Sandy HS T&F Blog

2009 Season Re-Cap

2009-05-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

The Sandy girls’ are Mt. Hood Conference Champions (qualifying 11 young ladies for state). 3 boys have also qualified for the state meet while our boys finished 5th. The result is what we expected, but how we got to that point is anything but expected.

*On a side note for anyone who has actually been following this blog, I am the proud father of a beautiful baby girl named Sophia Claire Vixathep born on March 16th, 2009 at 5:23am. She was 7 pounds 3 ounces at birth and 21 inches long. She is tall and beautiful like her mother, and she has changed everything (for the better).

I’m going to start with our boys. Jordan Gray and Toby Maunu before the beginning of the season were without a doubt our two best athletes. Toby was coming off a very successful XC season, and had a great winter training season until the middle of January. Jordan was looking very fit and had already jumped 22’1 in a pre-season meet. These two guys were our leaders and our boys would only go as far as these two took us. Around the middle of January though Toby started feeling pain in his knee when he ran. We decided to back off a little bit on his training and rest since it was January and we had a lot of time before the start of the season. We definitely did not want to risk losing him for the entire season. Resting a few days became resting a few weeks, and still the knee was not feeling any better. We were losing valuable training time and Toby was beginning to lose confidence.

Jordan was fit and ready to compete for state meet berths in 4 events. One day of hurdling practice changed all of that. Trying to get his lead leg down as quickly as possible during a drill Jordan pulled his right hamstring. Injuries are a part of any sport but we were beginning our season without our two best athletes. The boys were going to have to step up and without their two leaders to show the way.

The girls had huge promise at the beginning of the season. We were capable of going undefeated in dual meets and winning the conference meet if we stayed healthy. Two days before our invitational one of our top throwers McKenzie Warren injures her knee during practice. It was a big blow to our team. We didn’t know how long she was going to be out. Unlike our boys though, I knew the girls’ could handle the loss of McKenzie for a couple of meets. Heading into our first Mt. Hood Conference dual meet Keree Smith (our best hurdler and triple jumper) informs me that this week was going to be her last ski meet of the season and that she would not be able to make our track meet. Keree is one of the top skiers in the state and I knew before she joined our team that skiing was going to be a priority for her. She felt really bad that she was not going to be at the meet to help her teammates. We were going into our first dual meet without two of our best athletes who account for about 30 to 35 points for our team. Our girls would have to find some way to bridge that gap of points that the absence of McKenzie and Keree created. With inspired leadership from our two team Captains Sarah Kathrein and Siara Leininger, and just gutsy performances all around by our young ladies the girls managed to win our first two dual meets in dominating fashion. I think McKenna Schroeder really came into her own as a result of McKenzie’s absence. We still had one of the state’s best throwers in Courtney Tripp, we had a solid distance crew lead by Caitlyn Lewis and Hannah Leslie, our young sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers Savanna Leininger, Taylor Robison, Nicolette Lee, Juanita Birdsong, Isabella McCarthy-Zelaya (the official longest name in the Mt. Hood Conference), and Jasmine Plaster really competed well throughout the absence of McKenzie and Keree. Katie Pelchar and Shelbie Carmony were solid rocks for us scoring valuable points in the jumps and hurdles. When both McKenzie and Keree returned into our scoring roster the girls became a very formidable dual meet team. The girls cruised to an 8-0 conference dual meet record. This was the first time since I have been a coach at Sandy that the girls had gone undefeated in the dual meet season. Even when our girls’ won the state title in 2006 we were 7-1.

The boys did not fair as well in the absence of Toby and Jordan. But I liked the fact they still continued to compete and have fun. Eric Gaines was slowly becoming a “track guy”. Last year he was more or less a basketball guy who did track and field. This season he really dedicated himself into learning the sport. His personal record in the high jump of 6’O was good, but by no means did anyone expect him to qualify for state with that mark. Alex Yungeberg is one of my most talented young and hard working sprinters. He had to shoulder a lot of the responsibility in the absence of the two captains. It was a tough season for him because of that but he made a lot of progress as far as being mentally strong and learning how to run races. He was helped in the sprints by the development of Bryce Danielson who became our best 100m and 200m sprinter. But as the injury devil was rampant on our team, so too did Bryce become a victim of the demon. He had an inflamed Achilles tendon and was unable to compete at the district meet. James Myrvold was great for us in the long jump. He had a great early season jump, but struggled with a nagging foot injury that forced him out of the high jump (probably his best event) and consistency in his approach through out the season. Wes Hughes lead our distance crew and was just a work horse through out the entire season often doubling up in the 1500m and 3000m. Kevin Maples was also a mixture of solid distance runner and javelin thrower. Not too many people are capable of that combination but Kevin shouldered the burden nicely. The one bright spot for the boys was the triple jumping trio of seniors Nick Fox, Chase Engdall, and Colby Kersey. At every meet they just seemed to bring out the best in each other. On top of that they had fun at every meet they competed in. Overall though our boys struggled to a 2-5 record during the dual meet season.

During this time Jordan and Toby went through a lot of rest and rehab. Jordan just tried to stay positive through out the experience. A trip to Boston with his family was a nice diversion. I knew we still had time to get him healthy before district. As far as going in 4 events, that was probably going to have to be sacrificed. We decided instead to just focus on his best event (my favorite event) the long jump. Toby went and played baseball (his first love) for a while to get his mind off of not being able to run. Throughout the baseball training I contacted some of my friends who are also distance coaches for some advice in regards to Toby’s knee. Bicycle workouts were hurting him and so were pool workouts. What could we do to keep him in shape? Dave Frank from Central Catholic gave me some great advice. Have him use the elliptical. Although the elliptical does not accurately simulate a natural running stride it was one of the few things Toby could do without any pain. This was a great start. When he could handle doing short intervals (100m, 200m) we started running short intervals with short rest. The key here was that he felt no pain after the workout was done. After a couple weeks of this type of training I knew Toby would be all right to run the 800m at the district meet. The 1500m was out of the question though, since he would not have the conditioning before district.

The district meet can sometimes be more nerve racking than the state meet. If you don’t perform at the district meet there is no state meet. Our girls went into the meet as heavy favorites but our boys were definitely under the radar. With Toby and Jordan healthy enough to compete though, I was excited for their individual chances of winning their respective events and qualifying for the state meet. I was also expecting the district meet to be a showcase for our sprinter Sarah Kathrein who was coming into the meet fit and on fire! I nominated Sarah for MHC athlete of the year, and knew that with a good meet she would run away with the award.

The most nerve-racking point during day one of the district was the boys’ long jump. Jordan and I had discussed before the meet that if he jumped the automatic qualifier 21’8 that he would be done, no matter what. We knew he was only good for maybe 3 jumps. If he could get that jump in early than we had another week and a half to rest and prepare for state. Jordan fouled his first attempt (it was big). He ran through his second attempt. So he had no mark. James Myrvold was jumping well and Nick Fox jumped 3 personal bests during the competition. Jordan was good for one last jump to see if his high school track career would come to an end or would continue for a little while longer. Jordan hit the board on his third jump, got decent pop and a decent landing. Was it far enough though? When the official called out 21’8.5” I was relieved, excited, elated and animate about Jordan not taking any more jumps. The jump held up through finals and Jordan ended up winning the competition. Toby also advanced in the 800m prelims running a personal record of 1:59.17.

On our girls side Kathleen Pelchar jumped 5’2 and finished 5th in our conference. We had a lot of girls jump the qualifier and I think we ended up sending 6 girls to state. Kathleen will be jumping against all of those girls again at state. But this is the redo that she was looking for after the disappointment at the district meet. We were also looking for Courtney Tripp to qualify in the shot put. The auto qualifier was 38’6. Courtney ended up throwing 38’5.75” and finished 3rd. Not qualifying by a quarter inch is tough for anyone to take. Those were probably our two biggest set backs of the district competition. But both girls scored valuable points for their team. Another unexpected outcome came in the girls’ javelin competition. Our freshman McKenna Schroeder ended up taking 3rd on her last throw with a mark of 113’5. Kathryn Nickila also added unexpected points by throwing 99’7 and placing 6th. On the track Sarah Kathrein breezed through her prelim races (100m and 200m) in dominate fashion. She was executing and looking smoother than I had ever seen her. Everything just looked so easy for her. She was running with a lot of confidence. Keree Smith also advanced in the 100m hurdles as did Siara Leininger in the 100m and 400m. On the track we were primed to score a lot of points in the finals. The day ended with Caitlyn Lewis and Hannah Leslie both running very gutsy races and lifetime bests! Caitlyn placed 6th in 11:08.53 and Hannah was 9th in 11:18.79. Those two have made so much progress and because they are only sophomores they are only beginning to scratch the surface of their potential.

Day 2 of the MHC district meet started with a steady drizzle that became a full-blown rainstorm that did not let up for the entire competition. The weather was going to wreck havoc on a lot of competition. The first event to feel the effects of the weather was the boys ‘high jump. 5 competitors no heighted, and the winning jump was 5’8”. Our athlete Eric Gaines tied for 2nd and won a jump off to earn the second qualifying spot for the state meet! Our discus throwers Courtney Tripp and McKenzie Warren who were favored to go 1-2 in the discus did exactly that, with McKenzie winning with a toss of 120’ and Courtney finishing 2nd in 116’. We can definitely earn a lot of points with these two girls at the state meet. With McKenzie and Courtney’s 1-2 finish and Kathryn Nickila once again earning unexpected points finishing 7th our girls had taken the lead in the team score. Keree Smith won the triple jump for the second year in a row jumping 35’4”. Kathleen came back after her disappointment in the high jump and jumped 33’6.75” scoring 4 valuable points for her team. Our other triple jumper Nicolette Lee finished 9th, but I was relieved since she was okay physically after getting into a car accident on the way over to the meet. Taylor Robison also completed a gutsy performance (because of the weather) placing 4th in the pole vault. We would not look back after the field events were completed.

