Track & Field Update


The track and field season is already upon us! A little over a week ago we opened the indoor season by taking a small group of sprinters and jumpers to Notre Dame for their annual December Blue and Gold Invitational. We decided to keep the throwers and the distance crew at home. This was a typical December meet as we used it to judge where we are at in our training, and we had some good performances.

Sophomore Tyler O’Brien was the lone event winner on the evening, running 22.28 in the 200m. Last year Tyler opened his MU career at this meet by setting the Marquette school records in both the 60m and 200m. Sophomore Nick Byom started his season out well by tying his lifetime best in the High Jump with a jump of 6’7” (2.01m). This was especially satisfying to me as we are training very hard right now and for him to jump a PR when we are not even in our competition phase of training bodes well fro the future!

Junior Michael O'Brien recorded a career-best time of 1:05.75 in the 500m for a third-place finish. Mike’s 500m time was almost 1 full second faster than what he ran last year at this meet and made him number 10 on the all-time list. Mike is a 400 hurdler outdoors and, along with the other 400 hurdlers, is training with the 800m runners this fall to build up his endurance for that grueling race. So far the training change seems to be paying off. Mike later teamed up with Freshman Anthony Held, 5th-year senior Nick Van Deraa and Senior Tom Cassady to run a solid 4x400m relay. Their time of 3:20.91, though not as fast as we want t be, was one of the faster 4x4s we have run in December.

The lone highlight on the women's side was Katlin Millin as she finished second in the 1000m with a BIG EAST qualifying time of 2:59.04. Katlin ran too conservatively in the race and ended up having a lot left at the end. Though her time was not quite what she was hoping for, we saw several good things in her race that leads us to believe that she will be great this year in her signature event the 800m.

Several of our top women in the sprints and jumps sat out. Notables include 2008 NCAA regional qualifiers Carrie Schmid (redshirt) and Erynn James (injury). Also out was the anchor of the 2008 BIG EAST outdoor 4x800m relay Sarah Verdoliva (injury).

Right now we are on winter break. We have a few locals in all the event areas working out over break, but a majority of the team is back home training hard and getting ready for the quickly approaching 2nd semester.

We will return to action on Friday January9th when we head to Grand Valley State where we will be competing on their brand-new 300m track.

Re-cap of NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet

NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet- West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University

The Great Lakes Regional meet is always one of the most competitive regions in the country. Some considered this a down year because both the men and the women only got two at-large teams into the national meet(along with the two automatic teams). However, I believe that all of the Great Lakes schools will do very well at the national championships. Another interesting note is that six Big East Women's teams made it to nationals and four men's teams made it to nationals. The Big East is definitely a power-house in the sport of XC.

The meet was held at Purdue University on an excellent "cross-country only" course. The weather conditions were absolutely atrocious for this meet. Some of the toughest conditions for racing XC that I've ever seen. It was extremely muddy and windy out there and the added 2k distance for the men only made things that much more difficult. The weather didn't stop our athletes from performing well.

Men-
The highlight for the men's team was the performance of Kyle Saginus. Kyle, once again, ran an outstanding race and missed qualifying for nationals by less than 1 second. Kyle placed 15th with a time of 31:57. Kyle ended up being the 5th individual not on a qualifying team. The NCAA takes the top four individuals to nationals. It was a heart-breaker for not only Kyle, but for the team as well. Kyle has been an excellent leader to this young group of athletes and they wanted to go cheer him on at nationals. Besides Kyle, it was a rough day for our guys. Illness and injury took its toll on our men's team this year. We lost our number 3 runner(Nick Szcech) and our number 5/6 runner (Keith Schueller) the week leading up to regionals. Brice Cleland had a bad ankle sprain the Monday before regionals. He ran the race, but I could tell he was in pain. We ended up placing 16th out of 28 teams, which was pretty disappointing for our guys. However, I'm not terribly upset with this crew. We have an extremely young team. We have 4 seniors, 0 juniors, 4 sophomores, and 8 freshmen(many of which red-shirted this season). The future looks bright for Marquette Men's XC. With another solid recruiting class, we should be fully stocked and ready to roll next year.

Women-

I thought that the women had their best meet of the season at regionals. It was a very solid team effort. We placed 7th out of 34 teams in the region. Once again, the mud and muck did not hold our girls back. The girls ran a very smart race with each of them picking off 5-15 girls in the last 2k. I won't highlight any one girls race because I thought they all had a great performance. Here are our places:

25th Anna Weber 21:57

42nd Jayne Grebinski 22:20

45th Laurie Dalrymple 22:24

53rd Amanda Beggs 22:31

56th Olivia Johnson 22:33

77th Maureen Keane 22:57

93rd Kate Horan 23:10

Of course we would have liked to finish a little higher. It was our goal all year to beat Notre Dame and we fell just short several times. The great thing about this group is that we lose NO ONE! We have no seniors on this squad. I really get the impression that most of these women are really starting to grasp the training concepts and they understand what it will take to reach that next level. Hopefully I can do my job and bring in 1-2 girls that can help this bunch for next year. Like the men, with another recruiting class, we should be fully stocked and ready to make a run at the national championships next season. Now its time for both of these groups to get some rest and rejuvenation. Indoor track is just around the corner!!

Big East Re-cap

The 2008 Big East Conference Cross-Country Championships were held this past Friday at historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. Many who read this blog have raced at Van Cortlandt, so you know how challenging the course is. Very little has changed on the XC course in the 100+ years they have held races there. It is a fun atmosphere and I'm glad our young athletes got the opportunity to compete at this historic venue. Our team is very young. We took 18 athletes to New York and we'll get 15 of them back next year. The future is bright for MU XC!! Overall, I thought it was a very solid day for the Marquette University Cross-Country teams. It would have been nice to place 1-2 spots higher on both sides, but I think our teams had their best meet of the year so far. Both teams finished 7th for the second consecutive year. Our goal will be a top 5 finish at the 2009 Big East Championships which will be held on our home turf.

The best moment of the meet was watching Kyle Saginus sprinting in to finish 12th. Kyle ran an absolutely beautiful race. He started out in the 30's at the mile, he was in 22nd at the 5k mark, and then he slowly picked guys off to earn all-Big East honors. I was very happy for Kyle because he has worked so hard over the years for this moment. He's had his share of ups and downs throughout his career, but he wasn't going to be denied at this meet. He is only our second athlete to earn Big East all-conference honors(Cassie Peller being the other).

The 2005 Big East Championships were also held at Van Cortlandt. Here is a comparison of the 2005 team and the 2008 team. Obviously I wasn't there in 05, so I can't tell you if weather or tactics played a roll in the finishing times. I can tell you this though, the Big East has become more competitive in the last 3 years. Teams like Louisville, Syracuse, and Cincinnati have become much more competitive on the national level. I enjoy this type of competition and I think our team members do as well. The athletes know that if they can place well at the Big East Championships, they could do well on the national stage.

