Day 3 from Nationals

Ok, so this happened this past Saturday. Yeah, I'm lazy, go figure.

Day 3 saw the final day of competition at the 2011 Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. Good news with that: 1. No decathlon or heptathlon events to slow things down in the afternoon. 2. All events are final. 3. Competition ends at 5. We ended up leaving at about 7:30, but it felt like the day went a lot quicker.

3 members of OWU Track & Field competed on Day 3. Emily Amburgey competed in the high jump, clearing 1.62 meters, but finished in 17th overall. Kat Zimmerly finished 15th in the 5k. And, folks, OWU has an All-American! Ethan Freet ran a 52.15 in the 400 meter hurdles to finish 3rd overall, in the nation. Congrats to Ethan and the rest of our OWU competitors!

The Race of the Day is a bit of a toss up. Both of these races were really impressive because both of the winners carried out distance doubles and won: the 800 and the 5k. In the 800, Nick Guarino of SUNY Fredonia, who had already won the national title in the 1500, had a hell of a showdown with Ben Scheetz of Amherst in order to win the title. It came down to the last 100, and Guarino was able to hold off Scheetz to win. And, in the 5k, Mike Spain of North Central, who I've previously mentioned and won the 10k, was 5th with 250 meters to go, and absolutely flew in that last 250 to win. Oh, and 1-2 in the 5k was the same as 1-2 in the 10k (go figure).

Well, it was a hell of fun time to host Nationals. I've never been around so many redonkalous athletes in my life. I wish some day I can run at National meet, but for now, hosting will suffice.

And, again, congrats to All-American Ethan Freet!



Back to our regularly scheduled cardbloggery.

Day 2 from Nationals

Smart me. Skipping out on work to watch trains on Day 2 of Nationals. Seriously, waiting for nothing to happen is boring as hell. Not much really happened anyway on Day 2 except for Field Events, the end of the decathlon and heptathlon, lotsa prelims, and the 3k steeple. Only one of OWU's finest competed on Day 2: Sarah Bechtel in the pole vault. She cleared 3.39 meters, but fell short of All-American honors. Those vaulters can go ridiculously damn high.

Since, I missed most of the races from the day, I give the race of the day to the Men's 3k Steeplechase. It was a very close race for the entirety, but with about 600 to go, Dickinson's Kent Pecora got accidentally pushed into the infield for 5 steps or so (note-you're only allowed 3 consecutive steps on the infield otherwise you are disqualified). Pecora then proceeded to act like he was shot out of a cannon, absolutely flying in the last 600 meters to win. Officials ruled it was incidental contact that caused this, and that Pecora would not be disqualified. My pick to win the race, Nick Kramer of Calvin College, finished 3rd.

More to come from Nationals!

Day 1 from Track Nationals

Hosting Track Nationals = awesome. The amounts of free stuff you get are ridiculous. So far, I've racked up 2 t-shirts, a polo, a draw-string bag, a water bottle, and some other assorted crap. I also bought some other shit as well. Again, not every day you host nationals. Working Track Nationals, especially during the down time = frackin boring. I have never been as bored as I've been in my life. We essentially had to stay in the muddy hospitality tent with shitty views of the track waiting for our next assignment, which I could have to wait an hour for. Eventually, I got so bored that I went and ran errands, and it's a good thing cause the skies opened up and let forth a hell of a downpour while I was gone. And, I wasn't there. Winner = me.

Oh, yeah, there were races, throws, and jumps as well. 5 OWU athletes competed on Thursday. Cara DeAngelis ran in the 1500 preliminaries, and was unfortunately 2 spots from making the finals, finishing with a time of 4:37. The 4x400 team of Sean Patrick, Matt Martin, Ethan Freet, and Silas Jolliff finished 14th out of 16 with a time of 3:17, a disappointing end to the season after claiming All-America honors in Indoor (good news though, 3 out of 4 of them return next year). Freet also ran in the preliminaries of the 400 hurdles and finished in the 4th fastest time of 52.57 seconds, making it to the finals on Saturday.

