As usual the Husky Classic provided our team with great opportunities to improve and succeed against some of the very best athletes from all over the country.  Overall, I thought we competed very hard...particularly on Saturday.  We had throwers in the finals of both events.  We had several PR's...particularly in the mile.  Our young group in the DMR ran hard and obtained some more experience...including Grace Englund who ran her first ever 800m race.  Sophomore Jessica Sams (pictured above) PR'd in both the 5K and 3K...her first time ever doing that double. 

Next is the MPSF Championships back in Seattle on Feb 27-28th. 

Two Titles, One School Record

The ABQ proved to be a successful city for us this weekend.  Aiofe Hickey won the weight throw on Friday night narrowly missing a school record.  Later in the evening, sophomore Alissa Atisme took care of the record part as she crushed her own SR in the 200m by nearly half a second.

On Saturday red shirt freshman, Hannah McInturff, made her presence know on the Utah mile list with the fourth best performance ever going 4:50.92 (altitude converted) to win our second event of the weekend.

The sprint/jump/hurdle events were loaded with the presence of Texas, Texas Tech, and LSU at the meet.  However, our your group of gals in those event areas ran well and executed their races.  Three of our four throwers made the finals in the weight throw and shot put with the fourth just missing out.  Several of the distance runners had personal best performances despite competing in the altitude of New Mexico.

Overall, I thought we had a very solid meet.  We have some young gals showing great signs of improvement which only leads to improved confidence.  We will be in Seattle this weekend at one of the premier meets in the country (The Husky Classic).  The fields in every event will be very good and provide us with our biggest challenge of the year thus far.

Ok...here we go.  I will try to be a little more regular now that the indoor season is in full swing.  Click HERE to view my weekly press conference.  Click on the multimedia tab in the center of the page and it should bring up my recent pressors.

It's hard to believe January is almost over.  We've had three solid meets with different groups competing.  Overall, I like where we are headed and we will be expecting big things in October.

Since my press conferences are results oriented I will begin to discuss other topics related to our program and the recent changes within the NCAA structure (Autonomy Five) and what it means for us.  I may also spotlight a few other topics such as our terrific academic honors, all of our great resources, and of course our home meet information.

I hope your New Year is off to a great start.

Awards and Championship Races

Above:  Fifth year senior Rebekah Winterton receiving her award for outstanding community service at our recent home football game vs Oregon. 

Pac-12 Championships recap:  We certainly didn't finish as we would have liked (9th place) despite some health issues among our top runners.  However, the middle of our line up (two freshmen and a sophomore) continue to develop as a group.  Six teams in our league are currently ranked among the national top 30 with two more receiving votes.  The 2013 league champion finished just in front of us in 8th place this year.  We undoubtedly run in the toughest xc league in America...and we love it!  Our gals see it as a platform to improve and be the best they can be. What more can you ask for as a coach?!?!

Regional Preview:  This Friday afternoon in Albuquerque, NM we race at the NCAA Regional Championships.  If we can put it all together we believe we have a chance to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA meet.  It will require our absolute best effort of the year as the field is very deep from 3-10.  If we are unable to qualify as a team we also have two individuals who will be looking to secure individual qualifying spots (top four individual on a non qualifying team).  Fifth year senior, Rebekah Winterton (trying to make it to the NC meet in consecutive seasons) and true freshman Sarah Feeny will look to run among the leaders and earn their way to Terre Haute, IN.

Moving Forward

We took a couple steps in the right direction this morning at Pre Nats.  While we would have liked to finish among top ten we got a terrific effort from all of our gals.  They competed hard and weren't afraid to be aggressive in a huge field of nearly 300 runners.  In some cases, maybe overly aggressive.  However, we got out and into the race and fought hard to hang on over the last third of the race.  Times were still pretty good considering a very soggy track that really created a battle of will over the last third of the race.  But it was the overall effort and mental toughness that was the difference today over two weeks ago.  This should provide us with the boost of confidence we need going into the championship part of the schedule.  Be sure to follow and support us!!!