Men-

2005 squad- 8th place

38th David Henderson 25:55
42nd Jeremy Williams 26:01
52nd Kyle Saginus 26:14
63rd Josh Pinter 26:43
64th Andrew Craig 26:49
76th Scott Allen 27:12
97th Tommy Schmitz 28:24

2008 squad- 7th place
12th Kyle Saginus 24:56
35th Brice Cleland 25:34
46th Nick Szczech 25:54
55th Blake Johnson 26:11
66th Andrew Craig 26:21
75th Mark Kopecki 26:45
89th Patrick Keeley 27:23

Women-
2005 squad- 3rd place
14th Cassie Peller 21:49
20th Michaela Courtney 22:07
21st Susie Emond 22:11
23rd Theresa Emond 22:15
27th Tara Hinke 22:18
28th Heidi Lindeman 22:19
44th Alli Sauer 22:52

2008 squad- tied for 7th
35th Anna Weber 21:37
37th Jayne Grebinski 21:39
49th Laurie Dalrymple 22:04
55th Olivia Johnson 22:12
56th Amanda Beggs 22:12
73rd Maureen Keane 22:53
79th Kate Horan 23:02

As we head into the Big East Conference meet, I thought I would post a preview and provide some insight into what we have been doing over the last few weeks. Also, I am including a preview of the Big East Championships that was posted on the web-site: trackshark.com(one of my favorites).

Men-
The men seem to get stronger and stronger with each passing week. I think we are definitely ready for our best meet of the season. We had an outstanding week of practice last week. Nick Szczech has had somewhat of a disappointing season thus far, however he has looked fantastic the last few workouts. His swagger his back and he will be a huge difference maker for us. Kyle continues to impress as well as Brice Cleland. Kyle will be shooting for an All-Big East Conference performance(top 15). Also, Mark Kopecki had his best workout of the season last week, so things seem to be coming around at the right time. As everyone knows, the Big East is one of the most competitive conferences in the nation for XC, if not the most competitive. There is a good shot that six men's teams will qualify for nationals from the Big East. We placed 7th last season at the conference XC championships. We are predicted to finish 8th this season. I feel like we can place higher than 8th, but we'll have to run well to do it. Let's go RACE!!!

Women-
Just like the men, the women continue to get stronger in their workouts. The pre-nationals race was not a good indicator of how good we really are. This women's team should really turn some heads at the Big East Championships. We had a fantastic workout last Wednesday. The women did 2x2 miles w/ 5 min recovery between. The first one was at tempo pace and the second one was supposed to be hard, but under control. We did the first one on the Cudahy bike path and the second one was on Cudahy High School's track. Our top 5 women ran 11:32 on the first one and they all ran 11:17 on the second one. Five women running strong, 11:17 for 5 women!! Last year, our 5th woman ran 11:50 in this workout(and the weather was better last year). Needless to say, I'm very excited to see what this group can do at conference.

Here is the humerus preview from trackshark.com:

Big East – The Bronx, NY
Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, South Florida, St. John's University (New York), Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia

Where does one begin trying to sort out the humongous Big East? Tenth ranked Georgetown is the clear favorite, but where to go from there? How about we go to reader, Luke Rygh, for some analysis:

“The first 7 spots are pretty much on lock with Georgetown, Louisville, Syracuse, Villanova, Providence, Notre Dame and Cincinnati. I know that won't be the order, but that's the top half of the conference. I'm here to help you with 8-14. USF is holding down the fort in the 14th, with Seton Hall falling in right at 13. From 8-12 is pretty up for grabs. Marquette looks like it has the best chance to grab the 8th spot because of Kyle Saginus running up front, but a bad race by their 3-5 guys could cost them. Pitt, DePaul, Uconn and Rutgers are all vying for that 9th, potential 8th spot. DePaul has the victory over Pitt at the conference course at the Fordham Fiasco, but Pitt has also showed they have gotten stronger. Rutgers has also shown in the past they have a strong finish to their season and will be right in the mix with Pitt and DePaul, along with UCONN who usually has a solid group of runners. There you go. It's the best I got.”
Thank you Luke, but what about those basketball teams? You have to believe they are getting 9 teams into the tournament this year. That is one tough basketball conference! Which is more difficult: Being in the Big East for basketball, the SEC for football, or the MAC for a "delusional athletic director and a mismanaged shitstorm of an athletic program budget" contest?

Pick: Georgetown



Also, here are our workouts from last week and this week. I know many are interested in how we are preparing for the championship portion of our season.

Monday October 20-
3:05pm- Long Run/Hill Workrout. Wil-O-Way Hill Workout #3.
Men- 3 mile warm-up(20minutes), 5xWOW Hill, 2 miles easy, 5xWOW Hill, 2-3 mile cooldown. ~12-13 miles. Take a 2-3 minutes between each transition.
Women- 2 mile warm-up(15minutes), 5xWOW Hill, 2 miles easy, 5xWOW Hill, 1-2 mile cooldown. ~10-11 miles. Take 2-3 minutes between each transition.

Tuesday October 21-
6:30am- Group 1 morning run. 25-30min easy.
7:00am- Group 1 weights
7:30am- Group 2 morning run. 25-30min easy
8:00am- Group 2 weights

3:05pm- All Groups: easy run and drills. We will travel somewhere.
Men- 40-45min easy run. Drills + 6 x 100m Strides
Women- 35-40 min easy run. Drills + 6 x 100m Strides

Wednesday October 22-
3:05pm- Tempo Workout @ Cudahy. Last rep will be all out.
Men- 3 x 2 miles w/ 5 min recovery between.
Women- 2 x 2 miles w/ 5 min recovery between.

Thursday October 23-
7:00am- Group 1 weights.
8:00am- Group 2 weights.
PM- All Groups OYO (on your own) 35-50min easy run. BPA’s.

Friday October 24-
3:05pm- Track Workout. Full warm-up/cooldown.
Men- 16-20 x 200m. Sets of 5.
Women- 16 x 200m. Sets of 4.

Saturday October 25-
Practice will be on your own.
Men- 50-65 min easy run
Women- 45-60 min easy run

Sunday October 26-
All Groups Rest or Easy 30-50 min run.

Monday October 27-
3:05pm- Mile Repeats @ Greenfield Park. 2 mile warm-up/cooldown
Men- 5x1 mile reps w/ 3 min recovery between. Fast, but under control.
Women- 4x1 mile reps w/ 3 min recovery between. Fast, but under control.

Tuesday October 28-
No morning run or weight training for those running at Big East Championships.
Feel free to do a 10-20 shake-out run. Weights for those not going to Big East.