The most exciting race of the day was in the girls’ 4x100m relay. No race makes me more nervous than the 4x100m relay. There are just too many things that can go wrong, and the little mistakes can cost a team the entire race. Keree, Juanita, Siara, and Sarah had the fastest time going into the competition, but the other programs were close behind. Keree ran a good first leg but she and Juanita had a bad hand off. Juanita also ran a good leg but she and Siara had a bad exchange as well. By the time Siara got the baton to Sarah we were in 3rd place 5 meters out of second and probably 7 meters out of first. Sarah quickly made up the gap between 3rd and 2nd, but did not catch 1st place until the line. The race was so close and from where I was watching I could not tell who had won the race Sandy or Central Catholic. We had to wait quite awhile before they announced that Central Catholic was second with a time of 49.97 and Sandy was first with a time of 49.96. That was actually the only race I was really nervous for. After Sarah’s efforts in the 4x100m relay the 100m and 200m were for gone conclusions. But in any meet you still have to race. Race Sarah did, winning both events comfortably. The only downside of the day was the weather because I know her times would have been so much better in just decent weather. But instead the young ladies and men competed in a deluge. Siara also finished 6th in the 100m and 6th in the 400m. Siara is such a fabulous young lady. She was on the 4x400m relay team that won state her freshman year and also went on to compete at nationals. She’s been to the big dance a couple of times and still continues to do whatever I ask of her. Keree Smith never recovered from a bad start in the 100 hurdles, but still finished 2nd to Katie Dyke from David Douglas. Toby Maunu completed his come back by winning the 800m holding off a hard charging Jeff Krieger from Barlow. The last event on the track for us was the girls’ 4x400m. After last year’s controversial finish I was just hoping for a complication free race. The girls’ delivered leading from start to finish and running a seasonal best of 4:04.02. The 4x400m win gave Sarah Kathrein 4 championship medals. This was a feat no athlete of mine (including Tommy Skipper, Nathan Ingrao, and Sheryl Page) had ever done since I have been coaching at Sandy! Keree Smith had 3 championships and a 2nd! The young ladies completed their season with a dominate performance at the MHC District meet capping a perfect Mt. Hood Conference season! Ms. Sarah Kathrein was named athlete of the meet, and I was announced as the “Female” Coach of the Year. The accolades though, belong to an awesome group of young ladies and the rest of my coaching staff who worked with them all season.

We go into this year’s state meet under the radar but full of confidence. As much as this group has accomplished this season, more is still left to be done.

2009 Preview

2009-03-08T13:38:00.001-07:00

This is season will be different from all of the other seasons I have ever coached. I know I say that every year, but this year I will be a parent, a real parent, to a living, breathing miracle. My wife and I are expecting our first child within the week. Due date officially is March 12th. We are very excited. The timing may not seem ideal, but the timing in such regards is not up to me or anyone else. I think the team is almost as excited as I am. I know that the girls are already a little upset with me at not finding out the gender of the baby so that they could begin shopping for outfits. That's okay too, they'll have to wait on the gender of our first born along with everyone else. But they'll know soon enough.

Winter training has gone extremely well for us. I am so excited for these kids to get out and compete. We've had a solid first couple weeks of practice, and surprisingly the beginning of this season has been the least stressful on me. I am very confident in our coaching staff. We've managed to keep the core of our staff together for the past five years and I believe that is one of the reasons our program has been so successful. We add Krysta Pelchar (former Sandy pole vaulter) to our staff this year. She's really excited to get into coaching the event that she loved so much in high school. I know within the next couple of weeks I will be relying on them heavily as I try balance the transition of becoming a new parent and coaching.

The athletes involved in our program are the best! They are what makes our program special. Our girls finished 8th last season at the state meet, and we have the majority of our point scorers coming back with more experience, wisdom, and drive. Our boys failed to score a point at last year's state meet, but we have a very promising group of young men ready to take up the challenge of ending a 3 year drought. The following is an event by event preview of our team:

Throws:
Girls - We return Courtney Tripp (4th shot, 3rd Discus 2008 State Meet). Courtney is bigger, faster, and stronger. I am very excited to see what she can accomplish this season. She will anchor a very talented group of young throwers. We also finally have McKenzie Warren (frosh) on our team. I saw McKenzie throw when she was in the 6th grade, and have been impatiently awaiting her arrival at the high school ever since. She is a tremendous talent and these two young ladies look to give us a very formidable duo in the shot put and discus. We have also been blessed with another very talented young freshman named McKenna Shroder. My throwing coaches inform me that a 1-2-3 finish at the district meet in the discus is a very realistic possibility. We lost Ashley Moss (javelin) due to graduation, but I am confident that one of our girls can step up and help us score some points, especially Ms. Schroder.

Boys - Big question mark all around. We have a very young throwing squad, and it will be difficult for us to score points, but we are always hoping for some surprises like young sophomore Zach Tubbs. We are also experimenting with putting our high jumper James Myrvold in the shot. Someone will materialize. If not this season, next season for sure.

Jumps:
Girls - Solid group returning featuring defending conference champions Kathleen Pelchar (High Jump) and Keree Smith (Triple Jump). Kathleen looks much more fit this season. I know she was very disappointed last season and has worked hard in the off season. Keree has been busy skiing, but is excited to return to the track. We also welcome the return of Shelbie Carmony who missed last season with a fractured ankle. She'll help us score valuable points in the Long Jump, and pole vault. Savanna Leininger has also been a very nice addition to our jumps squad. Pole vaulters Taylor Robison, and Jasmine Stowers will be very solid for us in that event.

Boys - Jordan Gray is the leader of our boys jumpers. He had a great early season jump at the Linfield Icebreaker in the long jump (22'1), and is excited to improve his technique in the triple jump as well. Along with Jordan in the TJ, we have also stolen Nick Fox away from the tennis team to help us in this event. He and Jordan are very good friends, and through a lot of manipulation we have managed to convince Nick that in fact Tennis is for sissies. Nick is also the younger brother of Pat Fox (former state qualifier for Sandy in the long jump and high jump) and younger cousin of Megan Fox, the movie star that made Transformers so popular (Just kidding). We have two very talented young men returning in the high jump: James Myrvold (6'2 last season) and Eric Gaines (5'10 last season). I really enjoy coaching these two young men. They were so raw and talented last season. We look for them to improve on their approach and technique over the bar this season. The skies the limit (literally) for these two young men.

Hurdles -
Girls - Keree Smith returns to lead this young group. Keree was 6th at last season's state meet, and she has the help of teammates Savanna Leininger (who is showing much more confidence this season), and Taylor Robison. I am excited to have a full girls hurdling squad.

Boys - We are experimenting with two sprinters as hurdlers this year. Jordan Gray and Alex Yungeberg have both been working on hurdling technique. I learned from coaching Tommy Skipper that to be a good hurdler technique is important, but what is most important is that you're fast.

Distance -
Girls - Young group with loads of talent and the best attitude in regards to training that I have ever had the pleasure of being around. Hannah Leslie and Caitlyn Lewis my dynamic duo from XC season will lead this young group.

Boys - Toby Maunu and Wes Hughes will lead this very young team. Toby has been out the firs two weeks with an ankle injury. But we have had him doing pool workouts and biking. He is staying fit and looking forward to returning to running workouts. Toby surprised the conference last year by qualifying in the 1500m. He had a great XC season, and is looking to end his track career with a district title in the 800m and 1500m. Not bad for a kid who started running a little over a year and half ago. Wes has already broken his personal record in the 3000m steeple chase at the Linfield Icebreaker. He is in great shape to start the season and we are hoping for a state qualifier in the 3000m for Wes.

Sprints-
Girls-
The girls are led by Ms. Sarah Kathrein and Ms. Siara Leininger. We'll only go as far as these two young ladies take us. But their potential is enormous. Sarah has a 3rd place finish in the 200m at state in her resume, but she wants to add more to that. Siara is the last remaining member of our 2006 state championship team, and wants to lead this young team to another finish atop of the awards podium at state. Sarah, Siara along with Keree Smith make up a very formidable threesome in both relays. We are looking for a 4th member to fill out both relays, and we have plenty to choose from with this year's mix of talented freshman and sophomores.

Boys - The boys are going to be lead by Alex Yungeberg and Bryce Danielson. I am very excited about the addition of Chris Brooks to our squad. He will make us better. For the most part though, this group is very young, and we will be rebuilding for next season. If we manage to get two consistent relay teams together I think that we could have a realistic shot of qualifying two relay teams for the state meet.

There you have it. That's our preview. You'll have to wait and see how the season plays out. You'll also have to wait on the gender of our first born. But you will know soon enough.

MHC Version '08: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2008-05-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Where to begin? I guess the beginning is as good a spot as any. The MHC District meet version '08 was a roller coaster ride with highs, lows, and everything in between. The meet started off Tuesday May 13th at 3:00pm with a drizzle. I was obviously disappointed expecting 90 degree weather that never appeared. I decided to count my blessings: at the very least it was not 38 degrees.

The boys long jump was one of the first events of the competition. We had some definite high hopes going into the competition. Jordan Gray had the top qualifying mark coming into the district meet with several athletes right behind him. Judging from the marks coming into the competition, it was quite possible that the MHC could send 5 athletes to the state meet. The first round of jumps brought lots of fouls, and tentative jumps from the competitors. Emerald Ressler of Gresham had the best jump in the competition early, and held on to win the competition. Jordan finished 3rd with a mark of 21'4 1/2. He would not be going to state in his best event. He was very disappointed, but at the same time he knew he had to regroup because he had a full day on Wednesday. That was our biggest disappointment of the day. The other disappointment came in the boys' discus where Blake Bithell finished 3rd with a mark of 141'06. 3rd place is the toughest place to finish at the distrct meet.

The rest of the meet went very well for us. Courtney Tripp took part in a fabulous girls' shot put competition. Courtney has been throwing so well for us and has made steady improvement throught out the season. She is also a fierce competitor. I affectionately refer to her as one of our "Super Sophs" since she is still only a sophomore. We had some high hopes for her coming into the district meet. She did not disappoint. She finished second with a personal best of 39'7 1/2". Emily Strott of Gresham won the competition on her last throw of 40'9 1/2". Rachel Perry of Hood River also qualified by throwing further than the automatic qualifier.

The girls' javelin brought us our first district champion of '08. Ashley Moss has had such a difficult high school career academically and personally. The javelin is the one constant in her life that has been positive. She had been throwing very well coming into the competition and was the top seated thrower. Her mark of 120'8" was far short of her best, but it was good enough to win the competition. No one threw particularlly well, but that was of little concern to Ashley. I was very happy for her for her. This was the first year she has every qualified for the state meet. Last season she was knocked out of the state meet on the last round of throws.

The first final running event of the meet was the girls 3k. We had two young freshman competing in the race; Caitlyn Lewis and Hannah Leslie. These two young ladies were such welcome surprises during cross country season, and has made steady progress during track season. Caitlyn had a rough race, making some tactical errors that comes with inexperience. She made a few too many surges during the race which eventually wore her down. She finished with a time 11:35. Distance coach Ryan Cornweel talked to her right after the race about how she ran and some of the mistakes that she made. She has such a great attitude about learning and getting better. She is going to be dynamite. Hannah Leslie had a fabulous race for her, running a personal best time by 9 seconds! With more training and more race experience the skies the limit for these two young freshman.

The boys 3k final was the last race of the day, with Leo Castillo of Hood River battling Austin Jones of Central Catholic down to the wire. Castillo pulled off the win. For us Wes Hughes ran a tremendous race, in fact it was a personal best time for him. I have been very pleased with his progress this season. He had to sit out last track season because of planar fasciitis. Michael Seven struggled through his race as did Kevin Maples, but for those two I was just happy to see them running again. Michael suffered a stress fracture during XC season, and Kevin had a knee injury that limited his winter training. Besides those two distance runners were also our number 2 and number 3 javelin throwers respectively.

The rest of the prelims went pretty much according to form for us. For the first time since I have been coaching at Sandy we did not have any boys in the finals for any of the sprinting events (100m, 200m, 400m). Our girls all made it through in the races they were a part of. The biggest high light in the prelims for us was Tressa Hoffman running a personal best in the 800m and qualifiying with a time of 2:22. It was so good for her to break through that mental barrier for her. We also had Devin Connel qualify in the boys 800m, which was the first time that he would be competing in that finals race at the district meet.

