Coach's Corner

Check us out on FACEBOOK!

2011-04-20T11:47:00.005-05:00

The reason for the lack of blog updates is that we are now using Facebook as our primary means of posting meet updates, team updates and photos and videos from competitions and other events. Check us our here, and see what you have been missing!

GO MARQUETTE!

Making Progress...

2010-07-28T13:18:00.006-05:00

The lockers are being installed! They are not done yet, look for updates soon! Check out the pictures!

WOMEN'S LOCKER ROOM

(Unfortunately, some of the women's locker room pictures were corrupted somehow, so I don't have the full picture progression... )

MEN'S LOCKER ROOM

Carpet Is In

2010-07-14T12:11:00.006-05:00

The workers finished installing the carpet yesterday, and what a difference! Both rooms really look nice. The company installing the lockers was here yesterday installing boards on the cement block walls in which to fasten the lockers. Check out the pictures!

Women's Locker Room

Men's Locker Room

Locker Room Update

2010-07-09T16:56:00.002-05:00

The locker rooms are moving along. This week, the old carpeting was removed and some electrical work was done to each room. Both locker rooms had tile floors beneath the old carpeting. As you can see from the photos, some new furniture has been delivered. There will be a nice study table in the men's locker room. A new TV and parts of a new "makeup area" with a counter, mirror and vanity light has been installed in the women's lounge. Next week the new carpeting will be installed and we will look to have the new lockers installed shortly after that. Check out the photos below!

Men's Locker Room

Women's Locker Room Lounge

Women's Locker Room

We're Back!

2010-07-02T14:53:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates during the outdoor season. I have plans to post a few pictures to briefly recap the outdoor season in the coming days.

I do have some exciting news... the locker room fundraiser has reached it's goal!

We are currently in the remodeling process, and both locker rooms should be complete in early August.

Currently, all the old lockers have been removed, and the walls have been painted. The remaining old carpet will be torn out and new carpet installed over the next week or so. The new lockers should be installed near the end of July. I will post pictures as we move forward. Here are a few pictures of the rooms as of today.

Women's Locker Room

Men's Locker Room

Verdoliva School Record

2010-03-06T17:35:00.002-06:00

5th-year senior Sarah Verdoliva lowered her school record in the 800m in the final indoor race of her Marquette career with a time of 2:11.52. Check it out...

Last Chance From the Past

2010-03-05T10:49:00.002-06:00

Seeing as this is the weekend for the indoor last chance meets, here is a classic race from 2005. Jon Shaffer setting a new school record in the 800m and reaching the NCAA provisional mark at the Notre Dame Last Chance meet. And, of course, all of it in classic come-from-behind Jon Shaffer fashion.

Enjoy!

Golden Eagle Spotlight

2010-03-04T16:31:00.001-06:00

Junior Kristin Pelzel sits down with MUTV on this week's Golden Eagle Spotlight.

BIG EAST Indoor Update

2010-03-01T10:44:00.009-06:00

The Marquette men's and women's track and field teams competed at the BIG EAST Indoor track and field championships last weekend at The Armory in New York City. Though the team did not pace as well as hoped, we had several great performances including a new school record in the 800m by Sarah Verdoliva.

Here is a link to the GoMarquette.com recaps... Day 1 and Day 2.
Here is a link to the MU Tribune article.
Here is a link to the BIG EAST Championship page.

The Armory is the home to the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame. We found this cool artifact, the team USA baton from the 1936 Olympic 400m Relay signed by former MU great Ralph Metcalfe, Jesse Owens, Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff.

Senior Sarah Veroliva broke her own school record int he 800m running 2:12.05 in the prelim to place 12th. Sarah came back to split 2:11.9 on the 800 leg of the DMR and also ran a 2:14.6 leg on the 4x800m Relay.

Junior Olivia Johnson ran a PR 4:53.71 in the prelim of the Mile to qualify for the final. That time makes her #5 on the all-time list.

Freshman Kyle Winter ran a PR 1:03.93 in the prelim of the 500m to qualify for the final. That mark is good for #2 on the all-time list.

Senior Rachel Thiel threw a PR 15.99m (52-5.5) to place 8th in the weight throw. That throw moves her up to #7 on the all-time list.

Senior Erynn James jumped 1.70m (5-7) to tie for 5th in the High Jump.

Junior Jon Kusowski threw a PR 17.78m (58-4) in the weight throw to pace 7th. That throw makes Jon #3 all-time.

Senior Jayne Grebinski lead off the Distance Medley Relay team that placed 5th with a time of 11:45.03. That time is #3 on the all-time list.

Junior Kristin Pelzel had a great meet in the relays. She ran Mile leg on the DMR in 4:58.8 and the 3rd leg on the 4x800m Relay in 2:15.1. Both splits are solid PRs over those distances.

Freshman Cheldon Brown jumped an indoor PR of 2.01m (6-7) to place 8th in the High Jump. That mark makes Cheldon #6 on the all-time list.

Sophomore Stephanie Grant ran a PR 57.52 in the prelim of the 400m. That time makes her #2 on the all-time indoor 400m list. Stephanie also split 57.2 in the DMR and anchored the 4x400m Relay with a 58.4.

Juniors Nick Szczech (985) and Brice Cleland (behind Nick) each ran PR times in the 3000m and near PRs in the 5000m.

Preparing for BIG EAST

2010-02-18T18:01:00.003-06:00

The MU sports info dept. did a few interviews with the coaches and athletes as we prepared for the indoor BIG EAST championships this weekend at the Armory in New York City. Check them out...

Click here to check out the GoMarquette.com meet preview.

Golden Eagle Spotlight

2010-02-17T13:30:00.001-06:00

Last week MUTV sat down with Seniors Sarah Verdoliva and Jeff Kluge to discuss a little bit of track and field...

Hoosier Hills

2010-02-16T12:45:00.008-06:00

The MU men's and women's track and field teams competed at the Hoosier Hills Invitational hosted by Indiana University this past Friday February 12th. The meet served as a tune-up for conference for a number of student-athletes and as a last chance to qualify for several others. Two men took advantage of the situation as Junior Joe Kohut and Freshman Ron Vick (pictured to the left) each hit BIG EAST qualifying marks. Vick's jump of 14-5.25 was a 7 inch PR and placed him #8 on the all-time list.