3:05pm- Easy run, strides, drills, core-work.
Men- 40-45 min run, drills, 6x100m strides.
Women- 35-45 min run, drills, 6x100m strides.

Wednesday October 29-
3:05pm- Easy run + 200m strides at Hart Park.
Men- 40-50min run + 4-5 x 200m on Hart Park Track.
Women- 35-45min run + 4-5 x 200m on Hart Park Track.
Take 200m jog recovery between reps.

Thursday October 30-
7:30am- Depart MU Gym for Airport.
9:30am- Plane Departs Milwaukee for Newark, NJ.
12:40pm- Arrive Newark, NJ.
3:00pm- Jog Course at Van Cortlandt.

Friday October 31-
10:30am- Women’s Big East Championship 6k. GO MU!!!
11:10am- Men’s Big East Championship 5-mile. GO MU!!!

Pre-Nationals Re-Cap

The NCAA pre-national meet is always one of the most exciting meets of the year. There are approximately 85 teams split into two different races. You have the opportunity to watch some of the best athletes in the nation compete and you get a great idea of where your teams fits in on the national stage. Besides a few major hiccups, I thought we ran pretty well. I'll go through each race and each individual.

Women-
If you looked at the results, you would have two questions: What happened to Jayne? What happened to Olivia? We are still trying to figure that out. In a nutshell, our top runner dropped out of the race and our number 2 girl walked the last 400m. Your team score tends to suffer when this happens. If you would have taken the team scores at 4k, we would have placed 15th-17th. Jayne and Olivia were running right next to Laurie. We ended up placing 26th(which still isn't that bad). We looked great until around 5k, when things started to unravel. Neither girl had any sort of injury, my honest guess is that the pressure got to them. Both of them went into panic mode when they started getting passed. They began to hyperventilate and the body systems started to shut down. I had to carry Jayne off the course and into the medical tent. When I looked up after setting Jayne on the table, I saw two other trainers dragging Olivia into the tent. This was definitely a scary moment for a coach. For the most part, the other girls ran well. I think both Jayne and Olivia will bounce back from this episode. We'll make a few changes in race strategy for conference. Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again.

93 Laurie Dalrymple So. 21:46 (Great race for this young lady. I was impressed with her toughness. She normally isn't our number one, but she stepped up and did a great job).
113 Anna Weber Jr. 22:00 (Not a great race for her. I expected her to be 20-30 spots higher)
120 Amanda Beggs Jr. 22:06 (Solid race for her. I think she can run a little better, but she improved her placing from last year by 45 spots. I'll take that any day).
182 Maureen Keane So. 22:38 (Great race for this young lady. She had no idea she was our 4th runner).
211 Kate Horan Fr. 22:55 (Nice race for this freshmen. She is normally our 8th girl and today she was our 5th girl. She is tough when it counts).
272 Olivia Johnson So. 24:33 (She'll recover from this quickly).

Open Race-
Sarah Verdoliva Jr. 23:11 (Nice final race for this first-time XC runner. She'll come back next season much stronger and wiser).
Courtney Kelly Fr. 23:25 (Getting better each week. Still has more in the tank).
Dani Owen So. 23:43 (Ran about 40 seconds slower than last year. Disappointing season thus far).
Bekki Misanin Fr. 23:46 (Nice race for this freshmen).

Men-
Overall, I was pretty happy with the men's performance. We finished a little lower than we did last year, but we still ran strong considering how many injury/illness issues we have dealt with recently. The competition is so tough at this meet and I think our men responded well to the challenge. In general, times were 20-30 seconds slower than last year. I think the wind played a big part in slowing things down. Kyle Saginus has established himself as a serious threat to qualify individually for nationals.

63 Kyle Saginus Sr. 24:35 (Great race for Kyle. He ran a few seconds faster than he did last year in much slower conditions. He's running great right now!).
104 Brice Cleland So. 24:57 (Brice was disappointed with his time because its about the same time he ran last year, but once again, the conditions weren't nearly as favorable. He placed about 50 spots higher than last year).
171 Nick Szczech So. 25:28 (Still not quite where we want him, but at least he ran a better race. He's starting to look better in practice, hopefully that translates into the races).
203 Blake Johnson Fr. 25:44 (Nice race for this freshmen. I think he can still go much faster, but this was a much better effort than Notre Dame. He will be ready to PR at conference).
229 Drew Craig Sr. 26:04 (Not as good as Notre Dame, but still a solid race for him. He had the race of his life at Notre Dame, so thats hard to live up to).
247 Keith Schueller Fr. 26:15 (Very solid effort for this freshmen. He takes care of business).
259 Mark Kopecki Sr. 26:44 (Very disappointing effort for him. Things have not gone well this season. Hopefully he can turn it around at conference).

Open Race-
Dominick Rosario Fr. 26:25 (Great effort for this young man. He did a great job leading this pack).
Patrick Keeley Fr. 26:38 (Was hoping for a little more from him, but not a bad effort. He can go faster).
Steve Briggs Sr. 26:54 (Disappointing end to his season and career at Marquette. Unless someone in front of him gets hurt, he will not be going to conference).
Garrett McKnight Fr. 27:15 (Starting to run out of gas. He's more of a middle distance runner, but I have been happy with his season. He'll train through conference and then start focusing on track. He'll be an 800m/1500m specialist for us. Good season for this freshman).

Beat 1 – On Campus
by Erynn James


Note: Junior high jumper Erynn James is taking a Journalism class this semester and part of the class involved being a "beat writer" for some aspect of Marquette University or the surrounding community. One of Erynn's beats is the Track and Field team. She will be providing periodic articles for the Coaches Blog on the MU Track and Field team.



As the Marquette University track and field team gets ready for the upcoming season, more is done this year to prepare.

“I’m really excited for the upcoming season,” Bert Rogers, head coach, said. “You have to learn to temper your excitement throughout the season so you don’t get excited at once and burn out by the end.”

While the team starts fall practice, four new athletes have been added since the Friday, Sept. 12 tryouts.

The athletes include two freshman males, Matthew D’Arcy, a distance runner and James Muehleman, a jumper; one sophomore male, Albojay Deacon, a sophomore triple and long jumper, and one freshman female, Carly Condon, a middle distance runner.

The tryouts lasted for five days with time trials and jumping competitions.

Along with new athletes, a fresh face was added to the staff.

Ken Hunt has been added as assistant coach this year. “I have know Ken as a collegiate and elite competitor,” said Rogers, “I know he’ll fit in well.”

Hunt, an elite triple jumper and former coach for Milwaukee King high school, will be coaching the women’s and men’s horizontal jumps and short sprints. Hunt also hopes to be competing in the triple jump at the U.S. National meet this year. He qualifed Indoors last year.

