SF Our Way

The early Stanford trip has always been a favorite. Great competition, usually great weather (not this year), great facility, and generally a fun area. This year was no exception as we ran fast and were able to enjoy the surrounding area on Saturday evening while waiting for our Sunday morning flight. Another usual...going up to San Francisco for dinner and check out the sites. In the past we have done the usual things...The Pier, Lombard Street, the Embarcadero, and the Golden Gate Bridge. We even gone over to Sausalito (a quaint seaside town on the north side of Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County).

So this year I decided to check out some other hot spots. I drove the girls through Golden Gate Park which is about 4-5 miles long and ends up at the coast on the west side of the city. From there we drove by the Cliff House, through the Presidio, by the Golden Gate Bridge, over to Union St, and finally ended up in Union Square for dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We will be keeping Canon and Kodak in business. I've posted some of pics in this post and will put a few up to the right as well. It was a great time and the girls really enjoyed seeing parts of the city they had never seen. Great place to visit, but most likely a tough place to live due to the high concentration of people constantly on the move. Our dinner at CCF was outside six floors on the patio of the Macy's right in Union Square. Think of Times Square in NYC, but not quite as big.

From there it was back to Palo Alto. We arose to a cool, but sunny morning and were able to get in our long run (76 minutes). Back to business as usual because we wouldn't have it any other way :)

Two Top Fives

The Stanford Invite ended like it finished for us. After two very good season opening races on Friday and even more rain overnight Lucy and Amanda came to the track on Saturday ready to race. Lucy was third in her heat (2:06.71) and Amanda second in her heat (2:08.06). They were third and fifth overall and both just missed lifetime best performances. So for the weekend we ran a total of 8100 meters across four races and missed four lifetime bests by just over four seconds total. That's how you like to begin the season!

At ASU we also had some solid performances to start the season. Langley cleared an outdoor lifetime best 5-10 to finish second overall (first collegian) in the high jump. Nikkie Rudder was eighth (in an outstanding field) in the shot put with a toss of 47-2. Bree took ninth in the long jump going 18-5.75. We also had several freshmen get their first outdoor experience and perform at a high level.

The videos are of Amanda and Lucy going down the backstretch on the opening lap of their 800 meter heats. Sorry for the poor video quality. It was a rainy/high humidity day and hard to keep everything dry.

Start Me Up...

The outdoor season has officially begun. On Friday afternoon the hammer throwers open the season for our team at the ASU Invitational. Anneli Stahl took third place with a throw of 181 feet. Freshmen Destanae Howerton-Davis and newcomer Cynthia Sanchez set new lifetime bests as well.

On Friday evening the distance runners took to the track at the Stanford Invitational. The week long Bay area rain gave way to overcast skies and dry conditions for the evening races which led to some fast times and solid races. Amanda Mergaert got things started by winning her 1500 meter heat in 4:27.47 which was about a second from her lifetime best. The race was excruciatingly slow through 800 meters (2:28). Mergaert hung with the lead group and with 300 to go made her move and got to the lead coming off the final turn and took the victory going away. Her final 400 circuit was 66 seconds.

Fifth year senior, Alyssa Abbott, opened her final outdoor campaign with a very smooth 16:31.54 effort that was two seconds from her lifetime best. Abbott ran fairly even 1K splits (3:16-3:14-3:19-3:20-3:21) to take fifth in her heat. With 2,000 meters to go Abbott found herself leading the pack and the runners continued to shuffle around until about 800m to go when the eventual winner forced the pace which broke up the pack into their finishing order.

It's nice to see the throwers get off to a solid start. I know they are working hard right now and will throw further later in the season. Amanda continues to learn and is about a month ahead of where she was at this time a year ago. I think that slow opening pace cost her 5-6 seconds, but she closed well and covered the pace change well. That 5K was only the third of Alyssa's career. Physically, she's right where she needs to be. She is also well ahead of where she was a year ago. We have three weeks before the next 5K.