Click here for the complete results.
Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap.
Click here for the MU Tribune recap.

On to the pictures....

Freshman Cheldon Brown

Sophomore Jenny Zahn

Senior Jeff Kluge

Junior Alyssa Stevens

Junior Tyler O'Brien

Sophomore Jessica Person

Sophomore Kate Horan

Sophomore James Muehleman

Sophomore Christine Hansen

Freshman Chanel Franklin

Freshman Evan Ross

Freshman Reilly Hall

Senior Antonio Jones

Freshman Ben Schmitz

Sophomore Billy Schlottke

Freshman AJ Gedwill

Freshman Parker Farabee

Senior Jay Emmer

Junior Melissa Burghardt

Sophomore Courtney Kelly (l) and Junior Molly Arenberg (r)

Blast from the Past

2010-02-15T16:56:00.002-06:00

With BIG EAST Indoor approaching this weekend I thought it would be cool to show a clip from the 1991 Midwestern Collegiate Conference indoor meet. Jeff Lancaster and Glen Gardener competing in the 800m. This summer I hope to digitize more footage from archives. Keep an eye out.

Golden Eagle Spotlight

2010-02-11T17:45:00.002-06:00

This week on the Golden Eagle Spotlight....

Meyo Invitational

2010-02-10T11:15:00.008-06:00

The Marquette men's and women's track & field teams competed at the very competitive Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday February 5-6, 2010. The meet was a big success as we had numerous PRs and placed several new student-athletes onto the all-time lists.

On the women's side senior Sarah Verdoliva ran a PR and the #3 time in school history in the 1000m with a 2:53.53. Junior Olivia Johnson followed with a 2:54.42 PR that makes her #5 all-time and junior Kristin Pelzel's 2:58.52 PR makes her #9 all-time. Olivia Johnson followed up her strong 1k on Friday night with a 4:58.40 mile on Saturday that makes her #10 in the MU record book. Senior Erynn James was the team highest individual placer, taking 3rd in the high jump with a very solid jump of 5-8.75.

One the men's side the 5000m was the story of the meet. Junior Nick Szczech and sophomore Blake Johnson each ran great races. Szczech's PR time of 14:25.10 makes him #3 in school history while Johnson's time of 14:26.75 in his first time racing the 5k makes him #4 all-time. junior Brice Cleland's PR 14:46.28 makes him #9 on the all-time list. In the mile, sophomore Jack Hackett continued to shave time off his mile PR with a 4:08.97. In the 1000m freshman Jack Senefeld broke the MU Freshman record with at time of 2:28.98. That time is good enough for #7 on the all-time list.

Click here for the meet results.
Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap.
Click here for the Marquette Tribune recap.

Here are a few highlights....

FloTrack.com covered the meet and had video of every race. Click here to check it out.

To save you a bit of trouble here is video of Szczech, Johnson and Cleland in the 5000m...

...and here is the video of Verdoliva and Johnson in the 1000m...

Here are a few pictures...

Junior Nick Szczech

Sophomore Blake Johnson

Senior Erynn James

Senior Jeff Kluge

Senior Rachel Thiel

Junior Brice Cleland

Junior Alyssa Davis

Freshman Patrick Stuart

Senior Kelly Corcoran

Senior Eric Matuszewski

Senior Carrie Schmid

Indiana Relays

2010-02-05T09:09:00.008-06:00

The MU Men's and Women's Track and Field teams took part in the Indiana Relays on Friday and Saturday January 29-30.

Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap.
Click here for the meet results.

On a related note, click here for MU Tribune Columnist Erik Schmidt's column about MU great Ralph Metcalfe.
Check back for updates from this weekend meet, the Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.

Freshman Kyle Winter qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the 800m with a 1:54.64.

5th-year Senior Shawn McLarney won the Long Jump for the second week in a row with a season best jump of 22-9 (6.93m).

Sophomore Jack Hackett ran a PR and BIG EAST qualifying 4:09.57 in the Mile. That mark makes him #7 all-time at MU.

Senior Jayne Grebinski (r) and Junior Olivia Johnson (l) both qualified for the BIG EAST meet in Mile with times of 4:58.60 (PR) and 4:59.63 respectively.

Sophomore Stephanie Grant had a breakthrough meet in setting an indoor PR and qualifying for the BIG EAST meet in the 400m with a time of 58.14. That mark is good for #3 on the all-time list. Stephanie also split 57.0 on the 400 leg of the DMR and 57.5 on the 4x400.

Sophomore Blake Johnson qualified for the BIG EAST in the Mile with a PR 4:09.47. Finishing the race just ahead of teammate Jack Hackett that time makes Blake #6 on the all-time list.

Freshman Spencer Agnew broke his own freshman record in the 3000m with a time of 8:27.09.

Better Late Than Never - MU vs UWM

2010-02-03T21:42:00.011-06:00

Sorry for the scarcity of updates, I will try to be better about keeping up each week. Anyway, here is the meet coverage and a few pictures from the Marquette vs. UW-Milwaukee Dual meet held back on Saturday January 23rd. There were may alumni and parents in attendance. We thank you for your support!

The women's meet didn't go quite as planned as the Panthers won 57-80. Despite the team loss, Erynn James set a new indoor school record in the high jump with a height of 5-10 which also provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA Indoor Championship.

The men's meet came right down to the last event as the team score was tied going into the 4x4. The MU foursome of Randey Fisher, Jay Emmer, Michael O'Brien and Kyle Winter edged out the Eastsiders for the victory.

Click here for results.
Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap.
Click here for the Marquette Tribume recap.
Click here for MU Tribune columnist Eric Grover's take on the meet.

Though this meet was mostly about the team score, there were several individual highlights. Check them out...

Onto the pictures...

Senior Erynn James set a new school record in winning the High Jump with a leap of 5-10 (1.78m). That mark is an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

Senior Jeff Kluge dominated the throwing events, winning both the shot put and weight throw. Jeff set a PR in the weight throw by just over a meter with a heave of 61-8.5 (18.81m). That throw moves him closer to school record holder Dan Fax's top mark of 62-11.5 (19.19m).