The track season officially starts after fall break. The team will not begin to travel until December. Until then, according to Rogers, the team will be working on conditioning based on events. “We don’t have specific goals as of now,” said Rogers. “Our overall goal is to improve. I want to improve our standing in the Big East. With the talent on this team I think we can definitely achieve this goal.”



Pictures from Fall Training of the Sprints / Jumps Group and the 400 / 800 Group:

Re-cap of Notre Dame Invitational

10/3/08

Notre Dame Invitational- South Bend, Indiana
Weather/Conditions: 60 degrees, light breeze. Ground was fairly hard. Great day for XC racing.

Men-
Well, things didn't quite go according to plan. Definitely walked away from this one disappointed. Overall, it wasn't that bad, 7 of the 10 guys that we raced set PR's. Unfortunately, the ones who didn't PR were our 2,4,5 runners. We got last in the Blue Race. This was definitely the most competitive meet in the nation. One thing I was happy with is the fact that we had 4 true freshmen run between 25:50 and 26:10. Here were the places and times:

41 Kyle Saginus, Sr. 24:30 PR (Great Race, right where we wanted him).
70 Brice Cleland, So. 24:48 PR (Great Race, moved up throughout the race).
137 Drew Craig, Sr. 25:29 PR (Best Race I have ever seen from him).
160 Blake Johnson Fr. 25:53 PR(Not what we wanted. I expected him to run 20-30 sec faster)
164 Keith Schueller, Fr. 25:59 PR (Great race for this freshmen).
165 Mark Kopecki, Sr. 26:00 (Ran 30-40 seconds slower than what we wanted. Was sick).
174 Dominick Rosario, Fr. 26:09 PR (Great Race for this freshmen).
190 Nick Szczech, So. 26:32 (This was over 2 minutes slower than what we wanted. This is what killed our team. Something is wrong and we need to figure it out now!)


Open Race-
Patrick Keeley, Fr. 26:09 (Great Race for this freshmen).
Garrett McKnight, Fr. 26:50 (Was running great until his hamstring started acting up around 3 miles, otherwise he was right with Patrick).

No excuses, No explanations. We'll run much better at Pre-Nationals!

Women-

I was also a little disappointed with this group. We got out way to slow. It looked like our whole team was running in last place after 100m. Our top 5 women came through the mile in 5:40 and that put them in the 100's. They looked a little shell-shocked during the race. We looked like this at the Bill Dellinger meet last season, but we just continued getting better from there. Like the men, this group will run much better at Pre-Nationals. Overall, I was happy with many of their efforts, however there are a few that really need to step it up. I am happy with our team depth. We had 11 women under 19:00 for 5k and we don't lose any of them for next season. Here are their places and performances:

71 Anna Weber, Jr. 17:43 (Good race for Anna, but not great. She can run better)
74 Jayne Grebinski, Jr. 17:45 (Very disappointed with this effort. She ran 16:45 on the track last spring. She should have run 20-30 seconds faster. We have to get tougher!!)
76 Laurie Dalrymple, So. 17:46 (Good race for her. Happy with the effort)
84 Olivia Johnson, So. 17:49 (Expected more from her. This was her first big DI race. She'll get better and better)
85 Amanda Beggs, Jr. 17:51 (Good race for her. She can run better, but this was a solid start)
144 Maureen Keane, So. 18:31 (Good race for her)
150 Sarah Verdoliva, So. 18:37 (Great race for this being her 3rd XC race ever. This was probably her last race of the season)
151 Kristin Pelzel, So. 18:37 (Disappointed with this effort. Chronic injury problems don't allow her to train much. This might be her last race of the year??)
157 Kate Horan, Fr. 18:42 (Big PR for this young lady. Hard worker and tough)

Open Race-
Courtney Kelly, Fr. 18:45 (Nice race for this Freshman. She'll continue to get better. Had some illness issues for a couple weeks earlier in the season. Doing much better.
Bekki Misanin, Fr. 19:00 (Nice race for this Freshman, should continue to develop)

This Group is good enough to make it to nationals, however we need more help up front. We can't get to nationals with our #1 runner finishing in the 70's in a race like this.

Re-Cap of Huskie Invitational

9/13/08

This was our first trip to the Huskie Invitational which was held in DeKalb, IL at Northern Illinois University. We held out our top 6 men and top 5 women from the St. Louis meet. I held these individuals out because we are putting a lot of emphasis on the bigger meets in late October and November. Both our men's and women's squads have excellent opportunities to qualify for nationals. I don't want to waste a good performance in the early part of the season.

If you were anywhere in the upper midwest this past weekend, you know the kind of weather conditions we were dealing with. Rain, Rain, and more rain. I think the races were actually kind of fun for the kids. Their feet would literally sink into the grass 2-3 inches each stride. I told them before the race that we were concentrating completely on racing performances today rather than times. Times were incredibly slow. 26:40 for the men's winner!! I wanted each athlete to make sure they passed at least three runners during the second half of the race. As we all know, times don't necessarily mean a whole lot in XC. Courses are short, long, muddy, etc. For me, a good race is one where you either move up in the second half of the race or you at least hold your position. I always tell the kids to judge their racing performance first and their finishing time second. The overall goal is to beat as many people as possible.

Men-
We only lined up 5 runners for this race; we also ran 3 unattached guys(8 Marquette guys total). Unfortunately, one of the freshmen(Dominick Rosario- Edina, Minnesota) dropped out of the race with a hamstring injury, so we didn't register a team score. Our number one runner at this meet was Blake Johnson from Saline, Michigan. I do feel that Blake will be in our top 7 and most likely in our top 5. He placed 5th overall with a time of 27:06. Senior Drew Craig was next across the line for us in 9th place. Drew is recovering from injury and seems to be making great progress. Drew is another guy that should be somewhere in our top 7. Garrett McKnight, another freshmen from St. Charles, IL, was the next across the line for us in 12th. Garrett is running well despite the fact that he was more of a 400m/800m runner in high school. With the increased base, he'll hopefully have an outstanding track season. Overall, I was happy with the men that ran. This was a great experience for them and it helped get them ready to compete at Notre Dame on October 3rd.

Women-
We ran a much larger squad on the women's side. We had a total of 11 athletes who competed. We aren't red-shirting any of the females so that's why their squad was a little larger. The women got 2nd place as a team despite the fact that we held out our top 5. Wisconsin ran their full women's squad and they swept the top 7 spots. We were able to beat UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, and Northern Illinois without running our top 5. I feel very good about the depth that we have this year. Our #1 girl was Sophomore Laurie Dalrymple from Elmhurst, IL. Laurie is a transfer student from Tulane University. She placed 8th overall with a time of 19:23. Laurie was unable to run our first meet because of illness, so its nice to have her back competing. She is another one who will be in our top 7 and possibly top 5. Newcomers Sarah Verdoliva and Kate Horan were the next across the line for us. This was only Sarah's second cross-country race EVER!! She normally trains with the sprinters, however she wanted to give XC a try and she is doing great! Kate Horan is a freshmen from St. Louis, MO. She is 5'10 and she uses that long stride to power herself down the course. Like the men, I thought this was a great experience for the women. We could very easily run into conditions like this again. We'll be well prepared for another monsoon if we have to race in one!!