Day two held a lot of promise for us in the field events. Keree Smith (one of our other "super sophs")had to the top mark in the triple jump, Katie Pelchar (the other "super soph") had the top mark in the high jump, Courtney Tripp was number 2 in the discus, and Ashlee Neal was number 3 in the pole vault. The competition sorted out the seatings and gave our girls 3 more conference champions. Keree Smith won the triple jump competition on her last attempt in finals. Nche Onyima of Gresham had taken the lead on her last jump of 35'6 1/2". Keree calmly got on the runway for her last approach and jumped a personal best of
35'10.5". Katie Pelchar has had a difficult season for her battling inconsistency and recovering from a knee injury she suffered in the fall of '07. It was good to see her clear 5'2 and relax knowing that she had qualified for the state meet. It was even better to see her stand on top of the winners podium. Courtney Tripp had already qualified in the shot, but I think that the discus is her best event. She was going to be hard pressed by McKenzie McNelly from Barlow because McNelly had the best throw of all the competitors coming into the meet. Courtney threw very well. Like I said before, she's a competitor. She ended winning the competition with a mark of 126'10. Kelsey Strott of Gresham was the other state qualifier finishing second. McNelly failed to get a mark in prelims throwing out of sector on all of her attempts. Ashlee Neal has had a difficult season as well. She has been battling both hamstring injury and bicep injury all season. She was fairly healthy going into the competition. She finished 3rd with a mark of 9'. I know that she was disappointed because she would not competing at the state meet.

Our boys shot putters are a great group. Bret Laber (B-Lab), Eric Anderson (Da "E"), and Blake Bithell are just fun to be around. Unfortunately for us they did not perform particularlly well (with the exception of Blake who threw a personal best of 47'5 1/4".

Our boys javelin throwers were highlighted by two personal bests. Kevin Maples 147'09", and Blake Bithell at 159'4. Michael Seven managed to get in a few throws after the boys 1500m and finished with a best throw of 126'1.

The 4x100m relay is always the most nerve racking race of the meet for me. So many things can go wrong, and there is so little room for error. I knew that our girls had to run a phenomenal race to qualify. The ran a personal best time of 49.45 which was good enough for 4th in our conference. The three teams ahead of us all ran faster than the qualifying time of 49.05. We were left on the outside looking in once again. Our boys 4x100m is young team, and I did not expect much from them as a group. I knew that the district meet would give them some valuable experience for next season, when I think that they will be able to contend for a state spot. We ran a disappointing 45.05 which is much slower than our personal best of 44.65.

One of the best highlights for us was the boys 1500m. Toby Maunu is pulling double duty this spring competing in both baseball and track & field. He is a much better track athlete but he loves baseball. I have been supervising him for morning workouts, and he has been practicing with the baseball team in the afternoon after school. He is such a tremendous talent. Before this year, he had never run longer than 1 1/2 miles at any time. He is slowly beginning to realize how good he is. Toby Maunu came in with the 5th fastest time, and a hope for qualifying for state. His strategy was simple. Stay with Leo Castillo of Hood River Vally no matter what. Toby also had a significant advantage over the other top runners in the race because he did not run the 3k the night before. Castillo and Jones of Central Catholic battled the Tuesday night, and I knew that they would be a little tired. The race started off slow from the beginning and Toby settled into a perfect position in 3rd place behind Taylor Morgan and Castillo. I knew from that point all he needed to do was stick behind those two and see what happens at the end of the race. Toby also has a great kick to finish is races. With 100 meters left in the race, Morgan surged ahead and left Castillo and Toby to battle for the second spot. Toby and Castillo ran even for a few meters until Toby surged ahead to finish second qualifying for the state meet in the 1500m!

The girls 100m was an interesting race. The girls were called back after one of the runners twitched in the blocks. Shavey Hill of Gresham ended up winning with a new meet record time of 12.14. Sarah Kathrein ran a disappointing race for her. She had a poor start and did not recover. She finished 4th with a time of 12.64, which was slower than her qualifying time the previous day. She was very upset. Her foot, which was swollen and had been bothering her the majority of the season was hurting her as well. She made a decision after that race though, to continue. She had to get over her disappointing 100m race. Siara Leininger ran a 12.99 and finished 7th. Siara is very good 50m into the race, but the first 50m is lacking and that is something we will be working on for next season.

Keree Smith was 2nd in the girls 100H also qualifying in that event for the state meet. She overcame a slow start to edge out Katie Dyke from my alma mater David Douglas for the second qualifying spot. Ali Mosher of Gresham won the event. Elliot Frank has had such a great season. He is one of those kids who has been around for four years, worked hard, and gotten better each year. He is a testament to how hard work and dedication will make you better. Elliot had a great race, and for a moment I thought he might sneak in to get second in the finals. Unfortunately for him he did not, but he still ran a personal best of 15.55. Eric Capelle of Barlow was the class of the field winning with at time of 14.13. I would like to see Eric break 14 at state. I am sure that he would like to see that too.

The 800m was a bit of a disappointment for us. After Tressa had run a personal best time the previous day in the prelims she struggled to an 8th place finish in the finals. Devin Connel and Jacob Cuniff ran for the boys in the 800m. Jacob's goal was to finish 2nd and qualify. Devin's goal was to help Jacob qualify. With 100 meters left in the race Taylor Morgan of Central Catholic had the race in control with Jacob in second place and Nathan Hope of Barlow quickly closing. Hope caugh Jacob right at the line. Jacob was very disappointed. Devin finished 8th with a time of 2:11.

The girls' 200m was gut check time for Sarah Kathrein. The 4x100m relay team had not qualified, neither her nor Siara qualified in the 100m, the 200m offered her a great opprotunity for vindication. She got out of the blocks well and ran a hard corner trying to catch Hill who was in lane 4 directly in front of her. She caught all of the other girls with the exception of Hill by the end of the corner and finished very strong. Hill ran a meet record time fo 24.77. Sarah finished second with a time of 25.25 which was also a school record. Siara also had a great race finishing 6th with a personal best time of 26.50.

The boys triple jump was redemption time for Jordan Gray. He was extremely disappointed in his performance in the long jump, and wanted to make amends with himself. He looked fast and prepared on the runway for his practice run throughs, and I knew that he had a chance. The automatic qualifying distance in the boys triple jump was 44'2". I told Jordan it was 44'4" just so he would shoot a little higher. He fouled his first jump, which made me nervous for his second, but when he jumped 42'6" on his second jump I knew that he was going to be all right. On his 3rd attempt he hit the board perfectly and jumped 44'2. I was very excited. Jordan did not know why, he thought he was two inches shy of the qualifier. I told him the good news. He was going to be competing at the state meet in the triple jump. Jordan ended up finishing 3rd in the triple jump, but he was going to state. I told him to go help the boys 4x400m relay team qualify.

The girls 4x400m relay was the low point of the meet. Sandy was seated 4th going into the race, but I knew our team could run significantly faster than what we had run. St. Mary's was seated first and Gresham was second. Throughout the race, St.Mary's and Gresham battled for the lead with our team trailing in closely in 3rd place. Going into the final exchange St. Mary's and Gresham made their exchanges first, but the Gresham runner who ran the 3rd leg failed to step off the track. After Sarah took the baton from Siara she ran directly into the Gresham runner who was still on the track. Our girls ended up finishing 3rd place in the race, and I was left with a decision to make: appeal or not appeal. I decided that I needed to advocate for my team. I needed to make an appeal. In my first year coaching at the district meet I did not appeal an infraction in a hurdle race against one of my athletes. I have regretted that decision ever since. I knew that if I made an appeal and left it up the meet referee to make the decision than I would be okay with whatever outcome that he decided. I needed to advocate for my girls team. The decision was not based upon any personal vendetta I had against anyone. My appeal was granted, which meant that the Gresham team was disqualified and that my team get the second qualifying spot for state. I did not feel very good about the entire situation, but I still believe the right call was made. My hope is that this incident will not define the 2008 Mt. Hood Conference District meet because that would take away from all of the great performances of the student athletes involved.

The boys 4x400m relay may have been the absolute high light of the meet for us. We had no individual sprinters in any finals, and coming into the race we had run a mediocre 3:31. Sandy High School was an after thought in this race. But I knew something about this team that no one else did. They were ready to break out and run huge! Jordan had just qualified in the triple jump (he was looking to bring more friends with him to the state meet), Jacob had just missed making it to state in the 800m (he was a senior and this was his last shot at qualifying), Toby had just qualified in the 1500m (he was running out of his mind), and Brennan Nelson our achor was not about to let anyone of his teammates down. After the first leg of the race, it was obvious that we were ready for a great run. Jordan's opening leg was 51.5 which was faster than he had ever run before. Jordan and Jacob had a great first exchange that put us in a great position. Jacob got the baton and quickly gained the lead in front of Barlow's Nathan Hope. It was a rematch of their 800m race. Going into the second exchange Jacob and Hope battled down the home stretch. We had a much better exchange than Barlow and Toby took the lead around the corner. Chris Swift of Barlow caught Toby around the second corner and took the lead. Swift and Toby battled around the home stretch before Toby took the lead and handed the baton off to Brennon Nelson with a hard charging Kevin Cook (Barlow) right behind him. I knew that Cook had just run a sub 50 second 400m in the open 400m, so he obviously had a much faster personal best than Brennon, but sometimes you get a runner in a relay that finds that extra inspiration with the baton in his hands. The other relay team I was worried about was Central Catholic because Nathan Lightner was running their anchor leg and I knew Brennon had to run well to hold him off. Brennon and Cook stayed close all the way until the 200 meter mark where Cook took the lead for good. Brennon held on for the second spot and the team ran a personal best by 7 seconds! That was a great way to end the meet.

All in all we have 7 individuals and two relay teams qualify for the state meet. We are exicted for the trip. I would like to get the young girls team as much experience as possible this season so they know what they are capable of. This team reminds me a lot of the 2006 team that won. I think we are a year away from making a serious run at the state title. We need experience. For the boys it marks the first time competing at the state meet for all of them! They earned their spots. Toby and Jordan will be back next season. This year's meet is valuable experience for them. For the seniors it's one last chance to close out their memorable high school track and field careers on a positive note. This promises to fun despite the good, the bad, and the ugly of MHC version '08.

Reflections on Intrasquad

2008-04-02T10:10:00.001-07:00

This is the first year that I have decided to implement a formal intrasquad meet. As I look through athletic.net it looks like many programs have done this, so as usual it seems that I am just catching up to what everyone has already been doing. I decided to put my own little twist into our intrasquad. Instead of having two teams, I broke our squad up into three teams and made the meet a two day meet so that the meet would not extend beyond normal practice time. Also, I decided to make a fundraiser out of the event so I had the student athletes go out and get pledges for how many points that they thought they were going to score in the meet.