Deuces are Wild and Breaking in New Coaches

The cross country team has raced twice and finished second in both meets thus far.  The Utes were second to open the season at the Nevada Twilight.  Last Friday in our home meet the same nine gals combined for the runner up spot again.  We have not raced at "full strength" yet as I've chosen to hold out our top two runners as they had long track seasons.  However, they (Senior Rebekah Winterton, and Freshman Sarah Feeny) will likely see their first races in two weeks at Montana State.

Thus far we have been led by seniors Nikki Rietz and Lauren Mills along with true freshman Shaylen Crook.  They were 4-5-6 at Nevada and 6-7-8 at our home meet.  Behind them have been two freshmen (Dakota Grossman and Sadie Wassum) along with soph Jessica Sams.

Also...as some of you may know we have a new sprint/hurdle/jumps/multi coach.  Pete Herber comes to our program from South Florida (and Iowa State before that).  I have known Pete for a long time and watched him "pay his dues" and develop into a terrific coach.  Pete coached two All Americans last year at South Florida.  Pete was an outstanding collegiate high jumper (lifetime best of 7-3.25) at Northern Iowa.  Yes...the same Northern Iowa that I attended.  The same Northern Iowa that Burke attended. We were teammates for a couple of years and the coaching tree in several sports at UNI extends all over the country.  Regardless, I felt Pete gave our program the best chance to continue moving forward in the Pac-12 and nationally.  He has coached almost every event and had success in those events at his previous schools.  I hope you will welcome Pete and his family (wife Dawn and kids Ellie and Tate) to our program.

Pete replaces Burke who has moved on to Tacoma, WA where he joins his fiancee, Tracy.  Tracy is a Utah alumnus who recently completed medical school and was fortunate to land a great job in Olympia, WA.  Burke will be coaching at DII St Martin's also located on Olympia.  I will dearly miss Burke as he was a huge asset to our program and me personally.  He always had great ideas and input and I know he will continue to be successful in his transition to the Great Northwest.

Be sure to check us out at Twitter and Facebook.  Pete is doing his best to takeover for Burke on that front which we all know will not be easy.  Burke was our social media czar.  Be patient and he will get it up and rolling regularly again.    

Camp Wrap Up

Two wicked overnight thunderstorms, a brutal hill workout, a petting zoo, and some great team bonding activities comprised the final two days of our preseason camp.  We certainly still have a lot of work to do, but I like where we are at going into the season and feel like we have several runners on the verge of big breakouts.  Our first meet is in six days in Reno at the Nevada Twilight.

Off and Running

Today featured cooler than usual temperatures (high 70's), cloudy skies, and even a few scattered showers.  The morning run featured some threshold intervals while the afternoon run was a recovery effort at Green Pond near the Snow Basin ski resort.   Grilled chicken, cous cous, and garden salad for dinner. 

Year Ten

Unbelievable.  Remarkable. Where did time go?  Those are some of the thoughts going through my head as I embark on my tenth season as the Head Coach of the University of Utah Cross Country and Track & Field programs.  The cross country season has officially began as the team has reported and we are at preseason camp.  As we move forward here are some of the questions that have to be answered in order to figure how this season will go:
1.  As always...with any xc team...can we stay healthy?  We are off to a bit of a shaky start, but hopefully our current issues are primarily minor and will heal with a few less miles and a little cross training. 
2.  Who will step and lead this group?  We have several options with some accomplished upperclassmen.  But we also have some very talented youngsters.
3.  We have obtained some national recognition for our continued improvement and successful recruiting.  How will we handle that publicity?
4.  Could this be the best Utah team ever? (See #1)
5.  Can we get to the national meet for the first time ever as a team?
6.  If the answer to #5 is no, then can we get an individual to the national meet for the sixth time in seven years?  6b.  Could we get multiple individuals to the big show?
7.  Someone will unexpectedly have a breakout year....who?  

Stay tuned to find out these answers and more.  We have a couple workouts this week so I'll try to remember to take some photos and maybe get a short interview or two and post here and possibly our program facebook site.  Question 8...will Coach Bockman still run our social media sites even though he how lives in Washington and works for a different program? 

It's About That Time

Only nine (9) more days until the cross team reports for preseason camp!  Where did the summer go?  We are all looking forward to another successful year.  Summer training has gone well from the reports I have received.  We will hold camp in Eden, UT again this year.  Be sure to check back for more updates.