Also, the regional rankings came out yesterday. Here they are:

Great Lakes Men
1. Michigan
2. Wisconsin
3. Notre Dame
4. Michigan State
5. Indiana
6. Marquette
7. Miami (Ohio)
8. Ohio State
9. Cincinnati
10. Eastern Michigan
11. Dayton
12. Ohio
13. Oakland
14. Kent State
15. Butler

Great Lakes Women
1. Michigan State
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Notre Dame
5. Akron
6. Miami (Ohio)
7. Ohio
8. Marquette
9. Cincinnati
10. Toledo
11. Indiana
12. Purdue
13. Butler
14. IPFW
15. Central Michigan

Re-cap of Big River Early Bird Meet

8/30/08

Men-
I was very pleased with the way the men raced this past weekend. The men competed in a shorter than normal race of 6,000m( 3.7 miles). The course was fairly difficult because of the rolling terrain and the tall, thick grass. The heat and humidity were also a major concern. Of course it’s always nice to get the team and individual victories, but I was even more impressed with the way the guys worked together. Our overall places were- 1, 5, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 22, 26, 37. The race had 117 competitors. Kyle Saginus was the overall champion!! Our top three runners- Kyle Saginus, Brice Cleland, and Nick Szczech stayed together for 4k of the 6k course. They ran smart, under-control, and showed poise when a couple of dreamers took the race out pretty fast. I was also very impressed with Keith Schueller’s performance. Keith is a freshman from Germantown, WI. He ended up just beating out Nick Szczech for the 3rd spot on our team. We raced without two of our top 7 guys- Peter Bolgert, who earned USATF junior All-American honors this past summer and Blake Johnson, who is our top freshman recruit. Blake is from Saline, Michigan. These two athletes will be ready to race the next time we line up to compete. Overall, I am very excited about this group. This was a great way to start the season. It will definitely be a fun year!!

Women-
The women also had a strong start to their season. They also competed in a shorter race- 4,000m. We took three of the top five spots and had our top 7 in the top 16. There were over 140 women in the race. The women also claimed the team victory scoring 30 points. Jayne Grebinski was our top finisher in 3rd place. Anna Weber and Olivia Johnson were the next two across the line for us in 4th and 5th place. Amanda Beggs was our fourth runner finishing in 7th place. We had a very strong pack of four runners that seemed to be controlling the race. It was definitely exciting to watch. This is a very strong group of athletes, but to make it to the national championships, we’ll have to get our 5th runner closer to our 4th. Kristin Pelzel, our fifth runner, was 32 seconds behind Amanda. We’ll need her and her teammates to move up if we hope to be running in Terre Haute in late November. Another impressive performance was that of Sarah Verdoliva. Sarah placed 16th overall with a time of 15:16. This was Sarah’s first cross-country race EVER!! She normally trains with the long sprinters, but she wanted to give cross-country a try in hopes that it would improve her strength for the 800m. We are sure glad she did!! I’m very excited about this group of women. We have front-runners and we have depth. We’ll need to tweak a few things over the next month, but overall I think we are in good shape.

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!

Stanford / Purdue
(picture of Randey Fisher handing off toTom Cassady in the 4x400 at Purdue)

In our first split-squad action of the outdoor season we sent a small group to Stanford University while the rest of the team competed at Purdue. The overall highlight of the weekend was Jayne Grebinski’s terrific school record and NCAA Regional qualifying 5000m at Stanford on Friday night. Coach Nelson took the group that also included Brice Cleland (10k), Scott Mueller (10K), Anna Weber (10k), Kaitlyn Chambers (1500m) and Eric Meissner (800m). According to Coach Nelson, Jayne’s race was almost perfect in it’s set-up. The weather and competition were ideal for fast times, and Jayne was ready to compete.

On the season now, we have qualified five women to the NCAA regional meet. That is the most in school history for the women’s team!

The rest of the team headed to Purdue for the Mike Poehlein Invitational. The meet is named for the longtime, now retired, Purdue head coach. I have had the pleasure of meeting Coach Poehlein on a couple of occasions through one of my mentors Coach Irv Ray. Coach Poehlein is definitely a class act!

Year in and year out the weather at Purdue is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. This year we got a caramel-filled chocolate (my favorite!) in that we had almost perfect weather conditions. Low 60s, sunny and no wind provided the perfect backdrop to a Saturday afternoon track & field meet.

As a team, we competed well. We are at the point of the year where we are just finishing up our last major phase of heavy training as we begin to get ready for the stretch run to conference and regionals. That said, we placed well and had some nice performances, but we didn’t see that big breakthrough performance that we should start to see in the upcoming meets with an eye on being in top form for the BIG EAST Conference meet and the NCAA Regional.

Here is a recap of this week’s highlights:

NCAA Regional Qualifier:
Jayne Grebinski (SO): 5000m – 16:46.95 – School Record!

BIG EAST Qualifiers:

Jenna Mahaffey (SR) (pictured throwing the hammer): Shot Put – 43’7”
Jessi Ehlen (SR): Discus – 138’0” Improves her previous BEQ.
Mike Boedeker (SR): Discus – 162’0” – Improves his previous BEQ.

Raymond Bratchett (SR) (picture above): High Jump – 6’7.5” Improves his previous BEQ. Best outdoor jump since 2006.
Mike Heim (SR): Discus – 146’2”
Keith Jameson (JR): Hammer – 159’0”
Jeff Kluge (JR) (pictured throwing the shot): Hammer – 160’9” PR!
Michael O’Brien (SO): 400 Hurdles – 55.04 – Improves his previous BEQ.

Other Notables:

Rachel Thiel (pictured above) won the women’s shot put with a throw over the NCAA Regional qualifying mark, however, she has thrown further earlier this season.
Jed Burey (pictured above) made his first appearance of the season (indoor or outdoor) and finished 2nd in the 800m with a time of 1:54.86. Jed had surgery on his ankle this winter after a terrific fall training season. The key to his strong initial outing was that he had developed a huge aerobic base over the summer and fall that he was able to maintain through his rehab from surgery.
Alyssa Davis jumped 36’4” in the triple jump to place her #10 in MU History.
Katlin Millin placed first in the 800m.

Other Pictures from Purdue:Kyle Saginus (SR) Liz Wilkie (JR)Brittany Rhett (SO) Lana Rabas (SR)

Catching Up

Wow, we are already two meets into the season and there is so much to tell!