We just received a new FAT timing system. The intrasquad gave us a chance to test out this system before our first actual meet. We just needed to know how to most successfully run the FAT system to improve our efficiency in runnning track meets that we host. The intrasquad also gave us a chance to determine some of our varsity positions. It just seemed like a good idea for a lot of different reasons.

The first day of the meet, I gave the athletes face paint so we could distinguish what team they were on. I think that this was a good idea to help develope cohesiveness between the teams. I also broke up the three teams into warm up groups the entire week of practice leading up to the intrasquad. The first day of the meet brought out our infamous rain, and cold weather. The first 15 minutes of the meet rained very, very hard! It cleared up shortly after that, but the downpour was enough to get everything sufficienty soaked. We carried on the rest of the intrasquad trying to stay warm.

The biggest issue that we had with the FAT system was the camera powering off. I think that I finally figured out what was happening. I needed to press record and then pause on our camera otherwise the battery saving feature on the camera would power off the camera. I am glad that we decided to test out this system before our first actual meet.

The competition during the intrasquad was pretty good. But as soon as the meet began it was pretty obvious which team was going to win the team meet. The red team began to dominate the meet. The kids really liked that aspect of the meet, but for me it was really about getting them ready for a real meet so they would know what to do during an official meet. I think in retrospect having a two day meet was a good idea. Things I am going to change for next year: make the relays co-ed. I think this would add more excitement and competition to the meet.

Overall the meet was a success. Having a pizza party afterwards was also a lot of fun. As far as how well it worked for a fundraiser, I'll let you know when all of the funds come in.

Bear of a Meet

2008-03-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Kicking off the 2008 season for Sandy was the 25th Annual Grizzly Bear Open in McMinnville. We were late for the kickoff. As I pondered the start of the season stuck on I-205 Friday traffic, I realized, we should have left earlier. But as unpredictable as the traffic was, the weather was equally unpredictable, and the meet was even more unpredictable. We arrived to the meet in two full, yellow buses. Our bus drivers, God Bless them, managed to drop us off at the gate just in time to watch the first race of the day the girls 4x100m. For a moment I thought to myself, do we have a team in this race? The answer was "no" we decided not to run any girls relays, but wait, were we going to run a boys 4x100m relay? Yes we were, and that meant we needed to get our Bearings and get down to business. The poor freshman and first year track athletes who fell victim to the onslaught of my frustration at our situation handled themselves much better than their head coach in that situation, for that they deserve a ton of credit. I just had to make sure once things got moving that I talk to them all and let them know what they needed to do, and that I was still happy with all of them for still wanting to participate in track and field even though their first meet experience seemed like a nightmare.

On to the actual meet and competition. I was very happy with our boys 4x100m when they managed to get signed in and finally ran. They had very little time for warm-ups and after only one day of hand-off practice, they managed to get the baton around the entire track without dropping it at all, and winning their heat. That got me settled down, definitely, so I could then focus on helping our youngsters as to where they should be, and finally perhaps coaching some technique in the jumps.

The high jump was a blast to watch. We had some youngsters on both the boys and girls side. After looking at the sorry excuse for a pit the girls were jumping in, I decided I had been negative enough for the day and instead looked on the bright side of things, which was not the weather, or the high jump pit, or the meet format, but rather my athletes who were involved in the meet. They were excited now that things had settled down and they new it was their first meet of the outdoor season. Katie Pelchar won a great high jump competition by clearing 5'4" from a six step approach. The girl from Thurston also cleared 5'4" but Katie won on misses. The Thurston coach was some one I knew well, and for awhile we did not see each other. But when I heard his voice, I knew instantly who it was. The coach was KC Gillespie, son of my college coach John Gillespie. I coached KC when he as in the 8th grade. I also like to point out that I had him jumping better in the long jump in the 8th grade than his high school coaches did when he was a senior. It was good to see him. On top of that he tells me John has extra tickets to the trials that he is not using and that I need to contact him if I want them. Sounded good to me. Every dark cloud must have a silver lining I was thinking to myself. Oh yeah... back to the HJ. On the guys side James Myrvold, a very raw inexperienced young sophomore with a lot of talent cleared 5'10" without any misses until 6'0". He tied for first in his very first meet. That was fun to see.

Our throwers got some throws off despite the weather. Courtney Tripp our new transfer from Southerlin uncorked a 104' throw in her first outdoor meet of the season, and followed that up with a 33' throw in the shot. I am sure that she was less than excited about her marks, but as far as the first meet of the season goes, that was not half bad. The glass now was starting to look half full. Blake Bithell managed to get a few decent throws off in the javelin at 147', the shot, 43', and the discus at 122'. Eric Anderson fighting off flu like symptoms managed an effort of 41'11 in the shot and, 103' in the discus. Ashley Moss, our javelin thrower, stayed home with flu like symptoms. I was beginning to envy her a little at the beginning of the meet, but after we got settled down, the meet was turning out to be a lot of fun.

Our Distance crew ran well in the mile lead by Toby Maunu's 4:45. Toby is pulling double duty even though I have been urging him to concentrate on track. But he loves baseball, and what else can I do other than try to support him? Jacob Cuniff ran a 2:04 in the 800m winning his race. He was a little tight at the end, but that is something that we will continue to work on throughout the season. Tressa Hoffman ran a tactically solid 800m race out sprinting her closest opponent in the last 100m of the race finishing in 2:30. Our two young frosh girls Caitlyn Lewis and Hannah Leslie ran 6:08 and 6:18 respectively to go 1,2 in their heats of the mile.

Our sprinters got a solid grade in the meet. Sarah Kathrein wowed the crowd in her 100m race clocking a hand time of 12.6 easily winning her heat and looking very strong and smooth doing so. Her start was great and the rest of her race followed suit. Her teammate Siara Leininger followed Sarah's effort in the 2nd heat of the girls' 100m winning with a hand time of 13.0. To top things off our freshman Taylor Nash won the 3rd heat with a hand time of 13.4. Sarah and Siara's time placed them 1st and 2nd respectively in that event. They went on to do the same in the 200m. Sarah's time of 26.2 was solid but not fantastic, and Siara's time of 27.2 was the same. The boys got the short straw and were awarded the 400m for their first race. Brennon Nelson, coming off a week of no training due to illness, came back strong in his first effort running a 53.6 hand time. Alex Yungeberg faded the last 100m and ran a 55.4 hand time.

Our hurdlers performed well, except for my two senior boys who managed to sign up late for their 110 event. They ended running in the last heat with some frosh and JV boys going 1st and 2nd. Elliot Frank had a particularlly strong showing running 16.7 despite 5 stepping the last hurdle. He has made significant improvements in his speed and hurdle technique. Trevor Hayward, our other hurdler, is coming off a huge injury he suffered in football and still ran a very respectable first race.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the meet came in the long jump when Shelbie Carmony twisted her ankle upon landing. We believe that it is a sprain and she has ligament damage but nothing is broken. She will be out for a couple o' weeks. She will be missed, but that is better than what we first thought. We though she might be done for the season. That injury though, was followed up with a huge effort by Jordan Gray. His first jump was big, over 21' I am sure. But he fouled slightly. He followed that effort up with a 20'7, and then a 20'8 1/2 winning the event. Our jumpers were done for the day.

We left the meet after the 200m. That decision was made weeks before. We did not want to arrive back in Sandy at 1:00am. As it was we arrived at 10:00pm. The traffic coming home was much better. So was my outlook on life.

2008 Outdoor Preview

2008-02-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

The outdoor season is right around the corner. As I am writing this, the official season begins tomorrow February 19, 2008. We just got back from the last open meet at UW yesterday, and overall I am very pleased with the progress of our athletes who trained all winter. Notable highlights from UW: Sarah Kathrein 26.03 in the 200m (lifetime best in that event is 26.02), Tressa Hoffman running 2:27.93 in the 800m. Both young ladies won their respected heats. Toby Maunu ran 4:48 in the mile and Wes Hughes ran 4:57 in the mile, which are both respectable times for them especially this early in the season. I keep having to remind myself that Toby has never run further (workout or race) than 1 1/2 miles before this cross country season. He is a very talented runner, and with more training and understanding of race strategy he is going to be phenomenal. Last season Wes suffered from planer faciatis. Anyone who has ever had that injury can attest to how painful it can be. I am happy to see him running and enjoying himself. Both young men will be great additions to our distance events. We also had a couple of male sprinters compete. Brennan Nelson ran very well in both the 60m and the 400m. I was very impressed with his 400m (53.94) race since most of our workouts in the winter have been focusing on weight training, plyometrics, and shorter running intervals. I see a sub 50 time from him, either in the open 400m or a 4x400m split by the end of the season. Alex Yungeberg, our young sophomore ran a great 60m race for him. His start has improved so much from last year, and having a season his first season of high school track under his belt will give him a lot more confidence in his understanding of the sport, how to handle the workouts during the season, and how to compete at the big meets. I am looking for big things to come from Alex this season and in the seasons to come. Jordan Gray also ran the 60m. Jordan is primarily going to be our big Long Jumper and Triple Jumper, but in order to be really good in those events you have to be fast. I also look for Jordan to run a leg on our 4x100m team. Jordan had a good day in the long jump (20'3). We wanted more consistency in his approach, which is something we still need to work on, but as far as jumping that far this early in the season, I feel that distance is a great indicator as to what he will be capable of in the spring. His triple jump did not go as well as the LJ, although he did jump 40'1". What I have noticed from Jordan is that he is capable of making adjustments very well during a competition. At UW he was only given 3 jumps, sometimes he needs 6. That's the consistency aspect that I would like him to improve on.

The 2008 version of Sandy High School Track & Field will offer a lot of new names and faces, but the goal of the season remains constant: have fun, improve, compete! Some old names coming back for their last run that haven't been mentioned yet: Jacob Cuniff in the 800m, 1500m, and 4x400m relay. He's going to be a lot of fun for me to watch. He's worked really hard during the winter training season and is fit and poised to have a great outdoor season. Devin Connel (distance events). Devin is coming off ACL surgery. After missing soccer and XC season he was finally cleared to run in January. His progress has been steady. He is capable of running interval workouts on the track now, and we see very little of his injury affecting his running technique. His conditioning on the other hand, well let's just say I am glad it's a long season. Michael Seven (distance). Michael fractured his ankle during cross country season, so he missed competing in the last couple of meets. He is healed from that injury, and has been able to play in the majority of his basketball season. Track season will be a nice way to vindicate what he was unable to do during cross. Trevor Hayward (hurdles). Trevor broke his arm (badly) during the football season and has had to sit out the majority of his basketball season. I think he is very excited for his senior season of track & field. Elliot Frank is our other hurdler. Elliot dedicated himself this season to winter workouts and I think that when the first outdoor race comes around he's going to be shocked at how much he has improved over last season. Both Trevor and Elliot will benefit with the return of a familiar face on our coaching staff. Ryan Wecker, our former hurdles coach before he left for military service, has returned to coach again this season. He is a great addition to our coaching staff. Spencer Maunu (distance) is another senior returning for his last season. Spencer has been overshadowed a little by his younger brothers success, but Spencer runs for all the right reasons and is just a great person to have on our team. Eric Anderson (throws). I am looking for Eric to have a breakthrough season in the shot. He just learned how to throw the implement last year. He looks bigger, stronger, and faster this year and I expect him to be a major contributor to the team. Blake Bithell (discus, javelin). Blake had some big throws in the discus last year, unfortunately they all happened to be in practice. I think with consistency and confidence he will be one of the top throwers in our conference. AJ Schnell (sprints). I am looking for AJ to be the anchor leg of our 4x100m relay team. He has the right attitude to finish the race, and I think the other guys on the team will be very comfortable having AJ bring the baton home. Adam Martin (sprints, distance?) Adam is our special ed athlete, but his spirit and dedication are unparalleled. He ran cross country this season and showed amazing endurance, so we're still trying to figure out where Adam would do best on the track. But the smile has not changed and that's the most important thing.

