The Lady Raider track team came one step closer to becoming a threat for a relay title Friday night at the Illinois State Indoor Championships. Coming in as the 4th seed in the 4x800, we ended finishing 12th against a very strong field. Senior stud Emily Gustafson gave a great lead off leg handing off in 3rd place. Rookie sophmore Rachel Innes ran a superb leg, holding 4th position and running a PB of 2:36. In her first track season Junior Marley Brimberry, filling in for an injured Autumn Andrews, was a little unnerved by the energy of the crowd and the stiff competition. The hard working sophmore Ashley Schmitt got the baton quit a bit out of the competition but still ran a PR leg of 2:43 to put us in 12th.
Emily Gustafson, seeded second, came back to finish 4th in the mile. After waiting around for a 3 hour delay, Emily got out great. Three laps into the race she got a little bump and didn't respond when the pace picked up. From there she fell back to 8th and trailed the leaders by 30 meters. But with 100 meters to go she found a gear shes never had before. With a freshman-like crazy big finish she battled back to fourth place, just missing third. Afterward she could read my body language and said "I cant believe how much I had left!" and I wont repeat my reply. Needless to say the consistent winter training is paying off and she needs to start learning how to race with all the new tools she has developed. She did run another school record of 5:22 and got a great feel for what it is like to race at the next level.
I am still putting away with my running. Just 15-20 minutes a day as the achey pain in my left big toe is giving me problems. My podiatrist, Dr. Grady, says it is still going to take some time to clear it all up as it was so full of scar tissue for so long.
We are headed west to the Moline Invite next Saturday for our first outdoor meet of the season. I am really looking forward to seeing how junior Hugh Gill and some of the others will run after a consistent stretch of winter training. Coming off a winter of IT band tendonitis, junior star Cassie Lohmeier will also make her 2009 track debut in the 3200. Freshman ace Autumn Andrews will also be back running after missing the state indoor meet with tendonitis in her foot.
Hopefully next time I write we will have banked a wholebunch of prs and my foot will be feeling a little better! Go Raiders
tb
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Hello all. Just writing to give everbody an update on my foot and the indoor season. I started my 10 minute a day routine last week with much anticipation. Although my toe still aches pretty much all the time, the Dr. thought it was time to start using the thing. I never thought that a 10 minute run on a track at 9 minute pace with toe pain could be so enjoyable! The last few days of running has made me realize how much running helps me stay sane. I have never considered myself a "runnaholic" or really a true athlete for that matter. In fact, for years running always ranked about number 10 on my list of things I want to do when I wake up every morning. But not until the last 6 months did it ever hit me how much stability and direction running gives me. Anyhow, long story short, I am really glad to be back to doing something productive.
On the coaching side of things, we had our second indoor meet of the season last Friday. Despite a lot of colds and nagging injuries there were a lot of improvements on the week before. The girls ran a state indoor qualifying time on the way to winning the 4x800. Senior stand out Emily Gustafson then ran the third best time in the state to win the 800. She also showed up to school a few days later and was inducted into the National Honor Roll Society. Sophmore Cody Margetis ran a 10 second pb to anchor our 4x800 of 2:15 to finish 2nd place. He then came back to take his first win ever in his heat of the mile, running a pb of 5:15! David Blackford ran a huge pb on his leg of the relay, running 2:07 then came back in the open 800 to finish a tough second place. There were a lot honorable mentions, as the kids all ran their butts off. We have such a young talented crew that are just starting to figure out how much fun track can be when you are trained and confident. We had this weekend off and ran a tough workout yesterday (5x1000) and have the next two weekeds off before we run the state indoor meet.
Thats all I have for now. I will try to get some more pictures up next week. I really would like to get some video out for you all so you can get an idea of how much work we have to do in our running drill that we started 3 weeks ago. Its amazing how hard it is to teach and learn how to run properly/efficiently. I am hoping to save that video and do another at the end of the season and show them how bad they looked at the beginning of the season! Take care and Go Raiders
tb
On the coaching side of things, we had our second indoor meet of the season last Friday. Despite a lot of colds and nagging injuries there were a lot of improvements on the week before. The girls ran a state indoor qualifying time on the way to winning the 4x800. Senior stand out Emily Gustafson then ran the third best time in the state to win the 800. She also showed up to school a few days later and was inducted into the National Honor Roll Society. Sophmore Cody Margetis ran a 10 second pb to anchor our 4x800 of 2:15 to finish 2nd place. He then came back to take his first win ever in his heat of the mile, running a pb of 5:15! David Blackford ran a huge pb on his leg of the relay, running 2:07 then came back in the open 800 to finish a tough second place. There were a lot honorable mentions, as the kids all ran their butts off. We have such a young talented crew that are just starting to figure out how much fun track can be when you are trained and confident. We had this weekend off and ran a tough workout yesterday (5x1000) and have the next two weekeds off before we run the state indoor meet.
Thats all I have for now. I will try to get some more pictures up next week. I really would like to get some video out for you all so you can get an idea of how much work we have to do in our running drill that we started 3 weeks ago. Its amazing how hard it is to teach and learn how to run properly/efficiently. I am hoping to save that video and do another at the end of the season and show them how bad they looked at the beginning of the season! Take care and Go Raiders
tb
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