Arizona State (3/22 2008):

We had an extra long spring break this year as Easter Break and Spring Break ran together, so we decided to take a week long training trip to Arizona and take advantage of the excellent weather and get in some solid training and good competition.

We flew out Monday morning April 17th and arrived in Phoenix with no travel difficulty. After grabbing our bags we headed to the hotel in Tempe to check in, change into some warm-weather clothes and head out for some lunch. Following lunch the team had a little time to relax before we headed to a local park to get in an easy workout to shakeout some of the stiffness lingering from the flight. Monday evening we headed to Coach Nelson’s aunt and uncle’s house, who live in Phoenix, for a big cookout. What an awesome cookout is was! The team really had a good time as Coach Nelson’s Uncle Bob grilled a ton of burgers and Aunt Mandee cooked lasagna.
On Tuesday we headed to practice in the morning. We trained every day at Mesa Community College. The throwers would generally head out early, usually 7:30 or 8:00am and the rest of team would follow at 9:00am. After practice, about half the group headed off to hike up Squaw Peak. What started off to be a rough trail ended up as a small rock climbing expedition. It took most of the group between 45min and 1 hour to make it to the top. The views were beautiful, and what a hike!

Wednesday morning saw the distance crew head out early for a trip to Flagstaff for a little trail running at altitude. The sprinters and jumpers had a quick practice at the track and followed the distance crew up to Flagstaff a couple hours later to meet up and continue on to the Grand Canyon. What a cool trip! The drive to itself was pretty impressive an scenic as we went from the desert through the mountains and onto the Grand Canyon. I think most of the group was impressed and surprised how the topography changed so rapidly. We spent a few hours at the Grand Canyon.

We have a few thrill seekers who decided to do some amateur rock climbing by climbing our onto some of the rock formations. I am happy to say everyone made it back safely!
Thursday brought our warmest day yet and our last major day of practice. Most of the afternoon was spent relaxing. Most of the team was either swimming/sunbathing by the pool or watching the NCAA Basketball tournament on TV.

Thursday evening we headed to Surprise, AZ for the Brewers spring training game against the Royals. Though the Brewers lost, it was still a fun time and a couple members of the team came home with baseballs.

Friday morning was a quick shakeout workout as most of the team was getting ready to compete on Saturday. The hammer throw was contested Friday night and the rest of meet got underway on Saturday afternoon. The meet saw terrific performances across the board. Many of them would be enough to highlight an individual meet, but the right combination of good competition, favorable weather, and solid preparation combined to result in good stuff.

Here is a recap:

NCAA Regional Qualifiers (also BIG EAST qualifiers):

Erynn James, SO: High Jump – 5’8.75” PR, #2 all-time
Cassie Peller, SR: 1500m – 4:25.85
Carrie Schmid, JR: Pole Vault – 12’7.5” PR, School Record!
Rachel Thiel, SO: Shot Put – 47’9” PR, #2 all-time

US Junior National Qualifiers:

Kristin Pelzel, FR: 3000m – 10:08.33 PR
Peter Bolgert, FR: 3000m Steeplechase – 9:31.53 PR

Big East Qualifiers:
Catherine Benage, FR: Javelin – 124’2” PR, #3 all-time
Kelly Corcoran, SO: Hammer – 164’6” PR, #7 all-time
Jessi Ehlen, SR: Hammer – 173’10”, Discus: 135’10”
Kelly Magennis, SO: Javelin – 124’6”
Rachel Thiel, SO: Hammer – 153’8” PR, #8 all-time, Discus – 133’8”
Liz Wilkie, JR: Pole Vault – 11’1.75”
Men’s 4x100m Relay – 41.62 School Record! (Antonio Jones, Tyler O’Brien, Nick Van Deraa, Raymond Bratchett)
Nick Byom, FR: High Jump – 6’6.75” PR, #5 all-time
Raymond Bratchett, SR: High Jump – 6’6.75”
Mike Boedeker, SR: Hammer – 165’10” PR, #9 all-time, Discus – 157’8”
Jeff Kluge, JR: Hammer – 159’7” PR, Discus – 145’2”
Mark Kopecki, JR: 3000m Steeplechase – 9:24.83 PR
Eric Meissner, JR: 800m – 1:52.11 PR
Tyler O’Brien, FR: 100m – 10.97 PR
Nick Van Deraa, SR: Pole Vault – 14’9”

Other notable performances:
Alyssa Davis, FR: Triple Jump – 35’11.5” #10 all-time
Robert Bleem, FR: Javelin – 174’4” #4 all-time
Dolan Schmidt, SO: Pole Vault – 14’0.5” #7 all-time

Missouri Relays (3/28 – 3/29 2008):

The Missouri Relays were a reality check for the team as we returned to the cool spring in the Midwest. The large 2-day meet featured over 1600 athletes in college, high school, and elite divisions. Despite the cool temperatures, the team really stepped up and competed well. In many cases the weather negatively affected the performances, but our team came to compete and compete they did. We had several victories and people place high in both the university and elite divisions.

Here are the highlights:

Tyler O’Brien, FR: Won both the Elite division 200m (21.56) and the University division 400m (49.99). His 200m time of 21.56 was a PR, Freshman record, BIG EAST qualifier, and makes him #3 all-time right behind Ralph Metcalfe on the all-time list. Tyler was the first person to crack the MU Outdoor 200m top ten list in 14 years!

Rachel Thiel, SO: Placed fifth in a stacked women’s Elite division Shot Put improving her NCAA Regional qualifying mark to 48’5”. That is #2 on the all-time list.

Erynn James, SO: Won the women’s High Jump with a jump of 5’8.75”. This equaled her NCAA regional qualifying mark that she initially set at Arizona State. Her first two attempts at 5’10.75 (1.80m) were excellent, actually getting her hips over the bar before brushing it off with her calves on her second attempt.

Jeff Kluge, JR: Won the University division Discus in a season’s best throw of 154’0”… also qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the shot put (48’6”).

Carrie Schmid, JR: Won the women’s Pole Vault with a vault of 12’1.5”. Carrie overcame swirling winds to beat the Kansas jumper on misses.

Eric Matsuzewski, JR: Placed second in the University division Shot Put with a PR throw of 49'2.5"

Sharon Fritz, JR: Placed second in the women’s Triple Jump with a jump of 36’6.5”

Raymond Bratchett, SR: Placed second in the university division 200m running a PR and BIG EAST qualifying time of 21.86. This is Ray’s first time breaking the 22 second barrier in the 200m.