Our girls team is going to be young. We have very few seniors on the team, which is great for our future. Ashlee Neal returns in the pole vault. I just wish her all of the best this season because she has had to over come so many obstacles just to be able to compete. For her to have a successful season would mean so much to her and her family. We'd like to help her right a happy end to the last chapter of her high school experience. Ashley Moss (javelin, discus). Ashley has had an equally rough time outside of track this past year. She returns as one of the conference's best in the javelin. A trip to state would be all the more fitting for this young lady and hopefully acceptance into the college that she would like to attend.

Some new faces that I believe will make significant impact to our team: Courtney Tripp (throws). Judging from her last seasons marks she will be one of the top contenders in the Mt. Hood Conference in both the shot and discus. Courtney also brings Dad (Sean Tripp) along, although I am sure Sean thinks of it the other way around, but either way Sean becomes another tremendous addition to our coaching staff. There are also a host of young freshman girls who I have seen compete at the youth meets who are ready to make their mark on Sandy High School Track & Field. It will be fun to see them develop and compete.

Some old names from last season looking to continue upon last season's success: Colton Safely (javelin). The defending Mt. Hood Conference champion is another year older and wiser. He's also go a couple new javelins to his arsenal of throwing implements. His sophomore season should be at least comparable to his frosh season. Siara Leininger (sprints). Siara had one of the most successful freshman seasons in recent memory being apart of the state champion team of 2006. Her sophomore season was marred by injury and inconsistency. I see this season as a rebirth for her. She looks fit, healthy and confident. She returns with so much experience that I forget that she still has one more season of track and field left. Katie Pelchar (high jump, triple jump). Katie returns for her sophomore year as on of the best high jumpers in the state. She has our school record at 5'5", and wants very badly to add both the district title, and state title to her resume. She is also one of the conferences top returning triple jumpers. Keree Smith (hurdles, jumps). Keree is probably our the most diverse athlete on our girls' team. She is our best hurdler, she can do all of the jumps well, and she is one of our best sprinters. One of my biggest issues facing Keree will be what four events does she do? Our group of XC girls this year was very solid, and with all of them returning for track season our distance events will be formidable. That group is led by senior Tressa Hoffma and juniors Lynsey Bender and Nicole Smith. The new freshman Caityln Lewis, and Hannah Leslie will add considerable depth to that squad.

I think that I have had enough fun thinking about the upcoming season and all of the great coaches and athletes I get to work with on a daily basis. I am excited for the upcoming season, more so than I have been for awhile. I am glad that we have a regular season, unlike the shortened one from last season. I am gitty that it is an Olympic year because that will give more exposure to the sport. But most of all, I am thankful I get to continue doing what I love to do for another season.

Winter training

2007-12-13T09:58:00.000-08:00

Winter training is absolutely vital to spring track & field athletic success. I encourage all of my track athletes to compete in winter sports. The majority of my XC girls are basketball players. We also have several boys basketball players, wrestlers, and swimmers. Another competitive season during the winter is invaluable to their spring track season. But for those who are not doing a winter sport, it is necessary for their success as track & field athletes to be participating in winter workouts.

Starting with the distance runners. Off season training, especially in the dead cold of winter can be miserable. The key is to get a group of committed athletes together to hold one another accountable. We focus on slow easy runs, with relatively low mileage (25-30 miles per week)and we avoid road running as much as possible. After Christmas Break, we start up on running interval workouts on the track 1-2 times per week along with our easy runs. We also do a ton of core work, and plyometrics. At any point during training where athletes are feeling fatigue or pain it's a good a idea to take a break and ice and rest. It is a long season.

Sprinters/Jumpers/Hurdlers need to be in the weight room focusing on core excercises and explosive Olympic lifts, and plyometrics (i.e. box jumps, bounding). We also run short sprints (30m - 60m) (indoors if it's too cold and wet because sprinting is harder on muscles than distance running). We also do a ton of sprinting drills, resistance workouts with the pulley, stairs, and hills. We alternate Monday - lift, Tues - Run, Wed - Lift, Thur - Run, Fri - Core and balance. In January we run a few longer intervals in the (200m-400m)at least once per week.

Our throwers lift everyday, and focus on explosive olympic lifts (i.e. power cleans, jerks) and Jammer press. It's also more important for throwers to focus on squats for leg strength, and incline and decline bench press. Our throwers also do a ton of core, and plyometrics as well. They also do some of the short sprint workouts with our sprinters.

Just to recap, encourage your athletes to compete in winter sports. We are a relatively small 6a school so this is vital for success in all of our programs. But if they are not competing, encourage them to do winter workouts. This is a vital time since the outdoor season is so short.

State Meet Day 2

2007-05-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of the state meet was every bit of the bear that I thought that it was going to be. With an additional classification brings additional meets which makes for a long day for both athlete and spectator. The goal again today though was to just qualify for the finals on Saturday. We only had one competitor today and that was Brenna Hoffman in both the 400m and 200m. She felt pretty good today, but was a little nervous for the prelims. I told her that she needed to have some confidence in her abilities, and to just run a smooth race throughout without tightening up. I also told her it was alright to open up her stride a little bit to make sure that she won her heat in the 400m. She ran a great prelim race, and without pushing too hard won her heat in 58.02. The 400m promises to be as exciting as the Mt. Hood Conference district meet. The 200m is always a little different. There was no holding back in this event, as she had to get out hard and finish at least second to automatically qualify. I don't like to play the time game, and wait to see if you are one of two qualifiers based who were not the top two in your heat. Brenna got out a little slow, but ran a good corner to make up some ground on her competitors. She finished 2nd with a time of 25.61 which is good enough to get her into finals. Brenna is going to have to run a great 200m on Saturday to finish in the top 4 especially with the likes of Mandy White, Kayla Smith, and Shavey Hill.

Even though today's meet was primarily prelims, the 800m finals were contested today. I've always felt that the 800m is one of the most fun and competitive races to watch at the state meet. I still like the idea of those athletes getting to compete on Saturday with all of the other finals. Having the 800m spread out in this format does allow for more rest time for those individuals competing in more than one distance event though. Saturday is the big day though. We will score the majority of our points on Saturday. Our pole vaulter Ashlee Neal is starting things off for us early and I really believe she has the capability to sneak in for a few points. Kayla Hendershot is also competing in the discus. She has a great shot at winning an individual state title. She is a big meet competitor and appears to be peaking at the right time. We look for some big time points from her. We also have Brenna in the 400m and 200m, and we look for her to score in both events. The last event of the day promises to be the most exciting for us with the girls 4x400m. If yesterday's prelims are any indicator of how things will be, the event is wide open with any number of teams capable of winning. The meet will sort out the truth.

State Meet Day 1

2007-05-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

Day one of a three headed monster is done. There has been arguments on both sides of the new format. I for one think that the three day meet makes things very difficult for multi-event athletes. Some argue that the spacing of time will help with the marks in events. But I think that the bottom line is that a lot of athletes will be competing very hard for three days straight. I know that Brenna Hoffman is in that situatation for us, but that is true for a lot of girls and boys who are in multi-events. I also think that it's strange to have all of the same teams here from last years 3a/4a meet, but now we are split up into three different divisions. I just think if it was the same format as last season, this year would have set up to be one of the most competitive meets in state history.

On the Sandy side of things. Katie took third place in the high jump at 5'3" scoring the first six points of the meet for us. She wanted to jump higher and place higher of course (because she's a competitor), but we as a coaching staff are very proud of her performance. She can take this as a positive experience for her first state meet, and build for the future, because it is sucha bright future. Our freshman javelin thrower Colton Safely did not perform as well as he would have liked to, placing 12th, with a throw of 157'. Our two freshman are just beginning to realize how difficult a beast the state meet can be. But with experience, and the obvious talent that both possess, I know that they will be back the next three years to make an undeniable mark on this meet.

The end of the girls 4x400m relay almost gave me an anerism. Siara Leininger ran a strong first leg, fading a bit in the last 100m, but still managed to get the baton to Malia Ingrao in good position. Malia ran a very strong leg and closed fast to put us into 3rd position behind South Eugene and St. Mary's. Sarah Kathrein ran the her best split of the season (58.5) setting up Brenna Hoffman for the finish. with Brenna in the second spot when she got the baton I thought we were set for the finals since the top three automatically qualify. Down the home stretch St. Mary's held the lead with Sandy and South Eugene neck in neck right behind. The three top teams did not see a hard charging Lincoln runner (Megan Perra) coming on strong the last 100 meters of the race. From my view point it looked as if she had passed Sandy and South Eugene, and for a moment I thought we had finished 4th just out of the automatic qualifier position. But as the results appeared on the reader board of Hayward I saw that we were 2nd with a time of 3:59.55 and Lincoln was right behind us in 3:59.56. We were through to Saturday's final. Brenna is the only one of the three girls that has to run prelim races on Friday, so the other three get a day's rest in between races. With seven relay teams running under 4 minutes, Saturday's final promises to be interesting to say the least.

2007 State Preview

2007-05-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

I am now recently catching my breath from the whirlwind track season that was 2007. I can't believe that the district meet is over and done, and in less than a week we will again be down at Hayward Field Competing in the state meet. There is a catch though, we have one less week of preparation than we did last season, and I think we've definitely felt that shortened season's affect. But overall, I would say we as a group are prepared to compete next week. The three day meet is going to have an affect on all of the athletes. Before this season, our state itinerary was planned almost to the minute. With another day of competition thrown into the equation, that has to change. I have never coached at a three day competition before on any level but we have tried to simulate the three day competition during workouts this season, and I believe that will help our athletes adjust to the schedule. The most important thing now is to recover from the tough district meet that our girls had to endure just to make it to this meet.

The Mt. Hood Conference has a total of nine girls' teams, and from event to event I would argue that we have some of the toughest competition in the state. This is also the first year that I have been a coach at Sandy that we haven't had an individual conference champion on the girls' side. Our only individual champion came from our lone boy qualifier freshman javelin thrower Colton Safely with a mark of 179'10. Several of our girls who qualified for the state meet would have won in many other conferences. OSAA has already set precedence with the new classification system with football and basketball by allowing the top five teams from the conference into the playoffs. I don't believe that it would be too much of a stretch to allow the top three athletes in each event at the Mt. Hood Conference to compete at the state meet. But at the same time, we knew the situation before the conference meet began and could have hit the automatic qualifier. I try not to put too much energy into changing the system while the season is still going on. Our focus right now has to be competing to the best of our abilities at the state meet.