Senior Jayne Grebinski won the mile with a BIG EAST qualifying time of 5:02.21

Senior Rachel Thiel captured a title in the shot put with a distance of 46-5.5 (14.16m) and finished 2nd in the weight throw.

Sophomore James Muehleman took 2nd in the Triple Jump; reaching a personal best and his first BIG EAST qualifying mark with a distance of 44-6.75 (13.58m).

Junior Alyssa Davis, in her first competition back after injury, reached a BIG EAST qualifying mark of 37-8.5 (11.49m) in the Triple Jump.

Junior Jon Kusowski tied his PR, improved his BIG EAST qualifying mark, and placed second in the weight throw with a throw of 56-6 (17.77m).

The MU men dominated the mile taking the top 6 overall places. Sophomore Blake Johnson (hip #2 in the photo) lead the way with a time of 4:16.51.

Senior Shawn McLarney won the Long Jump with a BIG EAST qualifying mark of 22-8.5 (6.92m)

In the meet's final event - the 4x400m Relay - the MU foursome of senior Randey Fisher, senior Jay Emmer (pictured w/ baton), senior Michael O'Brien (foreground), and freshman Kyle Winter battled the team from UWM as the race lead was exchanged several times before Kyle was able to slingshot off the final turn and pass the UWM runner in the final 20m for the win.

Badger Quad Photos

2010-01-22T10:56:00.005-06:00

A few pictures from the Badger Quad last weekend...

Freshman Jack Senefeld leads fellow freshmen Patrick Maag and Evan Ross. Senefeld won the first section of the 3000.

Senior Sarah Verdoliva (l) won the mile her first time running the race and Junior Molly Arenberg (r)finished 4th in her first track race ever, indoor or outdoor.

Sophomore Blake Johnson leads sophomore Jack Hackett in the 3000. Johnson and Hackett would finish 2nd and 3rd overall.

Freshman Ron Vick barely brushes the bar on his 3rd attempt at opening height.

Freshman Chanel Franklin running in the final of the 60m. She placed 4th with a PR time of 7.94 which makes her #6 in school history.

Freshman Parker Farabee ran a PR in the hurdles.

Sophomore Lauren Darnall placed 5th in the pole vault.

Badger Quad

2010-01-19T22:09:00.004-06:00

Our men's and women's track and field teams each placed 2nd behind UW-Madison at the Badger Quad on Saturday. As the team's first meet back after the holiday break the team showed plenty of rust, yet competed hard. I generally expect to see a bit of rust during the first couple meets of the season. Our emphasis at this meet was to compete and not worry about marks or times. i was really happy with the overall effort I saw ad I fully expect to see impressive performances in the coming weeks.

Click here to read the GoMarquette.com recap.

Click here to view meet results.

Our next meet is on Saturday with a dual meet against UW-Milwaukee at the UWM Klotsche Center. Field events begin at 10:00am with running events to start after the completion of the field events. I really hope to see a lot of Blue and Gold in the stands and make this "away" meet more of a home meet for us!

Check back tomorrow for pictures from the meet.

Back in Action

2010-01-15T16:19:00.004-06:00

After 5 weeks off for final exams and the holidays, the Marquette Track and Field teams make their return to action Saturday at the Badger Quad hosted by UW-Madison. The four team scored meet will also feature UW-Milwauke and SIU-Edwardville in addition to the host Badgers and Marquette. The meet begins at 11:00am with the field events and the running events start at 11:30am.

Click here to view the GoMarquette.com meet preview.

Click here to view the UWBadgers.com meet information site.

Click here to view the GoMarquette.com team / season preview.

Notre Dame Blue & Gold Invitational

2009-12-08T16:22:00.011-06:00

The 2009-2010 Track and Field teams started the season with a strong showing at the Blue & Gold Invitational hosted by Notre Dame on Friday. Highlights included victories in seven events, two MU freshman records and twelve BIG EAST indoor qualifiers. Other teams at the meet included DePaul, Detroit Mercy and the host Notre Dame.

Click here for meet results.
Click here for the GoMarquette.com meet recap.
Click here for the Marquette Tribune meet recap.

Freshman Records:
Spencer Agnew - 3000m - 8:31.42 breaks Brent Des Roches record of 8:32.68 set in 2003.

Kyle Winter - 500m - 1:04.50 breaks Terry Haley's record of 1:05.76 set in 1995.

Event winners:
Junior Tyler O'Brien - 200m - 22.10
Freshman Chanel Franklin - 200m - 25.67
Freshman Kyle Winter -500m - 1:04.50
Sophomore Jack Hackett - Mile - 4:12.54
Senior Erynn James - High Jump - 5-8
Senior Rachel Thiel - Shot Put - 46-4
5th-year senior Carrie Schmid - Pole Vault - 11-1.75

Here is a brief highlight video...

The following pictures were taken by senior Katlin Millin.

Freshman Spencer Agnew ran the 3000m in at time of 8:31.42 that broke Brent Des Roches freshman record of 8:32.68 set in 2003. His seventh place finish was solid in a very deep early season field.

Freshman Chanel Franklin sparkled in her MU debut winning the 200m in 25.67 which was good for #5 on the all-time list. Chanel pulled even with the leader on the turn and pulled away down the homestretch to clinch her first collegiate victory. Her 8.02 in the 60m made her #7 in MU history.

5th-year senior Shawn McLarney qualified for the BIG EAST indoor meet in the Long Jump.

Freshman Reilly Hall ran the 500m and anchored the 4x400m relay.

Senior Michael O'Brien qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the 500m with a time of 1:05.45 and also lead off the 4x400m relay.

Junior Marisa Handley just missed her PR in the high jump.

Junior Jon Kusowski opened the season in the weight throw after battling sickness during the week.

Sophomore Jenny Zahn opened the season running the 500m and the 4x400m relay.

Freshman eligible Jeff Pugh, a sophomore academically and a survivor of fall tryouts, made his MU debut in the 400m.

