Changes in Latitude!

For those of you who do not follow ITA news, there is a big announcement up on the site as of last week. I will be making the big move to ITA's new headquarters in Lyme, New Hampshire later this summer to begin building our very own post collegiate training group! This will be a one of a kind program for athletes who wish to continue chasing their dreams of becoming top distance runners in the US. ITA will provide access to training facilities, a housing allowance, a living stipend, equipment, health insurance and competition-related expenses to all qualifying athletes. In turn the athletes will be required to participate in community programs aimed at exposing youth to the benefits of physical exercise through track and field. Not a bad deal if you ask me ; )

Needless to say there is a lot to do from my end over the next 4 months before even moving up to NH. First and foremost is beginning the recruitement of Americas top young talent. I have already gotten a lot of emails and phone calls from interested parties and I fear this may be even bigger than we hoped for! Our goal is to have 12-16 athletes by this time next year and I am determined to fill those slots with 12-16 finalists at the 2012 Olympic Trails. I am really geeked to get up there in a few weeks so I can get a lay of the land and will be better equiped to pain a picture for prospective athletes.

That is a really brief overview of what is going on at ITA and I will keep everybody posted on our progress thoughout the summer. In the mean time, lets get back to the business. As you probably have guessed the East Peoria kids have been bummin a little since I broke the news a few weeks ago. There were a lot of tears and sad faces but in the end I believe they understand. My goal when I took over this program was to instill a passion for running in every kid I coached. To get them motivated to get out of bed every Saturday morning and accomplish something they may never have dreamed was possible. To have a priority in their lives other than winning the online Halo tourney. I believe my mission was accomplished; all the school records, conference titles, state qualifiers, and countless prs was just a bonus.

So here are my shout outs from the last week. There are quite a few as everybody has really turned it on over the last two meets. We have finally started to do some "speed work" and they are finally feeling fast and rested. Unfortunately we had our big invite cancelled Friday night so everybody will have to wait till this Friday to get out and step on in!

Cassie Lohmeier- suprised even me by running a solo 11:16 3200 last week

Ashley Schmitt - ran a prs of 5:38 and 12:15 in the 1600 and 3200 respectively

Hannah Sheppard - learned how to race a full two laps to a pr of 2:37 in the 800

Heather Jones - finally cracking the 6 minute barrier in the 1600 at 5:56

Emma Preston - just missed the school record in the 800 running 2:18.9 solo

Gage VanOrder - finally decided to try and dropped big time in the 800 and 400 2:13 and 56

Jacob VanGunten - just missed breaking the 5 min mile barrier running 5:00.1!

Zach Sells - dropped 8 seconds in the 400 to run 62 and almost won his heat of the Tim Broe f/s Invite?! How does that happen ; )

Austin McGraugh - jumped 5'5" in his first HJ comp ever...and I didnt even know the kid could jump!

Kevin Eades - cruised to a win the 3200 at the TB Invite

As you can see the Varsity guys are missing up there but most of them have been tired and I started the tapering process a week later from the girls. They are ready to pop big times but unfortunately Mother Nature decided to unleash on us last Friday at the Normal Invite. I will keep you all informed as best as possible and as always Happy Running and GO RAIDERS!

p.s. Here is an official link to the new program

http://www.in-the-arena.org/Recent.aspx

tb