Here's where we stand now in our hopes to defend the state title. Our pole vaulter Ashlee Neal has a personal best of 9'6". I feel she needs to clear at least 10' to score any points. This is within her ability levels. She is also competing at state for the very first time though. We need her to score if we are to have a shot. Katie Pelchar is one of the best high jumpers in the state. Her personal record is 5'5". She finished second to Jacquie Mattson of Hood River at our district meet. Katie is fully capable of winning this event and helping our overall team total. Kayla Hendershot is the returning runner up in the discus. She is a big meet performer, and despite her small size, a big time competitor. She finished second at our meet to Martha Hale because of a controversial foot foul on her last throw which would have won the competition. The only reason I call it controversial is because no one saw the foul accept the official. Kayla has competed at the state meet since her sophomore year. She is searching for that elusive individual state title. She'll have some great competitors in Laura Wilkens and Allysa Haslen, but I think that she's going to preform magnanmously. Brenna Hoffman is competing in two individual events. The 400 meters and the 200 meters. She currently has the 6a's second fastest time int he 400m at 56.60. Her race against Shaveyantay Hill at district was memorable with Hill winning with a new meet record of 55.53. Brenna is definitely looking forward to the rematch at state. Brenna also has to score big in the 200m for the team to have a chance of repeating. What I have been emphasizing to Brenna is the need for her to get out faster in the blocks of the 200 meters. Once she gets going she catches a lot of people, but in order to finish well at state her start needs to be faster. The last event we qualified for the state meet in was the 4x400m. The team as 3 of the 4 members from last years state championship team that also ran a blazing 3:53.5, but things feel remarkably different this season. We finished third in our conference running a seasonal best 3:57.80. The time, ironically enough, is also the 3rd fastest time in the 6a. That race at district though, marks only the fourth time this season that team has run together. I really felt that the team was capable of running fast times, but there have been injuries and illness that have affected the cohesiveness of the team. But the four girls (Siara Leininger, Malia Ingrao, Sarah Kathrein, Brenna Hoffman)to their credit despite all of the set backs managed to put their best race together at the right time to give them a chance once again to show what they can run at the state meet. Brenna's split of 55.7 helped greatly in this feat, but without the other three girls putting it on the line to give her a shot at the leaders they would not have run that time. I firmly believe that this team of girls is capable of winning the 4x400m at state.

The favorite for the girls team title this year has to be Lincoln. With Bianca Mathabane, Marsha Lampi, and a host of young sprinters they will need to falter for anyone to catch them. Benson also has to be in that mix. With Kayla Smith and Jewel Martin sure to score big. Southridge has been solid all season and they need to be included in that group as well. Gresham may have their best shot in a while to claim that top podium at the state meet. The three days at Hayward should be exciting. I plan to blog after each day of competition. Let the good times roll.

Constant Sunshine Despite the Weather

2007-04-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

For me this spring has been the worst in recent memory as far as weather goes. Now I realize last season wasn't great either, with the XO being in the 30's with high wind and rain, and state being a constant drizzle, but this season just seems worse. Perhaps it's because of all the hail and sleet. Yeah, that may be it. But there has been a constant bright spot on our track team despite all of this inclement weather. His name is Adam Martin. Adam's smile and friendly demeanour shines through the darkest of weather. Adam started running for us last year as a sophomore. Now this in itself isn't very significant, but Adam is enrolled in the special education program at Sandy. Last season his parent's came to talk to me about their concerns for Adam participating in a sport like track and field, with a team as large as ours. Would he be able to do workouts, let alone complete them? Would the other kids accept him or would they ridicule him? Would he just get lost in the crowd? All of which are legitimate concerns for parents. And to be honest I was definitely apprehensive about Adam participating as well. But I am an optimist, and I saw Adam as another young kid wanting to participate in track and field and that was enough for me to say "Okay, we'll make this thing work. Somehow, we'll make it work." I guess that's what I love most about track. We get the kids that the other spring sports tell, "You're not good enough for this team." And hopefully, if we're blessed enough, turn them into athletes.

Adam's amazing spirit was immediately apparent. Although he did have trouble with workouts in the beginning, he slowly ran himself into shape. He never complained, he was never a behavior issue, but beyond all of that he had the greatest attitude I've ever seen in anyone I've had the opportunity to coach. The smile, yeah, it was the constant smile that did it. The other coaches and I would just look at Adam in amazement some days and say to each other, "Why can't I appreciate every single day like this kid does?" I was suppose to be his coach and teach him a few things about track and field and maybe give some life lessons. But it was apparent from the beginning that Adam was teaching us. The other athletes on the team picked up on this as well and I really think that he inspired them to perform. On top of all of this he was improving in the sport. His times in the 100m and 200m were dropping, and his ability to complete workouts was improving as well. Quite simply Adam was becoming a track athlete.

So, here we were last Wednesday hosting one of the worst meets in recent memory against Hood River and Gresham. The girls' discus competed in a hail storm. The girls could barely see let alone hang on to their discs. We cancelled the girls' pole vault because our runway was flooded and our plant box was floating. Our field event officials can barely right anything on their sheets because the rain is flying in sideways, but then there's Adam running the 200m. One of our volunteer coaches, Todd Dejong, who also acts as our team photographer, finally gets the shot that he's been waiting for in the JV boys 200m. He's excited, and when he shows me the picture I can see why. There is Mr. Adam Martin running in the rain with the patented smile on his face. That definitely put things into perspective. Despite all of the rain there was the bright spot of sunshine we were all looking for.

Mike Kostrba: Rain, Shine, Hail Yes!

2007-04-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks for me have been very busy to say the least. What I want to try to do is not get into too much detail about putting on an event like the Mike Kostrba Invitational, but rather point out some highlights of the meet and what this means to Sandy High School Track & Field.

At 6:30am the morning of April 14th, 2007 the coaching staff gets together with key meet officials for a breakfast meeting at the Tollgate Restaurant in Sandy. This is not a serious meeting, and most of the the information that we talk about at the has already been taken care of in the days before the event. We just talk about some potential problems the meet may have and talk logistics. We also talk about changing the name of the meet to the Art Skipper Jr. Invitational in memory of our friend and Sandy graduate. Most people just call the meet the Sandy Invite anyway, probably because Kostrba is so hard to pronounce. But more than anything else we share stories and keep ourselves calm before the big storm ahead. We look outside and the rain is falling steadily.

I have been involved with the Mike Kostrba Invitational for the past seven years, and I'd like to think that putting the meet together has gotten a little easier. It has gotten a little easier with the help of athletic.net. The years before athletic.net we use to get entries for meets through faxes and I hate to say it but some track coaches just don't have the best handwriting. At that point we would have to put in marks manually into hytech. Athletic.net frees us from that burden of the process.

Thirteen teams were represented in all. Southridge,Tigard, Summit, Putnam, Wilson, Glencoe, Battle Ground (WA), Hillsboro, Wilsonville, Milwaukie, Newberg, Horizon Christian, and Sandy. I always love the competition this invitational brings out. Although it is early season the top marks always seem to be outstanding. This years meet lived up to that rich history.

Sarah Kathrein has been such a welcome surprise this season for our team. I was looking forward to seeing her compete in the very first invitational of her young career. Sarah happened to draw a lane next to Kellie Schueler the freshman phenom from Summit in the 100m so right off the bat I knew that this was going to be a fun day. Schueler breezed through the prelims in 12.45 while Sarah finished second in that heat at 13.04. The important thing was that she was through. Malia Ingrao also qualified for the finals in the 100m running a time of 13.45. Two girls on to finals and things are going to plan. On the boys side I was looking forward to the race between Gabriel Aguilar of Glencoe and Joevonte Mayes of Rex Putnam. Both cruised to easy victories in their prelims but a slight injury Mayes forced him out of the finals and the showdown would have to wait for another day. The prelims of the 200m weren't as exciting as the 100m, with Sarah and Brenna Hoffman under instruction from me running a very controlled relax prelim and still easily winning their respected heats. Our best boy sprinter Ryan Ball advanced to the finals in the 200m as well but we decided to not run any other races because of a sore hamstring. Garret Cartner ran a nice preliminary race with a personal best time of 23.04c to advance to the finals.

By the time prelims were done the rain had passed us by and the sun had come out to welcome the competition. Highlights on the track included a great race between Southridge and Summit in the girls 4x100m with Southridge winning in a time of 49.60 seconds and Summit getting second with a time of 49.73 seconds. I would have liked us to be a little closer to the top two teams, but we had a poor exchange going into the anchor leg and finished third with a time of 50.50. The best time our relay team ran last season was 49.24, and I believe we can run faster this year. It will be difficult to get out of the Mt. Hood Conference with teams such as Gresham, St. Mary's and David Douglas all in the mix. Things proved intresting for our boys 4x100m team with the absence of Ryan. Brennon Nelson got the nod to run the anchor leg about 15 minutes before the event, but he handled the pressure as well as could be expected. Our boys finished 7th running a time of 45.44.

The highlights for Sandy in the field events were our freshman Katie Pelchar winning the high jump with a leap of 5'2" and <Kayla Hendershot outdueling Kirstin lee from Newberg and winning the discus with a season best 130'5". A big mark that needs to be mentioned is Tigard's Dalton Chase's javelin throw of 209'4". Michael Thompson of Southridge was second with a throw of 201'6. There just isn't too many places in the state where javelin throwers get huge marks consistently like Sandy does.

The girls 100m finals marked both elation and despair for me. Sarah Kathrein ran her best race of the season finishing in 12.88 seconds but tweaks her knee at the finish line. She was done running for the day, and an alternate would be needed for our 4x400m relay team. The girls 400m between Kellie Schueler and Brenna Hoffman was the race that I had been looking forward to all week. Brenna has been getting over an inflamed achille's tendon. This last week was the first time that she did not feel any pain when she ran. I knew that she would compete, but I was concerned with her level of conditioning. But there's nothing like a meet setting to get some conditioning in with one fast smoking 400 meter race. Well, at least that was what I was hoping. Our sophomore sprinter Siara Leininger ran a gutsy 400m leading the entire way and holding on for the win in the first heat in a time of 63.51 which is a seasonal best. Siara locking up at the end basically confirmed what I had known, we are a little behind where I would like to be in conditioning level. Injuries have taken it's toll, but it's still early in the season. The main event, the final heat of the girls 400m, definitely lived up to it's billing. Brenna Hoffman in lane five and Kellie Schueler in lane four right behind her. Brenna took the race out hard like we had talked about before the race. She looked a little tight to me as she rounded the backstretch. Schueler maintained the stagger through to the last 100 meters of the race. Coming off the last corner I could see Brenna's form start to break and she started to tighten up badly. The advantage of being in lane four is that you can see your closest competitor throughout the entire race. Schueler came on strong the last 100 meters and passed Brenna with about 50 meters left in the race. Schueler won with a great time of 56.34. Brenna finished 2nd in 57.71. Both runners looked completely spent at the end of the race. I stretched Brenna out right after the race. She had not lost an open 400m race in a long time, but she had given everything she had at that moment. I told her to cool down and relax for awhile because she still had two more races to run. Brenna managed to come back and win the 200m with a time of 25.95. Our girls 4x400m relay has been one big Frankenstein team. We haven't gotten a chance to run the same four girls at two consecutive meets this year. With Sarah out with a knee injury this meet would be no different. We wanted our best team together to take a shot at Southridge which had already run a 4:00.66 this year. We also knew Summit would be very tough. Perhaps the toughest part of the race was the hail storm that showed up right before the start of the event. I have never seen it hail that hard in Oregon before. Southridge jumped out to a quick lead after the first leg and held it through the entire race winning in a time of 4:06.83. Summit's Kellie Schueler caught Brenna right at the finish line to finish second in 4:11.90 and we were 3rd in 4:12.0.