On Saturday the remainder of the team will compete. The sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, throwers, and a few distance runners will compete at ASU. Mergaert will join teammate Lucy Yates in the 800 meter race at what is expected to be a rainy day at the Stanford Invite.

Presidential Affair

Regardless of your political beliefs any chance you get to see a Presidential Library & Museum is a historical opportunity that should be taken advantage of. The George Bush Library & Museum happen to be located on the southern edge of the Texas A&M campus. It is a unique collection of artifacts and stories that surround the entire life (including his Presidency). It featured his presidential limo, a large section of the Berlin Wall, and a replication of the Oval office just to name a few. The stories of his entry into the Navy, politics, Iraq invasion, and Fall of the Berlin Wall are surrounded by those of his family life. It was nice to be able to enjoy some time away from the track this afternoon and take in some American history.

Oh...and did you know they named their FB field after me? I didn't realize I was so well liked and thought of here at A&M.

First Time

It wasn't the outcome we all envisioned or wanted. Regardless, Langley had a terrific season and this one day won't take anything from that. In her first NCAA finals she struggled with her rhythm and was only able to clear the opening bar. She made no excuses. I know it will only make her work harder and want to get back to this meet. That's who she is. As a coach there is no situation that is tougher to deal with than this one. Every athlete wants to perform their best on the biggest stage. When that doesn't happen you have to help your athletes deal with it and most importantly--move on! I give our kids 24 hours to deal with it as they wish. Then we move on, analyze our training and preparation, and set forth on a new plan to continue to improve. In Langley's case, no one can take away the fact that she cleared 6-0 3/4 at two different meets this year. She is one of the best collegiate jumpers in the country and she will be back at this meet.

The Waiting Game...

After a smooth trip to College Station yesterday we wanted to get out and see "the sights" here in the area. There is no competition on Thursday so we went over to "historic" downtown Bryan, TX. That was a short trip. Then we decided to look for a mini golf place. Hanah's (our trainer) phone led us to "Paradise"....scuba diving. So I tried my phone/map and we found a game place that included glow in the dark mini golf, bowling, laser tag, and lots of other arcade type games. The golf competition was fierce and included several lead changes. Although one thing never changed from the first hole...I was in last place the whole time. A double par is never a good way to start. We all had at least one hole in one including Langley's back to back single shot holes midway through the round. Andrew made a stunning comeback with six holes to go to win. Langley and Hanah were a few shots behind. In my giving mood, I was another few shots behind them. Just doing what a good coach does....set up the logistics of the trip, get everyone to and from safely, provide very nice accommodations and meals, provide support and motivation as needed, and take a butt kicking in mini golf. It's all about the athlete here at Utah Track & Field:)

We will head over to the championship facility in a little bit for a short practice session. Then I have packet pick up and a coaches meeting. That will be followed by a banquet this evening (an indoor championship first). I will try to get some video and or pics from those events posted later. Check back for more then.

A Coaching Commentary

Educating and Coaching has long been my passion. I've spent the last 12.5 years with college level student athletes. Before that I was a college athlete for five years. While times have changed and brought new technology, unique personalities, and varying ideas of work ethic one thing has never changed with this group. They all have high expectations. Sometimes these expectations match their ability and potential, sometimes they do not. Our goal as coaches is to first help our student athletes align their goals and expectations with their ability and potential. This alignment includes academic, athletic, and life goals. The second goal is to provide them with the technical/physical expertise and support they need to improve in those areas. Finally, as coaches, it is imperative that we provide great communication and motivation in the way of our own expectations and direction. This communication is ongoing and must never stop. It must also display a degree of flexibility. Humans are not robots. They get ill, they have injuries, and they have personal issues...especially college age student athletes.

As a coach you live the successes, failures, last one in and first one out moments with the student athletes. You own those moments the same way they do. This past weekend was a perfect example. Our distance medley relay was looking to qualify for the NCAA indoor championships by competing at a Last Chance Qualifying meet at Notre Dame. They wanted to join our high jumper, Langley Iverson, who had already automatically qualified weeks earlier. We flew half way across the country to run 4,000 meters as fast as we could. We knew they would have to run a near perfect race. This same group smashed our school record a year ago, but missed the NCAA meet by three seconds. We were the second team out despite our great effort.