The race of the day yesterday was, of all things, the men's 10k. I know, you're thinking "how the hell can 25 laps be interesting, especially laps 3-22?". Of course, being a distance runner helps. But, I seriously couldn't turn my head away from this race. From the outset, Eric Kleinsasser of Occidental took a large lead for the first 7 or 8 laps. Of course, common wisdom of 10k says that "he who takes a large lead early in the 10k will die hard". And, what do you know, he dies and the pack catches him! The pack remains pretty much intact until about 3200 meters to go (or so), when Mike Spain of North Central and Thomas Breitbach of Wisconsin-Eau Claire break away from the field. Now, usually the winner of the 10k is usually settled with 1200-2400 meters to go. Not today folks. The longest race on the track, 10,000 meters, 25 laps, is settled...

IN THE LAST 200 FRAKCIN METERS!

Yes, a sprint down the last 200. Mike Spain won with a time of 29:58 (which is not even his fastest). Being in the stands and watching, it was ridiculous.

Day 2 of Nationals coming tomorrow!

2011 NCAA DIII Outdoor Track and Field Nationals

This Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Ohio Wesleyan, the school which I'm currently attending and getting an education from, is hosting the NCAA DIII Outdoor Track & Field National Meet! YAY FAST RUNNERS! Being a member of the OWU Track & Field Team, this is a big deal to me, and to the entire team. Not everyday that you compete for a school that is hosting a national meet, such as this.

The best sprinters, runners, throwers, jumpers, and vaulters from DIII Schools across the country will compete at OWU's Selby Stadium. But, screw them, we only care the OWU athletes competing in this meet. Turns out, we got 8 of them; 4 men, 4 women. So, here's a breakdown of each runner, what they have accomplished, and what event(s) they are racing/jumping/throwing in this weekend.

Starting with the men:

Ethan Freet, SO, London, OH

Freet, at the 2011 NCAC Conference Meet, dominated the sprinting events, winning the 55 Meter Dash, the 200m, the 400m, was a part of the winning 4x200, and winning 4x400 teams. For the entire season, Freet has been close to the top in every event he ran in. It's safe to say he's a boss.
Freet will be competing in the 400m hurdles and the 4x400.

Speaking of the 4x4, here is the rest of the 4x4 squad:

Matt Martin, SO, New Brighton, PA


Sean Patrick, SR, Delaware, OH


Silas Jolliff, SO, Cardington, OH


On the women's side:
Emily Amburgey, SO, Germantown, OH

Amburgey qualified for Nationals in indoors for the high jump. She also won All-NCAC Honors in indoors and outdoors for the high jump. She also has competed in the hurdles and long jump this season.
As you can probably guess, Amburgey will compete in the high jump.

Sarah Bechtel, FR, Bellefontaine, OH

Bechtel won the pole vault in both the NCAC Indoor and Outdoor Conference Meets. Her highest vault was at 3.55 meters. She also competed in the hurdles this year.
Bechtel will compete in, you guessed it, the pole vault.

Cara DeAngelis, FR, Norton, OH

DeAngelis has been very under the radar (kinda because one of her teammates steals the spotlight from her, but more on that later), but has become one of the strongest distance runners on the OWU Team. She won the 1500m at the NCAC Outdoor Conference Meet, and took 2 3rd place finishes in at indoor conference. She also hit NCAA Provisional Qualifying times in the 1500 and 5000m.
Cara will compete in the 1500m this weekend.

Kat Zimmerly, SR, Edinboro, PA

What hasn't she done? Kat was All-American in Cross Country this past year. She won the mile and 3k at the indoor conference meet, and won the 3k steeplechase at the outdoor conference meet. She has school records in everything it seems like, 3k steeple, 5k, and then decided to set the record in the 10k.
Kat will compete in the 5k.

Stay tuned for more information and updates from the meet!

Haulin Off to Nationals

I don't think I have told any of my readers this, but I am a runner. I run college cross country here at Ohio Wesleyan. I might not be great, but I feel like I contribute a good deal of cheering and support for the squad. This weekend, the top 7 on the team competed in Holland, Michigan at the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Championship and with a chance to make it to nationals. We placed 4th, not enough for an automatic bid, but a chance for an at large bid. Well, Selection Sunday has rolled around and you know what...

WE'RE GOING TO FREAKIN' NATIONALS!!!!

Expect some type of special post from the course, this Saturday.

And, another thing, only 13 more spots need to be filled in 1990 Upper Deck Box Break Contest so I can bust this box. Sign up today!