5th-year senior Jeff Kluge opened the season with a BIG EAST qualifying mark in the weight throw

Sophomore Jack Hackett won the mile in exciting, come from behind fashion in his MU debut.

Senior Erynn James won the high jump with a jump of 5-8. Erynn just brushed the bar on her 3rd attempt at what would have been school record and NCAA Provisional qualifying height of 5-10 (1.78m). Erynn cleared the bar and left it wobbling on the standards, got off the mat and came over to celebrate with us coaches when it finally fell off... approximately seven seconds after she was over. The video on the highlight reel is of that jump.

MU sophomore and T&F freshman eligible Christine Hansen, a native of Haines, Alaska and another survivor of the fall walk-on tryouts, made her MU debut in the 500m.

Freshman Cheldon Brown took second in the high jump in his MU debut.

Freshman Benjamin Schmitz competed in the 1000m and the 4x400m relay in his MU debut.

Media Spotlight

2009-12-03T12:25:00.003-06:00

With the indoor track and field season starting tomorrow, there have been a couple recent articles about current team members in the media...

Click here to read a story from the Chilkat Vally News in Haines, Alaska about sophomore Christine Hansen who made the team after trying out this fall.

Click here to read a column, maybe a bit over the top, in today's MU Tribune about junior Tyler O'Brien.

Golden Eagle Spotlight

2009-11-25T16:40:00.002-06:00

With the Cross Country season complete we turn our attention to the upcoming Track & Field season. The team opens the season on Friday December 4th at Notre Dame. In this weeks edition of the Golden Eagle spotlight Seniors Erynn James and Randey Fisher talk to MUTV about the upcoming season.

Great Lakes Regional

2009-11-18T11:14:00.002-06:00

Here are a few links related to the Great Lakes Regional...

GoMarquette.com preview: Click here
Coach Nelson's podcast: Click here

GoMarquette.com recap: Click here

MU Tribune recap: Click here

Official meet site: Click here

Men's results: Click here

Women's results: Click here

Two more....

2009-11-11T13:05:00.000-06:00

Catching Up

2009-11-10T09:12:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple videos that I overlooked leading up to the BIG EAST cross country meet. Better late than never....

BIG EAST Recap

2009-11-03T16:19:00.002-06:00

Re-cap of Big East Conference Championships:

I would like to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who was able to make it to the meet on Saturday. The conditions were not ideal, but that did not matter to the true Marquette fans. Also, thank you, thank you, thank you to all who volunteered during the meet. We could not have done it without you. Several coaches commented to me, that despite the nasty conditions, this was one of the best Big East Championships they had ever seen. The crowd support was absolutely fantastic and I think our athletes performed at a slightly higher level because of all the cheers! Thanks again!!

Men-
For the men, this was our best performance of the year. Each guy either had his best race of the season, or very close to his best race. Some of our guys are built a little better for those types of conditions, but all of them gave very gutsy efforts. We were pretty disappointed with our race at Pre-Nats and a lot of that disappointment had to do with the fact we got out way to slow. At conference, we were determined to put ourselves into it from the get-go and if we happend to fall back slightly, then so be it. However, our guys didn't fall back. Many of them picked people off as the race went on. Overall, it was a great effort and I was very proud of these young guys. Our top runner, Brice Cleland, is the only junior in the group. Everyone else is a freshman or sophomore. Here is the individual breakdown:

37. Brice Cleland- Junior. Best race of the season. Seems to be coming around at the right time. Small, but very strong guy. He was made for these muddy/sloppy conditions. Great race!!
43. Blake Johnson- Sophomore. Solid race for him, but not his best of the season. Had a rough 4th mile. Still improved a lot from last season's conference performance.
50. Dominick Rosario- Sophomore. Best race I have ever seen him run. Been having great workouts recently. Very proud of his progress. Placed in the 90's last year at this meet!
51. Peter Bolgert- Sophomore. Great race for this guy. Always gives it everything, always exciting to watch him race. Nobody has a kick like Peter Bolgert.
56. Connor Callahan- Freshman. He was disappointed with his race, but I thought he ran well. The muddy conditions didn't help him much, he is a finesse-type runner and the poor footing can be a problem for him. Overall, very solid effort for a freshman.
59. Keith Schueller- Sophomore. Very solid effort for this guy. He placed 95th in this race last year. Great improvement.
60. Anthony (AJ) Gedwill- Freshman. Best race I have ever seen him run. If you would have told me in August that he would be running this well, I would not have believed you. Awesome season for this young man.
93. Patrick Keeley- Sophomore. Only one that really struggled in this race. He's normally right around Keith. I think the long track season and the junior nationals experience in Eugene caused him to peak back in September. He'll be back and he'll be a force for us next season. Great kid!
95. Patrick Maag- Freshman. The muddy conditions definitely don't suit you when you're 6'5. Patrick has had a freshman season filled with ups and downs but I think he learned a lot and he's well on his way to having a great career at Marquette.

Women-
The women's group, as a whole, had a solid race on Saturday. We had some individuals who ran their best race of the season and we had some folks who did OK, but not great. We did a great job of working together and helping each other. Our team goal was to beat Louisville. We needed to do two things to accomplish that goal. Our top 3 had to race better with their top 3, and we had to put 7 runners ahead of their 4th. We easily accomplished the 2nd goal, but we weren't even close on the first goal. This women's team has been on somewhat of a roller-coaster throughout this season. I never really know who is going to be in our top 5. It all depends on who is having a good day and who is not. I feel like every girl has made improvements, but it hasn't always showed in the races(which has me a little frustrated). I won't over-analyze the situation because I usually end up more confused, but I'll definitely sit down after the season with all the women and figure out what we can do next year to be on top of our game when it matters the most. Here is the individual breakdown:

39. Jayne Grebinski- Senior. Solid race for this senior leader. Not quite where she wanted to finish in her last Big East competition, but a great race none-the-less.
51. Anna Weber- Senior. She ran about the same effort that she has been running all season. Thought she'd be a little higher up in the field, but I was pleased with her gutsy performance.
52. Laurie Dalrymple- Junior. By far the best race she has run all season. She's always a wild-card. I never really know what she'll do when the gun goes off. Today she stepped up and helped our team. About 4 weeks ago, she was in the hospital. When she is healthy, she is a fierce competitor.
53. Molly Arenberg- Junior. Very solid effort for our soccer player transplant. Laurie is always the wild-card, Molly is always reliable. Molly gives it 100% every time out and I couldn't be happier with her progress.
56. Maureen Keane- Junior. Best race of the season for this young lady. With all the ups and downs she's had throughout her career at MU, I'm so happy she had a good one in front of all her friends and family.
59. Olivia Johnson- Junior. If there is anyone who would be affected most by the sloppy/muddy conditions, it would be Olivia. She just doesn't run well in those types of conditions. Tough race for her.
62. Amanda Beggs- Senior. She has been running really well in practice recently, so I'm surprised by this race effort. Thought she'd be with Molly/Maureen. Still trying to get back to her old form. She'll race better at regionals.
85. Sarah Verdoliva- Senior. Not necessarily the way we hoped to end the season. She's better than this, but she is still intimidated by the 6k distance. However, all of this base-work will help her for track. Look out 800m school records!

Click here for women's results

Click here for men's results

Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap

Click here for the official Marquette Images photo gallery.

Click here for the BIG EAST Conference Cross Country page .

BIG EAST Cross Countery is 2 days away!

2009-10-29T13:16:00.002-05:00

Check out the special edition of the Golden Eagle spotlight as the Marquette Cross Country teams prepare for the BIG EAST Championships this Saturday in Kenosha!

Marquette hosts the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships this Saturday at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course on the UW-Parkside campus. The the men's race will start at 11:00am and the women begin at 11:50.

Click here for the GoMarquette.com info page.
Click here for the Official BIG EAST Championship Central page.

Don't forget about the MUTC Halloween Party on Saturday night! Click here for the party flyer. If you have not already done so, click here to register for the party.

BIG EAST XC is almost here!

2009-10-28T11:55:00.005-05:00

Marquette hosts the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships this Saturday at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course on the UW-Parkside campus. The cannon will start the men's race at 11:00am and the women begin at 11:50.

Click here for the GoMarquette.com preview.

Click here for the Official BIG EAST Championship Central page.

Click here for course maps.

Click here for a pre-meet Q&A with senior women's team captain Amanda Beggs.

Don't forget about the MUTC Halloween Party on Saturday night! Click here for the party flyer. If you have not already done so, click here to register for the party.

Here is the Golden Eagle Spotlight meet preview.

This is shaping up to be a great event! See you all in Kenosha!

2010 Track & Field Schedule Released

2009-10-21T12:34:00.003-05:00

The 2010 Marquette Track & Field schedule was announced today. The team will host two home meets this year at the Bus Shimek Memorial Track & Field Facility. The home season will start off with the UWM dual meet on Friday April 2nd (Good Friday), and followed by the Marquette Twilight on Saturday April 24th. Other local meets include the Badger Track Classic on Saturday Jauary 16th, and an indoor dual meet with UWM on Saturday January 23rd at the UWM Klotsche Center, and the Wisconsin Twilight on Saturday May 8th. The BIG EAST Indoor Championships will take place at the Armory in New York City on Feb 20-21. The University of Cincinnati will host the Outdoor Championships on April 30-May 2.

Click here to read the GoMarquette.com release.
Click here to view a PDF version of the schedule.

Pre-Nats Recap Links

2009-10-20T10:14:00.003-05:00

Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap.

Click here for the Marquette Tribume recap.

Click here for the men's results.

Click here for the women's results.

Click here for the offical Pre-Nats website.

Re-cap of NCAA Pre-Nationals

2009-10-18T10:18:00.003-05:00

Men-
Unfortunately, this was not one of our better days from a team perspective. We got out a little too slow and stayed buried for most of the race. I take a lot of the blame for this because I told them to go out conservatively on the sloppy, slow course. I would say that the course was roughly 40-50 seconds slower than it has been in the past due to all the rain and mud. Some of the guys did run well, but several of them had "off" days. Blake Johnson was our top runner and he passed about 70 guys during the race, but he should have been further up in the race to begin with. Some positives: in the last two years, we have never had our 5th man place higher than 229th. Peter Bolgert was our 5th man yesterday placing 198th. I haven't looked too much into the history of Marquette competing at Pre-Nationals, but I'm not sure we've ever finished in the top 25. I think that yesterday was an "off" day and we were still able to place 30th. All of these guys are very young and they will get a few more cracks at this meet. Overall, I think this was a good learning experience for them and I think we'll run better at conference after having competed in this meet. Here's how things unfolded for each runner:

155. Blake Johnson (25:51)- solid race, but he just got out too slow. Needs to do a better job of putting himself in the race. Placed 203rd in this race last year, so at least he made a nice improvement.
170. Brice Cleland (25:59)- not a bad race for him, but not a great race either. Still nowhere near the fitness level that he was at last year. Not sure what the deal is....
187. Nick Szczech (26:09)- I don't really want to get into it. Not good....
194. Connor Callahan (26:12)- Solid race for this freshman, although he had way too much left at the finish. Like Blake, he needs to do a better job of putting himself in the race.
198. Peter Bolgert (26:21)- Solid race for Peter. Peter always goes 100%. If he's in the race, you know he'll give it everything he's got.
204. Dominick Rosario (26:28)- Great race for this sophomore. He's made some tremendous improvements since last season. Couldn't be happier with his progress.
219. Patrick Keeley (26:57)- Tough day for this sophomore. Got out slow and stayed pretty slow.

Open race-
52. Keith Schueller (26:45)- Much better effort for this sophomore. Earned his spot on the conference squad.
84. Anthony Gedwill (27:41)- Very happy with this freshman. He also earned his spot on the conference squad. He was not one of the superstars that we brought in, but he's healthy and producing results while the other guys are sitting at home. He came in ready to go!
92. Patrick Maag (27:55)- This freshman has really been through a lot recently and he ended his season on a positive note today. He was very sick for about two weeks earlier this season. He is much better on the track and all the fitness he gained this XC season will come back to help him.