About the only difference this year is that we switched the lead off and anchor legs. There approach was one of a championship team. Regardless of the outcome, they were together in this endeavor. Our fifth year senior, Alyssa Abbott (who was 15 weeks removed from arthoscopic knee surgery) led us off as well as we could have hoped for. The middle two legs (sophomore Alyssa Johnson and junior Lucy Yates) did their part and got the stick around to sophomore Amanda Mergaert for the final 1600 meter leg. Amanda ran a life time best for 1600 and our time of 11:11.71 was a new school record again. However, once again we came up a few seconds short. We beat Texas, we beat Indiana. We ran faster than Florida, Minnesota, Boston College, and Michigan State. But this time we were the first team not selected to the championships. Thirteenth when we had to be twelfth. There's not much worse as a coach than having to explain to a group of high achieving athletes, who poured their hearts and souls on the track for each other and our program, that they will be excluded from the NCAA championships again...by mere seconds. The NCAA indoor meet is the toughest to qualify for of the 89 championships that the NCAA conducts. Only about 3% of the total Division I track athletes are selected to compete each year. (i.e. over 20% of the Division I basketball teams make the NCAA tournament).

Ultimately though, you have to look at the successes that allowed us to even put the relay together. Alyssa recovering from surgery in time to compete during the indoor season. Alyssa and Lucy both recovered from injury and illness this year. Amanda had a huge breakthrough in cross country as a NCAA individual qualifier and has been able to carry that over to the track. She dropped her 1600/mile time by 10 seconds during the indoor season. We overcame a lot of obstacles to put ourselves in the conversation. Somebody ultimately had to look at our time and draw a line. We weren't in that conversation in early February. We weren't in that conversation three years ago. Now we're becoming a regular at that table and that is good company to be keeping. These women, like all of the young women on our team and those who came before them, always expect more. They push themselves on a daily basis to be the best they can be physically, mentally, and emotionally. Some days are better than others based on the standards that we all set. However, I still wouldn't trade the worst days for another career. If I don't know anything else, I know the following about the young people I have coached and will continue to educate. Give them 24 hours to deal with their greatest of acheivements or worst of disappointments and the next day they will reset their goals and begin working to achieve those goals all over again. Which then brings out the questions: Who's teaching who? Who's motivating who? It really doesn't get any better than that.

Oh So Close!!

We returned to the scene of the crime (Notre Dame) where a year ago we shattered the school record in the DMR (11:13.77) and then on Sunday found out we came up two seconds short of qualifying for the NCAA championships.

As the great Yogi Berra once said, "This feels like deja vu all over again." About the only thing we did different for the entire trip was switch up the lead off and anchor legs. Alyssa led us off in 3:28 and Amanda brought us home in 4:40. In between Alyssa ran 54.2 and Lucy carried 2:07.6. All buy Lucy's leg were lifetime bests.

Again we ran terrific and broke the school record (11:11.71). We finished second and beat Texas and Indiana. With the final declarations due Monday at 11am (MST) I'd like to be a little more glass half full, but when your ranked 13th and history shows they take 10-12 relays each year you have to be realistic. This year may very well be the toughest year in the events history. There are 11 teams who have run 11:07 or faster and four at 11:00 or better. To know we have one of the best relay teams in the country for the second year in a row is great, however, I know we would all like a chance to prove it against the best on the same day.

Like last year we drove back to Chicago on Saturday after the meet to catch our Sunday morning flight. We to the "L" into the city and ate and the ever popular Giordano's Pizzeria. We followed that with a bit of shopping on State Street before the snow and wind got the best of us and we trained it back to the hotel.

As far as what we do know about NCAA's...

We know that Langley Iverson will be going to College Station regardless of the final selections. She punched her ticket six weeks ago with an automatic qualifying mark (6-0.75). She backed that mark up with an identical clearance at the conference championships a week ago.