So through the entire day we had our schizophrenic weather and some incredible competition. We have a few injuries to heal from and some more work to do in practice to prepare for the upcoming weeks but overall I am pretty happy with how we performed in the meet. We get to see a lot of those teams in a few weeks at the XO in Eugene.

St. Mary's Academy, Centennial vs. Sandy

2007-04-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

The first scoring dual meet in the Mt. Hood Conference is always exciting for me and the rest of the track athletes at Sandy. This also marks home meet number two for us, so things usually go a little bit more smoothly than the train wreck that is usually home meet number one. The coaches in the Mt. Hood Conference all agreed this season to go with double dual meets instead of dual meets, so we would limit some of our meets due to the shortened season. This always effects training, but overall we felt it would be more beneficial for our athletes.

The weather for the meet was in the low 60's, partly cloudy with a slight breeze which is almost perfect for a track meet especially out in Sandy. We had several good marks and some great competition. The boys opened up the season with a strong performance against Centennial 91-53, but perhaps an even stronger performance against St. Mary's totally blanketing the Blue's boys team 145-0 (just kidding Mike). This meet also marked the debut 200m for our best sprinter Ryan Ball who ran a strong time of 22.92. This marked the first time that Ryan ran under 23 seconds. Ryan has struggled with injuries the past two seasons, and is recovering from an injury this season, but seems to be rounding into form. Some other great early season marks were Kevin Warren in the shot improving to 45'4. I joke with our throws coach that a 50+ shot putter is a staple at Sandy, and he needs to create one or more with the talent that we have. With Kevin, Michael Lynch, and Will Terada I believe by the end of the season this will definitely happen. A great surprise was our freshman javelin thrower Colton Safley (affectionately referred to as "Safeway" by me) heaving the javelin 164'4". This puts Safeway number two on the top ten list of javelin throwers in the Mt. Hood Conference. Another break through performance was had by Jordan Gray competing in his very first varsity event the long jump. Jordan had a great series of jumps starting with a 19'7" effort. I had Jordan make a few minor adjustments and after a foul on his next attempt, his first attempt in finals he had a great jump of 20'9" and followed that up with a 20'7" effort just to let himself know that his 14" p.r. was not a fluke. Jordan now has the best mark in the conference in the long jump.

The girls won their meet against Centennial 88-56, but lost to St. Mary's 81.5 - 63.5. We felt that the meet against St. Mary's Academy would be a very tough test for our girls. In a dual meet we do not match up with SMA very well because of their dominant distance runners and some very good jumpers. We emphasized to our young distance girls that they needed to break up some of the St. Mary's girls in the distance events. Tressa Hoffman had a strong performance in the 1500m running a pr with a time of 5:15.88. Our young distance girls have worked hard all year, but for many of them this is there first full season of high school track & field. Kayla Hendershot improved her conference mark in the discus with a toss of 126'1". Ashley Moss threw a personal record in the javelin at 114'8. Our new pole vaulter Ashlee Neal had a break through performance in the pole vault when she cleared 9'6". Ashlee's mark is currently the top mark in the Mt. Hood Conference. Our young freshman high jumper Katie Pelchar after giving her coaches a near aneurysm by clearing her opening height on her 3rd attempt, finished the competition with her best mark of the season at 5'4". The sprints became a great dual between our top sprinters and St. Mary's top sprinters. Elinor Priest (12.98)slightly edged our sprinter Sarah Kathrein (13.03) in the 100m. Brenna Hoffman won both the 400m (58.45) and the 200m with a time of (25.84). Sarah Kathrein (26.24) had a great race in the 200m as well losing to Meeghan Bermannn (26.21)of SMA. After the 200m two of Brenna's 4x400m teammates informed that her achilles was really bothering her but she still wanted to run the 4x400m. After a quick conversation with her I determined it was in her best interest for the rest of the season to not run the 4x400m. I knew that the meet with SMA was very close and it may have come down to the 4x400m, but when choosing between the health and safety of my athletes and the possibility of winning a meet I will choose my athletes health every single time.

Spring make or break?

2007-04-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Spring break has always been a crucial time for track and field training. A week without school will always cause limited numbers for practice. There are too many young kids who don't have transportation, there are family trips, there is general laziness, but then there is the select few who use this time to really train. I view spring break in this manner: the kids who need to be there always show up, and the ones that don't show up need the break. With such a short season, taking spring break off, and hoping to compete amongst the state's elite, is just not an option. The core of athletes we had during spring break had some incredible workouts. As a coach it allows me to much more creative working with a smaller group. Each athlete also gets more individual attention. Our distance runners met at the track every single day, and then ventured off to various parks, and running trails around the area to complete their workout. We have some tremendous trails at Sandy, probably some of the best in the state as far as high schools are concerned, but it's still good to give the kids some variation especially when the situation allows for that.

We have been nursing some injuries, and spring break was also a great time to heal. The Wednesday after the break we come up against two strong teams in Centennial and St. Mary's. The rest time and alternative training (bike workouts, pool workouts) were tremendous benefits for our injured athletes. I feel they will be ready to take on the Mighty Blues, and Eagles.

We end the week of spring break training with a barbecue. This year the BBQ was held at my home in Gresham. It's great for a team to meet and play outside of a track setting. I think that this really helps to bring a team closer together. It also brings closer to a tough week of training so that we can concentrate on the rest of the season once the break is over. A lot of teams choose to go to invitationals over the break. We have never done this because I think the break is such an important time to train with such a short season. This philosophy has been successful for us in the past so I've chosen to stick with it. Perhaps in the future this may change, but until then it's Spring make or break.

1st meet not life and death.

2007-03-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday March 22, 2007 we hosted Mt. View of Washington, Damascus Christian, and Portland Christian High Schools for our very first outdoor meet of the season. The first home meet always causes much anxiety for me. I don’t know any other high school activity that needs to worry about getting so much volunteer help in order for an event to take place. I rely a lot on my AD and athletic secretary to help set up the meet. Our athletic secretary Sharen York does an incredible job and I have often joked that when she retires that I may do the same. We have a new AD at Sandy, which marks the third AD that I have had in the 5 seasons that I’ve coached at Sandy. I find myself having to train AD’s in the sport of track & field, as well as train all of the volunteer officials that we have helping at our home meets. The first is always the most stressful. There are a lot of newbys. Aside from the usual first meet glitches like our FAT camera going down, freshman forgetting their uniforms or not having any uniforms at all, the sheer look of dread in the eyes of first year athletes before the start of their first race, this first meet definitely made an impression in my coaching experience. I definitely felt like I had aged at the end of the meet.

At the start of the meet I was already aware that our top girl’s sprinter Brenna Hoffman was only going to be running the 4x100m relay. Her Achilles was sore and inflamed and we just wanted her to rest it some more before our league meets began. There was no need to aggravate the injury any further by having run both the 800m and the 4x400m, which she was scheduled to run. I was very curious to see what she could run the in the 800m. She is not conditioned yet to run a great time, but she’s so strong and competitive that I knew she would run sub 2:20. The girl’s 4x400m with Brenna is quite formidable, but without her we drop down into the mediocre classification not the state champion contenders that we want to be. As if Brenna’s injury wasn’t bad enough our best jumper on the boy’s side (Pat Fox) strains his hamstring warming up for the long jump. It’s not a serious injury but Pat was ready to roll. He had been looking and feeling great in practice and he really wanted to put some early season marks on the board. That will have to wait though. Patience is the most important thing at this point in the season.

With the meet underway there were some definite high lights. Our newest edition to our girl’s 4x100m (Sarah Kathrein) relay did not disappoint. The girls ran a great early season time of 51.04a despite a band hand off, and Brenna taking it easy on her sore achilles tendon. I thought that Malia Ingrao and Siara Leininger, along with Sarah Kathrein ran great legs in the short relay. Sarah went on to win the 100m (13.07a) and 200m (26.77a) running great early season times. Malia went on to win the 400m (61.91a), which is also a personal record for her. Siara probably had the toughest race to run in that I put her in the 800m. She struggled through with a time of 2:44 and I think gained a deeper appreciation for the middle distance runners. Our new freshman high jumper Katie Pelchar also competed well finishing second on misses with a jump of 5’2. Katie is a tremendous talent like her sister Krysta who was our pole-vaulter (3rd place at state) that graduated last season. I think she feels a lot of expectations. What we try to do is to keep things pretty light and fun so she doesn’t feel too much pressure. I think that putting that much pressure on some one so young and already adjusting to just being in high school can have detrimental affects to a her psyche. We have to nurture the growth of all of our athletes and not drown it with fertilizer and expectations.

Our thrower Kayla Hendershot also had a great first meet. She won the discus with a toss of 122’4, and the shot with a throw of 34’9. She did all of this despite fighting a bronchial infection. We look for some great things from Kayla this spring. She finished second in the discus at state last year, and the one thing missing from her resume is an individual state title.

On the boys side some outstanding performances were made by Garret Cartner (a senior competing in track for the very first time) in the 200m with a time of 23.75a, Kevin Warren in the discus with a toss of 130’5”. We graduated some great throwers last season, and one of our question marks was the discus throw, but Kevin seems to have eased some of our early season doubts. It was also great to see the 4x400m relay team of Jake Seidel (53.3), Garret Cartner (55.5), Chris Wagner (56.8), and Ryan Ball (51.9) run a great early season time of 3:37.

The scariest moment of the day though came when our announcer passed out in the crow’s nest. He is diabetic and suffered a seizure. Thank God that we have parents who are also e.m.t.s and nurses. John Ingrao (Clackamas Fire Chief) and Tammy Ingrao (RN) have been fixtures at our meets for the past 6 seasons. With them in attendance our announcer was given immediate medical attention, and aside from a little bump to his head, and a whole lot of anxiety for the rest of us everything turned out to be all right. Upon reflection though that incident may have been a blessing in disguise. Despite the little injuries and great amounts of stress caused by trying to coordinate a track meet no real major disasters happened. No one died and thank heavens for that. It just allowed me to realize how incredible my job really is because of all the great people around the program and all of the incredible student athletes that I coach and am responsible. It’s an incredible charge but I also have to keep in perspective that track and field is just a sport. Although there are several life lessons that can be learned along the way a track meet is not a life or death situation. Thank God for that.

