Regional Day 2

The MU Track and Field team finished up the 2008 NCAA Mid-East Regional with Cassie Peller (SR) in the 1500m final and Rachel Thiel (SO) in the Shot Put.

Cassie finished 6th to just miss the automatic qualifying bid as the top 5 automatically qualify to the NCAA Championships in two weeks at Drake University. Cassie must now wait until Tuesday to find out if she will recieve an at-large bid. Based on our calculations, she has a outside but realisitc shot of being selected. Here is the race video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKmIEQU-gE4

Rachel Thiel competed in her first regional meet and threw 45'6.5". Here is a video compilation for Rachel's 3 throws: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5iKzSV8pu0

NCAA Regionals - Day 1

The Marquette track & field team is back at it this weekend at the John McDonnell Track and Field Complex at the University of Arkansas.

Here is a brief recap of the Day 1 results:

Cassie Peller (SR) qualified for the final with a time of 4:25.76, which was the 2nd fasted time of both prelims.
Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-T5cFbH8_8

Jayne Grebinski (SO) ran 17:25.22 to place 14th in the 5000m

Carrie Schmid (JR) jumped 12'0" to place 19th in the competition.

Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_sXR5-jxwA

Tyler O'Brien (FR) run his 2nd fasted 200m of his life running 21.40 to place 25th.

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcahC0VwT3o

Tomorrow we will see Rachel Thiel (SO) in the Shot Put and Cassie Peller in the 1500m final.

GO MARQUETTE!

BIG EAST Outdoor

Conference time is the most exciting time of the season, and this year was no different. The highlight of the BIG EAST Outdoor meet was definitely the women’s 4x800m relay victory. The quartet of Cassie Peller, Katlin Millin, Kaitlyn Chambers, and Sarah Verdoliva won going away in a new school record time of 8:49.96.

(Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDHXLhCNfUg)

In the team competition, both the men and women’s teams didn’t do as well as was hoped for. The BIG EAST is a conference that has improved dramatically in the three years that we have been members. It is truly and ELITE conference and we are working hard to improve the team and in some ways outright change the way we do things to better compete in such a strong conference. Marquette track and field has a strong history of success. We as the coaching staff recognize and respect the history of a program that has turned All-Americans, National Champions, and Olympians. We are working diligently to be stewards of the program and build a competitive team in the BIG EAST conference and beyond. It will take hard work and YOUR support, but we truly believe that we can be competitive as a team in largest DI conference in the country, and we can build on the history of Marquette track and field and add to list of All-Americans, National Champions, and Olympians!

Here are some of the highlights from the meet:

Women’s 4x800m Relay – 8:49.96 1st place, School Record! Team of Cassie Peller (SR), Katlin Millin (SO), Kaitlyn Chambers (SR), and Sarah Verdoliva (SO)

Carrie Schmid (JR) – Pole Vault (12’5.5”) 3rd place

Tyler O’Brien (FR) – 200m (21.41) 4th place, PR, #3 All-Time, US Junior National Qualifying

Rachel Thiel (SO) – Shot Put (14.91m / 48’11”) 5th place, School Record!, PR, Improves her NCAA Regional Qualifying mark.

Jessi Ehlen (JR) – Discus (45.83m / 150’4”) 5th place, PR, #5 All-time. Hammer (51.52 / 169’0”) 6th place. Jessi’s discus was a 5 foot PR!

Peter Bolgert (FR) – 3000 Steeplechase (9:15.45) 6th place, PR, #10 All-Time US Junior National Qualifying

Men’s 4x800m Relay (7:33.98) 6th place, #6 All-time. Team of Jed Burey (SR), Peter Bolgert (FR), Mark Kopecki (SO), Eric Meissner (SO)

Jeff Kluge (SO) – Hammer (51.62 / 169’4”) 8th place, PR, #8 All-Time. Discus (48.91 / 160’5”) 8th place.

Lana Rabas (SR) – High Jump (1.70 / 5’7”) 8th place, PR, #4 All-Time, Lana entered the competition as the #21 ranked high jumper and finished 8th. Pretty good for the senior!

Men’s 4x100m Relay (42.14) 8th place. Team of Antonio Jones (JR), Tyler O’Brien (FR), Nick Van Deraa (JR), Raymond Bratchett (SR)

Nick Van Deraa (JR) – Pole Vault (14’9”) 8th place.


Watch videos from the meet here (more coming soon!): http://www.youtube.com/user/mutrackandfield

BIG EAST photos courtasey of Erynn James

Success!

It was a windy day, but overall it was successful for the MU Track and field team. We were looking to host a meet that would be a good final prep for the BIG EAST Conference meet and the Twilight meet was just that. In most events the wind affected the performance in terms of times, heights and distances. Our goal, however, was to COMPETE to the best of our ability in whatever conditions that are in the way. That is exactly what we will be up against next weekend at the BIG EAST meet. We need to compete to the best of our ability to score points and place as high as we can as a team.

There was a palpable level of excitement in practice this past week. I think the seniors were especially pumped to compete in the first home meet of their Marquette careers. At the meet I saw fire in the eyes of all those in MU blue and gold. I think the results say it all – we won 17 events.


Though there weren’t a ton of PRs (primarily due to the weather), there were a couple of notable performances….

Rachel Thiel, SO: Shot Put – 48-5.5, 1st place, #2 in school history, facility record, improves her NCAA Regional qualifying mark.

Tyler O’Brien, FR: 100m – 10.55, 1st place, #2 in school history, US Junior National qualifying mark, it would have been a NCAA Regional mark but the wind was over the limit (No wind requirement for JR Nationals). Here is the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q35d1vwL03U

Carrie Schmid, JR: Pole Vault – 11-7.75, 1st place, facility record. Carrie is currently on a 3-meet winning streak.

Jon Kusowski, FR: Hammer – 161-0, After several weeks inching closer to the BIG EAST qualifying mark, Jon hit it on his first throw!

Here is a link to some pictures courtesy of Eric Vanden Eykel, enjoy! CLICK HERE

MARQUETTE TWILIGHT!
Saturday April 26, 2008

After 6 years track and field is returning to the Menomonee Valley in the form of the Marquette Twilight. After resurfacing the track two summers ago we were set to host the Marquette Invitational last season when we were forced to cancel it due to an untimely April snowstorm. No snow is in the forecast this year as we prep for the Twilight meet. The reason for the Twilight meet you may ask? There is a better chance of calmer winds in the evening. Looking ahead at the forecast, I hope that this holds true! I am sure most of you who have trained at Valley Fields know what the winds can be like.

Field events start at 1:00pm with the Hammer at the MU Throws Field. The rest of the field events start in the Valley at 4:00pm. Running events start at 5:00pm. You can check out http://www.gomarquette.com/ for all the details including meet schedule, heat-sheets, etc. I hope to see many of you tomorrow down in the valley!