BIG EAST Qualifiers:

Jessi Ehlen, SR: Discus – 137-2
Jenna Mahaffey, SR: Discus – 138-1, Hammer – 160-5
Rachel Thiel, SO: Discus – 135-4
Rob Bleem, FR: Javelin – 179-1 PR (#4 in MU History)
Mike Boedeker, SR: Discus – 158-11 Season’s Best
Peter Bolgert, FR: 1500m – 3:59.97 PR
Mark Kopecki, JR: 1500m – 3:57.63 PR
Michael O’Brien, SO: 400m Hurdles – 55.19… First BIG EAST Qualifier for Mike!

Alex Wilson Invite

Senior Cassie Peller, and Sophomore Rachel Thiel each competed at the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame this past Saturday.

Each performed well as Rachel threw a personal best throw of 47’4.5” and Cassie ran 4:46.44 which is the 2nd fastest mile of her career. Cassie moved herself up a few spots on the NCAA descending order list, but not quite enough to be selected to the NCAA Indoor national meet. Cassie finished her indoor career as one of the most decorated female mid-distance runners in Marquette history.

The team is now getting ready for our spring break training trip to Arizona where we will be training at Mesa Community College as we prepare for the Baldy Castillo Invitational hosted by Arizona State University held on Saturday March 22.

Last Chance!

This upcoming weekend is the last chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Though the majority of our team is currently training for the upcoming outdoor season we do, however, have a couple of athletes competing this weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame.

Senior Cassie Peller, who provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet at the Meyo Invitational on February 9th, will try to better her time in the mile and move up on the descending order list. Cassie set her PR (4:46.00) and the 2nd-best time in school history 2 years ago at this very same meet.

Sophomore Rachel Thiel, who really came into her own at the BIG EAST meet, will compete in the shot put. I spoke with Coach Koenning about Rachel and he said that she has really been impressive in practice lately, frequently throwing near or at the 50-foot mark. The NCAA provisional mark indoors is 49’5.5”.

GO MARQUETTE!!

Coach Rogers

BIG EAST Indoor Championships

I was hoping to get this posted earlier this week, but time flies during the middle of the season! Well, as I am sure that you already know the BIG EAST Indoor track and field championships were last weekend at the Armory in New York City... and with apologies to Charles Dickens, I can only say that it was the best of times and it was the worst of times.

The best of times in the sense that it is conference weekend and conference is what we work toward everyday. The best of times in the excitement that we all feel as we get ready to compete to the best of our ability at the biggest meet of the season for us thus far. The best of times in that we had several PRs and set a new school record in the 4x800m relay.

The worst of times surfaced early Friday morning when the team arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to find that our flight had been cancelled. Due to a winter storm hitting the eastern seaboard, American Airlines straight up cancelled numerous flights to several airports in the New York area. Ultimately, the team ended up on an 8:40pm flight from O’Hare to Washington DC. After arriving in DC around midnight, the team took a bus to the team hotel in Fort Lee, NJ finally arriving at approximately 4:30am.

A few other teams experienced travel difficulties, but most of the teams that flew only had issues with delays. We ended up being to only team to arrive at such a late (or early) hour. I attempted to lobby the games committee to move the Saturday schedule back a couple of hours to accommodate our travel difficulties, but it was to not avail. They felt, that although our travel problems were the worst that they could remember, the precedent was that teams in the past had travel difficulties and no change was made to the schedule. I told the games committee that our team was tough and despite our travel problems, that would wouldn’t make any excuses and would come out and compete. I was right.

The first event that we had some compete on Saturday morning was the men’s pole vault at 10am. Redshirt Junior Nick VanDeraa certainly didn’t show any signs of fatigue as he set a lifetime best, jumping 15-3 making him the #2 indoor vaulter in MU School history. Shortly after the start of the men’s vault was the start of arguably one of the most grueling indoor events; the men’s heptathlon. Senior Tom Sage and sophomore transfer Mike Laabs both busted out to strong starts, both setting PRs in their first two events the 60m and the long jump. These two guys were really rolling. Things were looking up for the team when a combination of factors forced a delay of about three hours between the heptathlon long jump and the heptathlon shot put. Ordinarily there is about thirty minutes between events. Under normal circumstances this would be nothing more than an inconvenience. But for two guys on a roll and working mostly on adrenaline, this was about the worst thing that could have happened. Whatever momentum Tom and Mike had was dashed. The rest of day one in the heptathlon, the shot put and the high jump, would be a struggle at best. On the bright side, they both finished the first day with personal best scores for the first day of competition, but everyone involved felt that there could have been so much more.

The rest of Day 1 consisted of mostly prelims in the running events (except the 5k and DMR) and a few finals in the field events. On the women’s side Carrie Schmid took home 5th place in the women’s pole vault, and our women’s DMR team of senior Cassie Peller (1200m – 3:27.8), sophomore Katlin Millin (400m – 57.4), senior Kaitlyn Chambers (800m – 2:16.1) and sophomore Jayne Grebinski (1600m – 5:11.0) took home 7th place.

For the men, day 1 resulted in both Mike Boedeker and Mike Heim making the final in the weight throw with Mike Boedeker placing 7th. The weight throw was frustrating in that both Boedeker (56-7.5 - #5 All-Time) and Heim (54-5.25 - #8 All-Time) threw about 3-4 foot PRs yet Boedeker only managed to get a 7th place. Both marks, based on the conference performance list coming into the competition, would have place significantly higher but just as both Mikes were on so was the rest of competition. I think you always anticipate that everyone else will step it up and raise their level of performance for a conference meet, but the weight throw this year was really something else!

As for the rest of day 1, the men’s DMR team of freshman Peter Bolgert (1200m - 3:03.7), junior Antonio Jones (400m - 50.4), freshman Johnny Wright (800m – 1:57.1), and redshirt sophomore transfer Mark Kopecki (1600m – 4:15.9 with a 2:02 800m split!) took 8th place.

Day 2 brought the finals. For the women’s team Cassie Peller, as she has been all year, was the star of the meet for MU. Cassie narrowly missed becoming Marquette first female BIG EAST champion when she was narrowly edged out at the line after leading the final couple of laps to finish 2nd in the mile. She came back to lead off our 4x800m relay team the placed 2nd and set a new school record in the process. Cassie’s blistering 2:12.1 lead off leg gave the team an early lead and would have been good enough of a new school record in the open 800m! Sophomore Katlin Millin (2:16.4), senior Kaitlyn Chambers (2:15.8), and redshirt sophomore Sarah Verdoliva (2:14.6) rounded out the record setting squad.

Sophomore Rachel Thiel erupted in the women’s shot put, taking 6th place and throwing 46-11.5 which makes her #5 on the all-time list. All six of her throws were above her previous PR. Sophomore Erynn James jumped 5-7 to place 6th in the high jump. Senior Kaitlyn Chambers placed 6th in the 1000m with a time of 2:55.81, and redshirt sophomore Sarah Verdoliva placed 8th in a PR and #6 all-time mark of 2:13.81.

