way, and he looks great in workouts. His 110m hurdles were also wonderful. Labs, in fact, was one of our scoring leaders, earning a 4 th place finish in the 110s and a 6 th place finish in the 300s. Great job, Labs! Ryan didn t like the 300s. He doesn t want to run them anymore. OK. That s a deal. He can long jump and run the 110s. He didn t run the 110s at this meet, and that s fine. But if he wants to only long jump and run the 110s, we need to see an improvement in his jumping. 18 s, Heleniak. You can do it! It was interesting watching Jed in the workout yesterday. He was a beast. He s stronger than he is fast right now, and he was able to keep-up throughout most of the workout. He looked great. His 300 hurdle time was a little bit slow, though. It was those last three hurdles. Jed slowed down, his form went wonky and he struggled to go over them. This will come in time, Jed. You can run in the 45 s this year if you keep working hard. And your 110s are coming along brilliantly! I think you can run in the 18s this year if you keep working. Opportunities to run in the 4x100 and 4x200m will come in time, but I have you in the hurdles because you are tough, and it s a hard race. Keep working and you are going to be great. As for Kyle, I am awfully impressed by his improvements so far this season. He ran 20.5 in the 110s and 49.8 in the 300s. That s a great start! His goal is also to run in the 46s in the 300s and to break 19 seconds in the 110s, and his improvements continue. He s strong, too, so if he can keep improving he should be able to meet these goals easily. Marcus Smith, who has amazing form, beat a guy in the 110s and the 300s. This is awesome! He is getting stronger and stronger as well, and he has a shot at running in the 52s in the 300 hurdles. His 110s, though, look even better. Remember when he was afraid of the 110s? Not anymore. He can break 20 seconds this year, maybe at the next meet. This is a awesome group of hurdlers, and they handled the 110s and 300s, both hurdle distances that are quite a bit longer than indoors, very well. Well, that s all for this week. It s going to be cold on Thursday, so remember the meet bag. And thanks for your efforts!