Another Day Outside

Another January day in Utah, another day outside at the outdoor track for practice. Sure we can get some snow and chilly days, but Utah (and especially Salt Lake City) also offers more temperate days than most cities located at similar latitudes. Any chance we can get on our new outdoor track we will take it. Our team really enjoys the new facility and training on the soft surface it provides. Oh...and the view....just might be the best in the country. The Wasatch Mountains on three sides and the Salt Lake Valley floor below us. You can actually see the Great Salt Lake and Utah State Capitol from our track!!!

Success at Snake River

Our first full team meet of the year was a successful one as we picked up two individual event titles (HJ and Weight Throw) as well as six other top four finishes. Langley Iverson won the high jump (5-7.75) and Aneli Stahl won the weight (54-10.75). Overall, I thought we performed well for the first meet of the year for most of our athletes. We had several athletes running in "off" events either as a time trial or just to see where there fitness level was. We also held out a few key athletes to train through this meet and allow some minor injuries a little more time to heal. I expect a big leap forward in the next few meets in several events.

Runner ups included: Angie Kaplar-60H, 8.68; Bree Leroy-LJ, 17-11; and Nikkie Rudder-SP, 46-4

Third place finishers: Lucy Yates-400m, 57.77; 4x400m relay-3:54.35 (McKay, Johnson, Yates, Griffin)

Fourth place finishers: Candus Aiello-SP, 44-0.50




Videos:

Welcome back Klaudia. After red shirting last year with an achilles issue she is back and looked pretty good for the first time out in a year.

Theresa continues to improve. Her runway has become very consistent which was an issue a year ago.

Newcomer and freshman Suzy Vozarova's first ever high jump was successful as she made two bars and had three good attempts at 5-3.

First week back

After completing our first full week of practice after the holiday break we will be off to Pocatello, ID to compete in the Snake River Open on Saturday. Overall, I think we had a solid week. I saw lots of great individual effort. Other than the women who were recovering from injury, I feel like our kids did a nice job of getting their workouts in over break despite not all of them being in places where they had a track available.

I included a few short videos from practice in this post.

Off On the Right Foot

We took a limited squad to the opening meet of the indoor season at BYU this past weekend. We came away with two champions, a runner up, and some invaluable experience for a group of freshmen. Newcomer Cyndi Sanchez got us going in the first event as she won the weight throw with a nice toss of 53-10.75. Sophomore Nikki Rudder picked up where she left off last year by winning the shot put in a new indoor lifetime best toss of 46-6.75. She had three throws that went further than any throw during the entire indoor season a year ago. Teammate Candus Aeillo (who red shirted a year ago) was second with a lifetime best throw of 44-3.

Sophomore Angie Kaplar started the second day of the meet with a pair of lifetime bests in the 60 hurdles. in the prelims she ran 8.69 and then in the finals she took the runner up spot with 8.64 which ranks third all time at Utah. Older sister Jen Kaplar holds the school record at 8.60.

We also had several freshmen compete in their initial Division I college meet which was fun. They gained a great deal of experience and hopefully shed a few nerves in the process. We'll be back in action at the Snake River Open in Pocatello, ID on Saturday. We will have a full squad competing and look forward to seeing where we are after the holiday break.

Holiday Break Fun

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday break and the new year is off to a great start. For me, the break involved visiting family at home in Iowa, going to Disneyland and Universal Studios for the first time (with Hannah), and spending a day in Santa Monica before returning to SLC. Check out a few of the pics from Disneyland and California Adventures.

Favorite Ride: Space Mountain and Tower of Terror (rode this one four times:)

Favorite Character: Homer Simpson (he was burping on Hannah while we were taking pics with him and Marge)

Best Accommodations: JW Marriott-Le Merigot, Santa Monica....plush, very plush!

Best Food: Corn Fritter at Tony Roma's and Funnel Cake in Downtown Disney

The track season officially begins tomorrow at BYU with our throwers getting things started for us. School begins on Monday. We hope you'll follow us all season long during our final season in the Mountain West Conference!

The Bowerman

The second annual Bowerman Award (Male and Female College Track & Field Athlete of the Year) was presented on Wednesday evening at the U.S. Track/Cross Country Association Convention. It was another amazing and well produced evening that was broadcast live on Flotrack.org. All of the finalists were deserving, however it was Queen Harrison (Virginia Tech) and Ashton Eaton (Oregon) who prevailed. Both were multiple time NCAA Champions. Harrison represented the US at the Beijing Olympics and Eaton is the current world record holder indoors in the heptathlon.

I have to pay homage to one of the other female finalists, Lisa Koll. No, not because is a distance runner!!! We grew up only 20 miles apart and I was the coach that came in second in the recruiting battle. (ISU had vet school and UNI does not. You'd think every school in Iowa would have a vet school with all of the agricultural enterprises here). The inaugural winner of this award, Jenny Barringer, was born and lived in my hometown for the first seven years of her life. She still has relatives in town. There is obviously some in the water that didn't quite drink enough of. We had a nice 15 minute conversation. Just listening to those two wonderful people chat and enjoy the unique bond that we all have was a lot of fun.

Another fellow Iowan (by birth anyway) was our MC. ESPN anchor (and former Mizzou high jumper), John Anderson, was amazing. His knowledge of track and field, the athletes, and his quick wit and humor made for an evening that will be hard to replace. Above that he was so gracious and spend two evenings in the foyer chatting with anyone who would say hello. He still has relatives in Iowa and even though he moved to Green Bay during his youth he also returns to the state to visit relatives. And like most people when he drives here he is looking for a barn or a silo to make the next turn rather than a street name.

Enjoy the pics. Sorry the picture of John and me is a little blurry. Blame Wichita St coach, Steve Rainbolt for that, ha ha. (Sorry to throw you under the bus, Bolt). And of course, the three little Iowans that could. There might be a debate about who the most talented runner in that picture is, but the debate for least talented won't last beyond a blink of the eye :)

With cross country season complete it is time to start thinking about track & field. Our track girls have been practicing hard all Fall and our first meet will be in January. Click HERE to check out our 2011 schedule.

Today's video is sophomore, Anneli Stahl, throwing the weight implement at our indoor practice facility. Enjoy!