Off to the NCAA Championships

We officially have eight qualifiers for this years NCAA Outdoor Championships.  The qualifiers are listed below with their current ranking out of the 48 competitors in their event.  The top 12 at the Prelim round move on to the NCAA Finals:

400H:  Alyssa Johnson (46)
800m:  Rosalie Waller (10) and Ali Eisenbeiss (13)
5K:  Rebekah Winterton (19) and Susannah Hurst (18)
10K:  Rebekah Winterton (6) and Susannah Hurst (13)
Hammer:  Aoife Hickey (16) and Ilse Kaaja (26)
Shot Put:  Nikkie Rudder (43)

Congrats to these women for their outstanding achievement and good luck as they look to move into the Finals.  The meet starts on Thursday in Fayetteville, AR.

Conference Week

It's conference week for the cross country team and neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor darkness will keep us from our preparation!  Susannah, AuraLea, and Rebekah had to go early this morning (7am) due to some academic conflicts this afternoon.  They had a terrific workout despite the constantly changing weather that happened to roll through this morning.  (Of course as soon as they finished the weather lightened up considerably).

Be sure to go to the cross country page at www.utahutes.com (select media tab) to check out my weekly press conference.

We are off to Colorado on Friday and race on Saturday morning at 11:40am. 

Three is Our Number

While our streak of finishing third in three straight meets came to an end the number three is still going strong.  At the Stanford Invite we finished fourth for the third straight year.  Junior Susannah Hurst finished fourth in her.....I'll give you one guess....yep....third straight meet.  And now we have three weeks until our next meet.

We are still searching for more consistency in regard to our scoring five and top seven runners.  Our top  three (Rebekah, Susannah, and Andrea) all seemed to have found a grove.  However, our 4-7 are still fighting not only to improve, but when they do improve hang on or even build upon that increased output.  Most of that can be related directly to the fact that we are very young in those positions with three freshmen among the five.

If we want to achieve our preseason goals we have to continue to stay healthy/get healthy and find consistency in all of our running.

We are off for the next two weekends and return to action on October 19th at the Pre National meet on the NCAA Championship course in Terre Haute, IN.

Be sure to check out my weekly press conference at http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/c-xc/utah-c-xc-body.html  Click on the Multi Media tab in the center of the page.

and The Award Goes Too?

Five time University of Utah All American Amanda Mergaert. 

As usual the Utah/Southern Idaho Chapter of the M.S. Society Dinner of Champions was a gala event.  This dinner brings "champions" from all parts of life together in a celebration of achievement and awareness.  Multiple Sclerosis affects 1 in 300 people.  It can affect anyone but typically is diagnosed between ages 20-50.  This years event celebrated athletic champions who along with there commitment to their sport also volunteer in the community in various ways.  The event also highlighted careers of people who are supporting those with MS, individuals living with MS, and the  continued research of a cure for MS. 

Mergaert was honored as the College Female Athlete of the Year by this great organization.  She is the second University of Utah Track & Field/Cross Country athlete earn this award in the 35 year history of the event (Alyssa Abbott, 2011). 

Pictured is Dinner of Champions host Philip G McCarthey, Amanda, and myself. 

To have two award winners in the past three years speaks volumes about the type of people we have in our program.  They spend countless hours between school work, running, and volunteering in the community...giving back.  We have many other student athletes who are on a similar path and I know both Amanda and Alyssa would say this honor is something they can share with all of their teammates.  An awesome night with some truly inspiring people.

Stuck in 3rd Gear

We've ran two meets and we've finished third as a team twice.  Like most teams we have work to do, but know we will be better later in the season.  Practices have gone well thus far, but we simply need more time to learn how to run together and be able to finish better.

To hear more about our recent home meet and learn more about our upcoming meet at Montana State go to the cross country page at www.utahutes.com and listen to my press conference.

Camping Utah Style

With preseason camp complete we are now looking forward to school starting and our first competition at Utah State on August 31st.  We had lots of fun running at camp, discussing goals, making homemade pasta, and making a few new animal friends.  

Victory Lap!