King of Core

2007-03-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

I think core strengthening exercises and hip flexor exercises are underrated in the sport of track and field. We emphasize core exercises everyday regardless of whether you are a sprinter, distance runner, or thrower. Core exercises are vital to proper running posture. Even when athletes are injured and can't run, core exercises can still usually be done.

During the winter and spring we focus on a ton of core before each of our workouts. We have a standard core which I refer to as core "A", or "regular core".

Core A: 30x regular crunches, 30x suitcase crunches, 30 bicycle crunches, 10 double leg V-ups, 20 partner leg throws, 20 arch ups, and 50 push-ups.

It's good to have standard core exercises so the athletes can learn the proper techniques. Having said that it's good to have a few standard core routines so that the athletes have some variety.

Medicine Balls are fantastic for core exercises. We also have a standard medicine ball core routine.

Med Ball Core: (With a partner) 20x half twists, 20x full twists, 20x over/unders
20x sit up throws, 3x10 Russian twists, 10x left arm med ball push-ups, 10x right arm med ball push-ups, 10x switching med ball push-ups, 10x both arms on med ball push-ups.

Along with core I think another vital muscle group that is often overlooked in sprinting is the hip flexor. I would suggest that all sprinters whether they hurdle or not do hurdle drills to develop hip flexor strength. Hurdle drills should be done at least once a week.

A strong core, and strong hip flexors can only lead to better sprinting. But also keep in mind speed and running fast consistently is still the key to developing sprinters. Within any given speed training program, there should be routine variation for core and hip flexor exercises. This allows for different muscles to be worked leading to fuller range of motion. An unofficial title that we have on our track team is "King Core" and that of course goes to the most diligent and capable core athlete. We also have races when we do hip flexor drills. This creates a competitive environment (which I always try to promote), but it also makes the athletes more focused on what they do.

In the art of core and hip flexor strength training, the most diligent athlete wins.

Hills: Dreams or Nightmares?

2007-03-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

I have often asked myself this question since I have been involved in track & field since the 5th grade. My elemenatry school coach use to have us run up this tiny little hill on the side of West Powellhurst, and even then I remember not liking them (the hills). During middle school and high school track & field hills became kind of a side issue. We never ran them very often, and the ones we did run were never very bad, meaning they weren't long and steep. I guess it was the college days at the University of Oregon that made me really contemplate the meaning of hills. During the early season training days, the hills were literally a life and death struggle. The exhausted members of the sprinting and jumping crew would constantly ponder deep thoughts about the meaning of existence as we sprinted up the long, winding, seemingly endless uphill trails. Yes that was where the question started for me. Hills: dream workout, or a nightmare you just hope you would survive.

Now as a coach I believe I have found the answer. Hills are a dream workout especially for early in the season. In Sandy we are blessed with an abundance of hills ranging in length from 100 meters to a mile, and ranging from slight incline, to "are you serious?" incline. I believe hills are essential to building speed endurance, and power in the sprinter, jumper, hurdler, and even distance runner. Since we have the luxury of so many different hills we can modify our workouts accordingly.

The first hill workout is always the most difficult for our sprinters. The theme is just survival. We focus on longer distances to help build speed endurance. The natural incline of the hill helps the athlete with the natural position desired for proper sprinting mechanics. We remind our athletes to keep their forward lean as they are running up the hill and remind them to attack each repetition of the hill with their toes up and knees up. A good indicator of how many repetitions to do depends upon the length and incline of the hill. If the hill is fairly steep and over 150 meters long the beginning athletes will not be good for more than 6 hills while the more advanced athletes may be good for 8. Remember that once the form starts breaking as they are running hills, the workout has lost maximum effectiveness and coaches need to reign in their athletes when this happens.

Last Friday I introduced some of our new athletes to an old friend named Marcy Hill (A hill next to our high school that leads directly to the Sandy River. It's very steep and is about 1 mile long). We were shooting for 6-8 hills (170 m long), but after 6 solid efforts, it was clear that our workout was finished. Next week when we revisit Marcy I will have a slightly different workout ready for the athletes. We'll break up the intervals into groups of 3 with varying lengths. The first interval will be long (170m), the second shorter (120m) but run at a more aggressive pace, and the last one will be a fast aggressive sprint that will be around 70m. We'll repeat that 2-3 times. By the time the athletes get to the last hill in each set they will be tired physically, but they will also have the mental edge that this last bit is short and I can really finish hard, which is exactly what you want them thinking when they are finishing a race.

So now that I as a coach have found the discovery to the enternal question which has been haunting my track world since the 5th grade, I wish to pass on this knowledge to others. Some of my athletes still have nightmares about Marcy, but those nightmares have turned into some beautiful dreams.

Posted by sandycoach at 3:21 PM
March 11, 2007 6:39 PM

First Two Weeks

2007-03-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 1, 2007

For everyone involved in high school track & field in the state of Oregon my hat goes off to you. We have had a miserable two weeks of weather out at Sandy. For the most part we are use to rain, and we deal with it, but the near freezing weather and occasional snow fluries have had quite the chilling affect on our first two weeks of practice. Still though the resilience of the student-athletes has been amazing. Some of the newly initiated members of the team still occasionally forget their warm-ups, but the weather quickly reminds them of the importance of those articles of clothing. So maybe in someway the weather has been a blessing in disguise.

We also have a lot of anticipation for this season. Coming off of a state championship in 2006 there is both excitment and the awful "P" word that we try not to acknowledge even though it continually stares us down like a heavy weight boxer. The word is pressure. I definitely felt it in the 2004 season right after the boys had won in 2003. I think I was young and niave enough to think that winning again would be easy. But this season does feel different from 2004. I am a little older, hopefully a little wiser, and the pressure just doesn't feel as great. I also know that if I show the signs of pressure that will just put more pressure on the athletes. Maybe the biggest thing keeping me from the pressures of "repeating" is the long list of things to do in order for the season to go at all. I won't waste anyone's time by typing my list, but just know that there is more that is added on daily to the list than scratched off.

Some of the trials and tribulations that I think all high school programs go through is trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your new athletes. "What events should I do?" is a common question that I receive through out the first part of the season. I just encourage the athletes to try new events and eventually something will manifest itself. Well, at least that is the hope. With right around 100 members the Sandy program is probably pretty average in terms of numbers, but that still represents a large number of athletes to guide. The most important thing that we try to do as a coaching staff is just to get to know the new athletes that are apart of our program for the first time. Their first name is a great place to start. From that point we move on to introducing each other to the smaller training groups that we break up into after warm-ups. It is my belief that we will foster the growth of our program by keeping the newer athletes excited, and interested in the sport, but before that happens they have to feel like they are apart of the program instead of just another face in the crowd.

Another aspect of identifying the faces in the crowd is making sure our elite athletes are getting the attention that they need to continue to compete at a very high level. I've been blessed with just some wonderful student athletes in the past four seasons and this season is no different. I rely a lot on our upper classman to lead drills and demonstrate proper mechanics.

For our sprinters the first two weeks are loaded with learning proper sprint mechanics (which continues through out the entire season) and just getting back into sprinting shape. For the sprinters we avoid long runs (save those for your distance runners) and instead focus on shorter sprints with less recover time.

First week of practice schedule:

Day 1 -
Extensive warm-ups with sprint mechanics (Stretching isn't vital for sprinters, but proper warm-ups is absolutely vital for injury prevention prior to beginning work outs).Beginners (8x100m with 100m walk recover) Boys run 16-18 seconds, girls run 18-20 seconds.Advanced (two sets of 5x100m with jog back recovery) Boys run (15-16 seconds), girls run (17-18) -Stretch & Core (Needs to be done at the end of every practice. Stretching before workouts isn't as vital to sprinters as Distance folks, but stretching afterwards is absolutely vital for recovery and injury prevention. Core (abdominal and lower back exercises) needs to be done everyday to help with running poster.

Day 2 -
Warm-ups and sprint mechanicsAlternative (reaction) starts. We put the athletes in various positions and they are reacting to a clap. After the clap the athletes sprint the 10 meters working on acceration mechanics. This sets up reaction to the starting pistol and is fun drill. We use a total of 10 different starting positions which can vary.Beginners and Advanced run 4-8 x 150m. We call these sprint, float, sprints. I learned this from John Gillespie at the University of Oregon. The athletes sprint the first 50 meters hard, back off and float (similar to the backstretch of the 400m) this can be a difficult concept for the athletes to understand at first. Describe the float as a "relaxed sprint" trying to maintain the speed that they've developed in the first 50 meters. The last 50 meters the athletes need to try to accelerate through to the finish line. The number of intervals is determined by level of fitness. Beginners should do a minimum of 4 a maximum of 6. Your advanced runners should try to get all 8 in.

Cool down and Core

Day 3 -
Warm-ups and sprint mechanicsHurdle Drills. We have all of our sprinters/jumpers/hurdlers/distance runners/throwers do hurdle drills. They are a great hip flexor exercise and is benefical for all track athletes.

4 - 8 x 200m. (Give 3 minutes recovery. Keep a stop watch on it.) Advanced boys (28-30), Beginners (32-36), Advanced girls (32-36), Beginners 36-40 seconds.

Cool down and core

Day 4 -
Warm-ups and sprint mechanicsContinuous relays (teams of 5) use a baton. Each runner runs 100m at a time. The advanced teams should run 16x100m each. The boys should run 15-16 seconds per 100m which gives them approximately 1 minute recovery. It's also a great drill to work on long relay exchanges. The girls should run (17-18 seconds). Beginning teams should run 10-12 x 100m.

Cool down and Core

We use a similar cycle through out the first 2-3 weeks. Longer intervals Mon, Wed, Fri. And shorter quicker sprints Tuesday & Thursday. We usually try to do a time trial during the 3rd week of practice. That usually helps to determine our relay teams.Despite the weather we are making progress. Things usually settle down after the first 3 weeks of practice when the athletes begin to uderstand the routine. We learn a lot more about our athletes after the first meet. Another season, another great group of athletes, another set of totally different challenges. Bring on the "P" word!

Posted by sandycoach at 10:54 AM
March 11, 2007 6:35 PM

Racestats.net Welcomes Anouxa Vixathep

2007-02-28T21:19:00.001-08:00

Racestats.net is pleased to present the Sandy HS Track & Field blog authored by Anouxa Vixathep (Head T&F Coach, Sandy HS).

As many of you already know, Anouxa is a frequent contributor to the Oregonlive.com T&F forums and is widely recognized as one of the bright young coaches in Oregon prep Track & Field.

Anouxa Vixathep is in his 5th season as head coach of Sandy High School Track & Field. In Vixathep's first season as head coach the Sandy boys won the 4a boys state title with four individuals scoring led by Tommy Skipper with 28 points. In the last five seasons Sandy has had either the boys or girls team finish in the top 6 teams at the State meet. In 2006 the Sandy girls won an tightly contested 4a girls team title by edging Summit at the finish in the 4x400m relay.