Notre Dame Invitational

This was our first real test of the season. This four team scored meet with Notre Dame, Michigan State and Wisconsin gave us a chance to see how we stack up against some tough teams. In terms of team score, we have a lot of work to do. We placed 4th on both the men’s and the women’s sides. Though we were disappointed with the team results, we did have several good performances to build on. Some of the women’s team highlights included Erynn James winning the High Jump, Alyssa Davis finishing 2nd in the Triple Jump and Jessi Ehlen placing 3rd in the Weight Throw. For the men the top placers were Scott Mueller taking 3rd in the 3000m and Albojay Deacon placing 3rd in the Triple Jump. You can check out a complete meet recap and final results here: http://gomarquette.cstv.com/sports/c-track/recaps/012309aab.html

Behind the Results:

Erynn James made her season debut by winning the High Jump with a jump of 5-7 which is just ¼ inch off her indoor PR and easily qualified her for the BIG EAST indoor conference meet. Erynn developed a stress fracture in her jumping ankle during the middle of outdoor season last year and spent most of the summer in a cast or boot. Due to the nature of the fracture her recovery took longer than a “normal” stress fracture. She only resumed limited full jumping in practice 2 weeks ago. During the competition we limited her to only 6 total jumps in the competition to play it safe. Turns out that is all she needed to win.

Sarah Verdoliva also made her season debut running a 2:16.08 in the 800, a mark good enough to qualify her for the BIG EAST meet. Sarah is coming off compartment syndrome surgery. You may remember how well Sarah ran during the fall as she competed in Cross Country for the first time. Sarah also anchored our 4x800m Relay that won the Outdoor BIG EAST Conference last year. She was diagnosed with compartment syndrome toward the end of the XC season and was able to have the surgery early enough to ensure a return in time for the indoor season. Sarah really cross-trained hard during her rehab and didn’t lose much in terms of fitness. Now we just have to break off the racing rust!

Amanda Beggs ran an 8 second PR in the 3000m running 10:16.04. Amanda set her previous PR at Grand Valley a couple weeks ago. Comparing her time at Notre Dame to her PR from last season Amanda has knocked off nearly 18 seconds of her 3k PR!

Mark Kopecki, considered one of the most competitive runners on the team, continues to improve race after race and meet after meet. Mark ran a 2 second PR in the Mile on Friday running a 4:14.05. Mark ran a 4:21 mile at this very meet last year.

Anna Weber also continues to improve this season. After looking strong in Cross Country, Anna has really been showing her improved leg speed on the track. Anna qualified for the BIG EAST meet with a 10:00.37.

Tyler O’Brien and Katlin Millin returned to competition after several weeks of being on the injured list. Both Katlin and Tyler competed at the December Notre Dame meet and ran BIG EAST qualifying times in the 1000m and 200m respectively. Both suffered injuries over the holiday break that caused them to miss the first two competitions in January. While both looked rusty in their return to competition were are looking for both Katlin and Tyler to be point scorers this year.

The throwers, with their sights set on throwing big later in the indoor season, lifted Friday morning before the meet. Essentially training thru the meet, Coach Koenning indicated that he knew lifting in the morning would affect the meet performances, but the group needed a big week of lifting to get to where they want to be later in the season. Kelly Corcoran still managed to PR in the weight throw with a distance of 48-2.

On Saturday Jan 31 we head back to UW-Madison for the Wisconsin Elite meet for our last meet in Wisconsin until the dual meet with UWM on April 10. Hope to see some of you Madison cheering us on!

Early Indoor Action
The last couple of weeks have been flown by. We brought a large portion of the team back on January 5th, which was a week before school started, to get in some quality training to better prepare us for the indoor track season. We used our first two indoor meets, the Grand Valley State Laker Early Bird and the Badger Classic as workouts in a sense. We were training through those two meets to be better prepared for the meat and potatoes of our schedule starting this upcoming weekend at Notre Dame.

Grand Valley Laker Early Bird
Grand Valley State has a brand-new 300m track, and the Early Bird meet was their 2nd ever on the new track. We had a somewhat arduous journey as we left Milwaukee Friday morning in the middle of a snowstorm. What would be a 4.5 hour trip ended up taking about 6. Though the performances across the board were typical of an early season meet, we did have several compete hard and place high. On the women’s side, junior Anna Weber and senior Jessi Ehlen won the 3000 and the weight throw respectively. On the men’s side senior Mark Kopecki won the mile. You can find all the placers and results here: http://gomarquette.cstv.com/sports/c-track/recaps/010909aaa.html

UW-Madison Badger Classic
Last year this was our first meet back after break. This year, with 2 weeks of training and one meet under our belt, we saw marked improvements in our performances compared to the 2008 Badger Classic. Bringing the team back a week earlier is already paying dividends. You can find a full recap and meet results here: http://gomarquette.cstv.com/sports/c-track/recaps/011709aaa.html

Behind the results: Laker Early Bird and the Badger Classic

• Mike O’Brien, who is a 400 Hurdler outdoors, ran a 1.5 sec PR in the 400m at Grand Valley. The 400 hurdlers trained with the 800 runners this fall and the difference is striking. At the Notre Dame meet in December Mike ran a 1.2 second PR in the 500. He also ran 1:23.71 in the 600 at the Badger Classic… his first time running the event. Jay Emmer and Tom Cassady are also 400 hurdlers who are now training with the 800 group. Jay has battles a lower back problem that has hampered his ability to compete, but when healthy he has vastly improved his workouts over last year. Tom trained with the 800 group (and Jon Shaffer who was also an 800 runner/ 400 hurdler) as a freshman and really ran well. As a sophomore and junior he trained more as speed-type 400 runner / 400 hurdler and fared OK, but not as well as his freshman year. With a return to more strength / endurance training Tom looks like the Tom we all saw run some impressive 4x400 relay legs as a freshman.

• Senior Carrie Schmid, who is redshirting this season, competed unattached and won the women’s pole vault with a jump of 12-5.5. That mark is an indoor PR for Carrie and would have been a new indoor school record.

• RS-freshman Albojay Deacon, who earned a walk-on spot on the team during our fall tryout, qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the Triple Jump making him our first ever BIG EAST qualifier in the men’s triple jump. We have now qualified someone in every event to the indoor BIG EAST meet at one point or another. Out doors, the only two events that we have yet to qualify anyone in are the 110hurdles and the triple jump.

• Freshman Stephanie Grant, daughter of former MU star half-miler Jeff Grant, made her MU debut Saturday running the 200m at the Badger Classic. Dad Jeff and Mom Joan were in the stands as Stephanie won her heat. Stephanie is coming off of an IT band injury that kept her out of training for much of November and December. One she gets back into racing shape, we look for her to contribute mostly in the 400m this year.

• Freshman Jenny Zahn, who ran the 200 and the 4x400 relay at the Badger Classic, made her MU debut in the 400m at the Grand Valley Laker Early Bird after transferring at the semester from Xavier University. Jenny was on the team all of three days before seeing her first competition. Jenny will compete in mostly 400s and relays indoors and the 400 hurdles outdoors.

Here are a few pictures from the first couple weeks of practice...