For the men day 2 saw a couple of scorers on the track as freshman Tyler O’Brien run 22.15 and place 6th in the 200m, and redshirt sophomore Eric Meissner placed 8th in a tactical 800m finishing in 1:56.10. In the field senior Raymond Bratchett and freshman Nick Byom tied for 7th place as each jumped 6’5.5” in the high jump.
The men’s heptathlon resulted with Tom Sage placing 8th and both Tom and Mike Laabs recording PR final scores. The amazing thing about the heptathlon this year was that every person ahead of Tom set a personal best, and in some cases those PRs were in the 300-500 point range. For those of you not familiar with the scoring system, improving your score by that amount may be common for a beginner (and there were a couple of talented beginners in there), but for a majority of the field to do so is almost unheard of. I spoke with several coaches from other teams and none of them had seen anything like it. Going into the competition, Tom was ranked #2 in on the conference performance list. Tom, along with the #1 person on the list had significantly better scores than just about everyone else, so it was very surprising to see how thing played out.

Now, the majority of the team is getting ready for the outdoor season. Cassie Peller will compete at the Alex Wilson invite this upcoming weekend and try to improve her standing in the mile on the national list.

I hope to post more frequently, as I want to be able to offer a little insight as to what is happening with the team this season. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away in the comments and I will do my best to answer in future posts.

Coach Rogers

GO MARQUETTE!!

Welcome to the Coaches Corner!

Hello Marquette Track & Field Alumni, Family and Friends,

Welcome to the Marquette Track Club Coaches Corner Blog! Over the course of the season the other coaches, Mike Nelson, Mike Koenning, and I hope to offer our thoughts and insight on the team and the season. I hope this gives you a little insight into what is happening on the 2008 MU Track and Field team.

First off, for those who do not know me, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Bert Rogers and this is my fourth season at Marquette but first season as head coach of the track and field team. During my time at Marquette I have met many of you and I am looking forward to meeting more of you as time moves on.

I am originally from Janesville, WI and attended Parker High School. After high school I attended UW-Milwaukee and was primarily a 200-400 sprinter. My first coaching gig was as Head Boys Coach at Cedarburg high school. I coached the Bulldogs for two years before heading to Kansas City for a three year stint as the sprints and hurdles coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In October of 2004 I moved back to Milwaukee and started at Marquette.

I have very fond memories as an athlete of competing against Marquette and always looked forward to racing guys like Brian Olsson, Brandon Pliska and Brian Hardin. I must admit that after having been a student-athlete at UWM it was strange to work at Marquette at first, but I have now come to really love this place. Marquette really is special, but of course I don’t need to tell any of you that!

The move to Milwaukee was also good for my family. My wife April is from the area, so both our immediate families are very close. As a collegiate track coach, that isn’t usually the case. Now that I have a son (Duncan, who turns 2 in April) it is especially nice!

Enough about me, this past weekend we competed at the Meyo Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame. This was an excellent meet for us this weekend. We had our first NCAA qualifying time of 2008 when Cassie Peller hit the provisional mark in the Mile. Her time of 4:46.94 was just 0.94 off her PR.

We also broke a 28 year-old record when Freshman sprinter Tyler O’Brien took down the 300m record held by MU sprint great John Rydeski. Tyler’s time of 34.73 sliced off 0.01 off the previous record of 34.74. Tyler now owns the 60m, 200m and 300m indoor school and freshman records. Pretty nice freshman year so far I would say…

Other team highlights included a 12’1.5” vault by indoor school record holder Carrie Schmid. That mark tied her own school record and personal best jump. For those of you who follow the vault, Carrie is just moving up to a bigger pole, which will ultimately enable her to make the next bar (aprox. 12-6) and start taking attempts at 13-0. The height she missed (12’7.5”) is the same height she needs to make to qualify for regionals outdoors.

Freshman Nick Sczcech ran an impressive 14:42.84 to qualify for the BIG EAST in the 5000m. That time makes him the 5th fastest ever at Marquette in the indoor 5k. To give you an idea of the type of competition Nick will face in the BIG EAST, it will probably take 14:30 to place in the top 8 and score. This conference is crazy-good in the mid and long distances. Nick, however, has the talent to get there! Coach Nelson has said from day one that Nick has the talent to take it to that next level. I am excited to watch him grow and develop as a runner these next few years. He is one of several in the young and exciting crew of mid and long distance runners we have on this team.

Sophomore Erynn James placed 4th overall in the women’s high jump. Her jump of 5’6” was a little over an inch off her PR, but to place that high in a national level meet is impressive none the less!

Redshirt sophomore Eric Meissner had a nice weekend, setting personal best, and BIG EAST Qualifying times, in both the 500m on Friday (1:05.13), and 800m on Saturday (1:53.08). Those times were good for fifth, and tenth, respectively, on the all-time MU top-ten lists.

Senior Kaitlyn Chambers has had an excellent indoor season so far, and she continued that trend as she ran the 2nd fasted 1000m in school history, running a personal best 2:52.37.

Redshirt sophomore Sarah Verdoliva had two personal bests as she ran 1:16.23 in the 500m on Friday night, which is good for 3rd on the all-time list, and 2:13.94 in the 800m on Saturday afternoon, good for 6th on the all-time list.

Sophomore Jayne Grebinski ran a lifetime best 9:48.51 in the 3000m which makes her 6th on the all time list.

The Meyo invitational is always an exciting meet, and one that I look forward to watching as well. The feature event every year is the “Meyo Mile”. It is a sure bet that one will see at least one person run sub-4:00 and this year did not disappoint as three broke through the barrier each for the first time in their career.

In addition to the Meyo meet, we sent a small group to compete at UW-Whitewater. The group competing at Whitewater was mostly those who are not quite strong enough to compete at Meyo in their event, and was close to hitting a BIG EAST qualifying mark and needed an opportunity to try and get it. This strategy worked as Freshman John Kusowski qualified for the BIG EAST conference meet in the Weight Throw. With John qualified, that means that every thrower has qualified for the BIG EAST!

Next week will be a week off competition for our team as we enter our final phase of training for the BIG EAST Indoor Championships. The team has been training and competing hard these past few weeks, and we want to be sure that we are ready for our trip to New York for the BIG EAST meet.

It was especially nice to see several alums at the meet this weekend. There was a contingent that ventured to South Bend to watch the MU men’s basketball team take on the Irish and then headed over to the meet. Though I was busy with the high Jump and pole vault and unable to come over to visit, your presence certainly did not go unnoticed!

We always have great parental and alumni support at our meets, I know I speak for our entire team when I say we appreciate it! If you attend one of our meets, don’t be a stranger! Stop by the team camp and say hi! There are many of you who I have not met, and I hope to do so in the future. I hope to see all of you at some point this season!

GO MARQUETTE!

Bert Rogers