Women-
I felt like the women competed much better than they did at Wisconsin a few weeks ago. Again, the course was very sloppy and slow and our women came through the 5k at times that weren't too far off of what they ran at Wisconsin for just 5k. Jayne had a nice race finishing in 83rd place. I would have liked Anna and Olivia to be a little closer to Jayne, but overall they had decent performances. I was slightly confused with the outcome of this years race. Last year, our top two women dropped out of the race and we finished 26th. This year, we had a fairly solid performance all-around and we place 29th. It just goes to show you that you can never predict the outcome of any race. I do believe that several of these women are on an upswing and I think all of them will be ready for their best race of the year at the conference meet on Oct. 31st. Here's how things played out:

83. Jayne Grebinski (21:55)- Solid performance for Jayne. She moved up through the race well.
148. Anna Weber (22:37)- Too much time/places between our #1 and #2 runners. Anna is better than this.
154. Olivia Johnson (22:41)- Considering she walked the last 400m of this race last year, I'll take her performance. She's better than this, but I'll take what I can get.
165. Kristin Pelzel (22:48)- Nice race for this young lady. She usually bombs at the bigger meets, so hopefully this is a turning point. She was in dead-last at 400m of this particular race, worked her way up nicely.
170. Molly Arenberg (22:52)- She's a soccer player, how can I not be happy with the way she's running this season. She just runs and has fun! Very refreshing.
185. Laurie Dalrymple (23:06)- She's lucky to even be running right now. Spent two days in the hospital about two weeks ago. Missed the Wisconsin meet. She might be in our top 5 at conference, she might not race. Your guess is as good as mine.
198. Sarah Verdoliva (23:17)- Solid race for her, but still not quite where I think she should be running. Might be starting to run out of gas. First full season of XC. Hopefully all of this XC stuff will help her in track. We'll see....

Open Race-
17. Amanda Beggs (22:54)- Great race for this senior. Still not running where she was last year, but she has made steady progress throughout the season. I think she'll make a run at our top 5 at conference.
60. Christina Sliepka (23:46)- Solid effort for this freshmen. Good way for her to end her season.
63. Carly Condon (23:52)- Great effort for this young lady. She is a red-shirt freshmen and she has absolutely no idea whats going on around her. She's another one who just shows up and races. She has possibly the most potential for improvement.
72. Carly Windt (24:08)- Not a good race for her. She ran awesome at UW-Parkside last weekend, so this was frustrating. Oh well, she made some tremendous improvements this year and I'm pleased with here progress.

Pre-Nats Previews

2009-10-16T10:24:00.002-05:00

The NCAA Pre-National Invitational takes place Saturday at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. The men run in the blue race starting at 11:00am EDT. The women run in the blue race starting at 12:20pm EDT.

Click here to read the MU Tribune preview.

Click here to read the GoMarquette.com preview.

Click here for meet information.

Golden Eagle Spotlight

2009-10-14T15:30:00.001-05:00

Anna Weber on this weeks Golden Eagle Spotlight...

Alumni News

2009-10-14T15:11:00.002-05:00

Claudia Becque-Johnston was inducted into the Palatine High School Hall of Fame a few weeks ago. Claudia was a member of the cross country and track & field teams from 1994-98. Last April, Claudia qualified for the Olympic trials marathon and finished 98th in the Boston Marathon. Click here, to read the entire article.

Click here to read an article from February 2008 in the Napa Valley Register about Claudia's attempt to make the Olympic-qualifying trials.

Congrats Claudia!

Marquette Tribune Links

2009-10-08T15:46:00.004-05:00

There were a couple of articles in the Thursday October 8th edition of the Marquette Tribune that had coaches quotes and other connections to MU XC / T&F.

Click here to read Columnist Erik Schmidt's column about runners; track and field and cross country runners in particular.

Click here to read 400 Hurdler and Marquette Tribune staff writer Jenny Zahn's article about MU students prepping for the Chicago Marathon.

2009-10-06T20:16:00.002-05:00

Re-Cap of Wisconsin Inter-Regional Meet.

Thomas Zimmer Cross-Country Course. Madison, WI

Men-

Despite our men bringing up the rear in the team results, I was actually pretty happy with the way we competed. I would say that this was our best meet of the season so far. This was an extremely competitive meet with 8 of the 12 Division 1 teams being ranked in the top 30 in the nation. I knew we were a little over our heads going into this meet, but if you want to be one of the best, you have to compete against the best. The course was pretty soft and a little bit muddy in some sections so the fact that we put 6 guys under 26:05 was pretty solid. I definitely think this meet was a step in the right direction for us and we're looking forward to Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana.

46. Nick Szczech 25:08 Junior

65. Blake Johnson 25:31 Soph.

70. Brice Cleland 25:50 Junior

72. Peter Bolgert 25:56 Soph.

73. Connor Callahan 26:00 Fresh.

75. Dominick Rosario 26:05 Soph.

83. Patrick Keeley 26:38 Soph.

The course is absolutely gorgeous. The university ridge golf course is right across the street from the XC course. The grounds-keepers who take care of the golf course also take care of the XC course. The footing is completely smooth and there are special paths for spectators to use as they walk/run from point to point. Wisconsin will be bidding to host the NCAA national championships in the next few years. The only two drawbacks in their bid will be the parking situation(extremely limited) and the perceived harsh weather. There is only enough parking for about 40-50 vehicles at the course. Every spectator had to park at Verona High School and pay $5 to be shuttled to the course. There will be those who object to having the championship in late November in Wisconsin. They are scared to have another championship like the one at Iowa State in 2000 or Northern Iowa in 2003. Those people are wimps, but they do have a voice. I think the course could probably hold a national championship, but Pre-Nationals would be tight. Should be interesting to follow the developments of the facility.