Sorry for the lateness of this report.  In the final outdoor race of the 2013 Utah Track & Field season and the final race of her collegiate career, senior All American, Amanda Mergaert went out a winner.  The time (2:08) wasn't a PR and the field wasn't nearly as strong as it was two days earlier, but a win is a win.  The LaFarge High Performance meet in Abbotsford, BC, Canada was the second in a three meet series over five days in British Columbia.  Amanda took control of the race early and never looked back as the nearest competitor was three seconds back.

She called it her victory lap for what will go down as one of the greatest seasons by any individual in any sport in Utah school history.

A full recap of her stellar career will be posted soon at www.utahutes.com.  It will be a great retrospective of her development as a runner.  She'll be the first to tell you it wasn't always easy and came with a few rough patches.  However, she always accepted the challenges and looked forward to the opportunities that came her way.  Along the way she learned how to become a genuine and effective leader.  Most importantly, she learned she could do it her way and enjoy all of the success that her and her teammates enjoyed along the journey.

She recently signed a professional contract to run for Oiselle (pronounced Wa-Sell) during the 2014 season.  Check out www.oiselle.com to learn more about this unique and growing women's apparrel company.  

And finally...it's time for summer break.  I will be looking ahead to what we believe will be another outstanding cross country season for the Utes in 2014.  It will be a young squad with no seniors in the top five, but three of the five have NCAA championship experience on the track.  Check back her for more details and the season schedule soon!

The Prize

It's something that caught her eye on her recruiting trip.  It's something that has been so temptingly close to happening.  Yet, it was a mark that was like Stockton to Malone and an NBA title...always a near miss.  The 800 meter school record is the mark that Amanda has been chasing her whole career.  Even when her premier event became the mile her sophomore it's something she has always coveted.

Finally..today...in her first international race...she took it down...and did so with authority.  Her lifetime best of 2:06.33 was accomplished in April on a breezy day after a tough 1500 the day before.  That left her .12 short of Lucy Yates's 2011 mark of 2:06.21.  At the Drake Relays she came up short by less than half a second again.   Then began a series of eight consecutive 1500 meter races to end the collegiate season.

Her patience and focus has paid off as today in Vancouver at one of Canada's most famous track meets (and on Canada Day to boot) she ran 2:04.73 to finish second in the 800m race.  She was just out leaned at the line by season line rival Rebecca Tracy (2:04.71) for the win.  Even 400m splits of 62 seconds including a furious move down the backstretch to get into contention made the difference.

Amanda's final race of the 2013 season will be another 800m run on Wednesday night in Abbotsford, BC at the Lafarge High Performance meet.

7th in the Country

As great as 3rd in the NCAA sounds, 7th in the country might sound even better.  Sorry for the long delay with this posting.  I saved it as a draft and forgot to post it after such an exciting trip.  The final of the women's 1500 at the US Championships featured three collegians and nine professionals.  The winning time was the third slowest in the meets history due to no one being willing to lead on a hot and windy day.  They went out slower than the 10K gals did two nights before.  That, of course, favored the kickers and those who were not afraid to fail.  That perfectly describes how Amanda has run this year.  She led the early laps in front of national TV audience.  With 600 meters to go the pace started to pick up and she held off the pack.  With 400 to go she found herself surrounded and on the rail.  At 350 m to go she tripped, but quickly regained her stride and was able to hang on to the main pack that was now beginning to move hard down the backstretch.  Down the homestretch is was total chaos with runners in weaving in and out trying to secure the highest position they could.  Amanda landed in 7th and less than a full second from third.  It was that close!  Three first team All American honors and now 7th at the US National meet...what a season!

On to the Finals!

Those four words never get old and we've been able to say them a lot this year.  Amanda ran another strong prelim race at the US Championships and qualified for Saturday's 1500 meter final.  As one of only three collegians to qualify for the race it shows the quality of that event in the US.  She ran 4:15.54  to capture the final spot.  That is her sixth race with a time of 4:15 or faster in the last eight weeks.  Her slowest time of the year in that event is 4:20 in the prelim round at Pac-12's, which was an easy effort.

Saturday's final will be televised on Universal Sports Channel at 4:45p (CDT).  Check with your local cable provider regarding your channel lineup:)

If I can get pics from the prelims I'll post them asap.  I hope this season never ends!