Women-

This meet was definitely the tale of two teams. At the Parkside meet two weeks ago, almost every single girl ran a solid race. At the Wisconsin meet on Saturday, almost every single girl ran a poor race. We really looked flat and tired, even after only one mile. A few of the girls were sick and one of our top girls, Laurie Dalrymple, did not compete, so hopefully that was the reason for our demise. We have been having some solid practices, so I'm not too worried. We have a veteran group and I know they will come back to have a stronger race at Pre-Nationals. Hopefully we got our bad race out of the way. Here is how things turned out for us:

35. Jayne Grebinski 17:53 senior

54. Anna Weber 18:15 senior

65. Olivia Johnson 18:27 junior

67. Molly Arenberg 18:35 junior

72. Kristin Pelzel 18:54 junior

77. Amanda Beggs 19:14 senior

78. Maureen Keane 19:14 senior

Wisconsin / Adidas Invitational

2009-10-05T11:03:00.003-05:00

Here are a few links related to the Adidas meet in Madison on Saturday. Coach Nelson's recap will follow...

Meet preview podacst here.

GoMarquette.com preview here.

Marquette Tribune preview here.

GoMarquette.com recap here.

Men's results here.

Women's results here.

Olivia Johnson on the Golden Eagle Spotlight

2009-09-29T12:42:00.003-05:00

Junior Olivia Johnson was a guest this week on MUTV's Golden Eagle spotlight.

2009-09-22T10:39:00.002-05:00

Re-cap of Midwest Collegiate Open at UW-Parkside

Men- Overall, I was very happy with our men. We had several great performances and I think we are moving in the right direction. Sophomore Blake Johnson was our #1 runner this past weekend with freshman Connor Callahan coming in only 2 seconds behind Blake. Connor ran an outstanding race for a freshman. The team did have a pretty big snag when our normal #1 runner, Nick Szczech, dropped out of the race with some heat issues. Nick is somewhat prone to heat exhaustion and he started getting dizzy and light-headed around the 4.5 mile mark. Losing your number one obviously hurts the team score, but our depth made up for the loss. Our other lone junior, Brice Cleland, is also experiencing some health issues that have left his energy stores a little depleted. We just found out that Brice's iron levels were deficient. So right now, my main priority is to get our normal #1 and #2 guys back to a healthy state so that this team can really roll. These guys are young, but they are stepping up in a big way! Here's how things unfolded for the guys this weekend:

6. Blake Johnson 25:32 sophomore
8. Connor Callahan 25:34 freshman
14. Peter Bolgert 25:59 sophomore
21. Brice Cleland 26:14 junior
25. Keith Schueller 26:20 sophomore (top 5 within 48 seconds)
28. Jerry Kerska 26:30 freshman
29. Patrick Keeley 26:32 sophomore (top 7 within 60 seconds)
33. Dominick Rosario 26:38 sophomore

Women- The women also had a great team performance this past weekend. We had some great front running, but we also had strong team depth. Its hard to be a good team without both! We went up against two other Big East schools in West Virginia and Louisville. West Virginia is currently ranked 4th in the country, however they held out three of their top women due to flu-like symptoms. Louisville and WVU tied for the win with 44 points and we earned 3rd place with 47 points. The Marquette women continue to impress me and the scary thing is that I know we can still run a lot better. With that being said, we're taking a slightly different approach this season in that we're taking it "one day at a time." Our slogan is, "just today." Too many times in the past we have looked too far ahead to future races. We're taking it one workout and one race at a time. Also, another big change is that several of the girls are taking at least one and sometimes two days off per week. We're trying to save our legs more for the harder workouts and races, hopefully leaving them healthy and fresh on race day. Let's hope this new strategy works out in the long-term! Here is how our girls did this weekend:

5. Olivia Johnson 18:02 junior
8. Jayne Grebinski 18:08 senior
10. Anna Weber 18:23 senior
11. Kristin Pelzel 18:24 junior
13. Molly Arenberg 18:26 junior (top 5 within 24 seconds)
23. Laurie Dalrymple 18:49 junior
24. Sarah Verdoliva 18:54 senior (top 7 within 52 seconds)

Midwest Collegiate Open at UW-Parkside

2009-09-21T11:18:00.003-05:00

Below are links and video related to Saturday's Midwest Colligaite Open held at UW-Parkside.

Click here for the meet preview.

Click here for Coach Nelson's meet preview podcast.

Click here for the meet recap.

Click here for meet results.

Coach Nelson's meet recap will follow shortly...

Women at Marquette: Historical Note of the Week

2009-09-14T16:34:00.004-05:00

In 1909, Marquette University became the first Catholic university in the world to offer coeducation as part of its regular undergraduate program. Since that time, the role of women at Marquette has changed and expanded dramatically, with women now making up more than 50 percent of the student body.

During the 2009-10 school year, Marquette is celebrating the 100th anniversary of this landmark event in the university’s history. A committee of faculty, staff, students and alumni are planning a year’s worth of activities, including an alumnae memory project, guest speakers and lectures, commemorative publications, and faculty, staff, student and alumni events.

Check out the Historical Note of the Week highlighting the 1981 NAIA Women's Championship Cross Country team here.

2009-09-10T19:45:00.002-05:00

Re-cap of the DePaul Opener-

http://www.gomarquette.com/sports/c-xc/marq-c-xc-body.html

Women-
Overall, I was very happy with the women's performance at the DePaul meet. It was a 4-team meet between Marquette, DePaul, Northwestern, and Loyola. It was a fantastic way for us to open our season. Our top five ladies went- 1,2,3,5,7 with a total team score of only 18 points. Times weren't tremendously fast because of the thick grass and several 180 turns. Jayne Grebinski looked very comfortable in her victory. She took command of the race at about the mile mark and never looked back. I was also very impressed with Kristin Pelzel's performance. Despite this being her junior year in college, Kristin has never had a full summer of training due to constant injury. She was in 2nd place for most of the race until Olivia Johnson passed her with 400m to go. Olivia also ran a strong race to finsh 2nd place in the race and for our team. Anna Weber ran a solid race to place 5th and newcomer Molly Arenberg rounded out the scoring for MU placing 7th overall. Besides the alumni race, this was Molly's first competitive XC race EVER!! I was also very impressed with our 6th runner, Sarah Verdoliva. Sarah was 9th in the race. This is only Sarah's 5th XC race ever and she still has much room to improve. We did hold out two ladies who would have definitely been in our top 8, Laurie Dalrymple- bruised foot and Courtney Kelly- Achilles tendinitis. Here's how everyone did:

1) Jayne Grebinski 14:28
2) Olivia Johnson 14:33
3) Kristin Pelzel 14:37
5) Anna Weber 14:49
7) Molly Arenberg 14:52
9) Sarah Verdoliva 15:00
17) Amanda Beggs 15:18
18) Maureen Keane 15:21
19) Carly Windt 15:23
25)Christina Sliepka 15:43
26) Kate Horan 15:45
30) Carly Condon 16:02
32) Bekki Misanin 16:11
33) Jessa Hackman 16:14
41) Melissa Budelier 16:39

Men-
The men weren't quite as dominating as the women; however they easily won the meet and I was very pleased with their performances. We had some nice front running and we had a great pack. We'll need to work on getting our 3 and 4 runners closer to our #2. Nick Szczech led the golden eagles placing 2nd in the 4-mile race. Nick ran even 5:00min pace to finish at 20:00. After all of his struggles last year, I am so happy to see this guy running well. Sophomore Blake Johnson placed 4th overall with a very strong race. Blake has always been very reliable. Brice Cleland should have placed a little higher, but he is still recovering from a knee injury he sustained this summer. He seems to be getting stronger each week and I'm sure he'll be racing alongside of Blake by our next meet at Parkside. Brice ended up being our #4 runner at DePaul, placing a few seconds behind freshmen Connor Callahan from St. Louis. Sophomore Peter Bolgert wrapped up our team scoring finishing a very respectful 11th. Peter is another guy who suffered from injuries almost all of last year. It's great to see him back training and racing strong! Here's how the guys did:

2) Nick Szczech 20:00
4) Blake Johnson 20:23
9) Connor Callahan 20:39
10) Brice Cleland 20:42
11) Peter Bolgert 20:52
12) Dominick Rosario 20:56
13) Patrick Keeley 20:57
14) Jack Senefeld 21:01
15) Patrick Maag 21:09
16) Jack Hackett 21:10
18) Keith Schueller 21:13
22) Anthony Gedwill 21:22
25) Jon Newman 21:40
27) Taylor Peliska 21:49
28) Jerry Kerska 21:51

Our next meet is at UW-Parkside on Saturday September 19th.

Over Hill and Over Dale...

2009-09-08T10:32:00.003-05:00

Each month the Marquette University Archives releases a featured assortment of digital images. This month they are featuring some historical images from MU Cross Country. Most of the images are part of a much larger collection about the MU Athletic Hall of Fame collection that archives is currently working on, but will not be ready until early next year.

Click HERE to view the collection.

The page is also currently posted on the Libraries' homepage, where it will be highlighted for about two weeks. You can access the homepage here.

UPDATED Alumni Run Results

2009-09-03T13:07:00.006-05:00

Below are the updated results from the Alumni Run on Saturday August 29th. We made a couple corrections and, with the help of David Uhrich, added some interesting info. Read on...

WOMEN'S RESULTS

1. Olivia Johnson- Jr. 11:33.7
2. Jayne Grebinski- Sr. 11:39.8
3. Cassie Peller- Class of 08 11:41.3
4. Anna Weber- Sr. 11:45.9
5. Molly Arenberg- Jr. 11:46.3
6. Michaela Courtney- Class of 07 11:51.9
7. Laurie Dalrymple- Jr. 11:52.1
8. Terri Emond- Class of 06 12:02.1
9. Sarah Verdoliva- Sr. 12:04.8
10. Kristin Pelzel- Jr. 12:04.8
11. Jessie Henderson- Class of 03 12:10.5
12. Amanda Beggs- Sr. 12:14.1
13. Maureen Keane- Jr. 12:20.4
14. Courtney Kelly- So. 12:20.6
15. Carly Windt- Fr. 12:27.9
16. Leslie Lawton- Class of 05 12:29.2
17. Christina Sliepka- Fr. 12:38.4
18. Kate Horan- So. 12:50.8
19. Melissa Budelier- Fr. 12:57.9
20. Bekki Misanin- So. 13:00.0
21. Jessa Hackman- Fr. 13:00.7
22. Carly Condon- Fr. 13:11.3
23. Kara Hughes- Class of 86 13:32.9
24. Reilly Hall- Fr. 14:03.3
25. Melissa Burghardt- Jr. 14:03.7
26. Laura Linnean- Sr. 14:05.5
27. Toni Uhrich 15:22.4
28. Jackie Herrington- Class of 03 15:35.1
29. Amanda Sucharda- Class of 03 15:35.1
30. Diane Held-Munzenmeier- Class of 84 15:38.7
31. Sharon Fritz- Class of 09 16:57.1
32. Alyssa Davis- Jr. 16:57.4
33. Marissa Handley- Jr. 16:59.8
34. Lauren Benjamin- So. 17:01.3

Blue & Gold Team- (1)(2)(4)(5)(7) = 19 points
Alumni Team- (3)(6)(8)(11)(16) = 44 points

Most Improved Alums
Diane Held-Munzenmeier
2008 2009
18:15 15:38 = -2:37!

Amanda Sucharda
2008 2009
15:54 15:35 = -:24

Furthest Distance Traveled:
Kaitlyn Chambers- Cleveland, OH 435 miles
Terri Emond- Wyoming, MN 352 miles

First Master’s Runner:

Kara Hughes Class of 86 13:32

First Field Event Athlete:

Sharon Fritz (Jumps) Class of 09

MEN'S RESULTS
1. Tommy Schmitz- Class of 07 9:44.2
2. Nick Szczech- Jr. 9:45.4
3. Blake Johnson- So. 9:51.8
4. Connor Callahan- Fr. 9:54.4
5. Matt Dunlavy- Class of 01 9:55.2
6. Brice Cleland- Jr. 9:58.6
7. Peter Bolgert- So. 9:58.9
8. Jack Hackett- So. 10:01.9
9. Dave Henderson- Class of 06 10:03.3
10. Patrick Maag- Fr. 10:05.4
11. Jack Senefeld- Fr. 10:05.7
12. Patrick Keeley- So. 10:09.1
13. Keith Schueller- So. 10:09.3
14. AJ Gedwill- Fr. 10:09.6
15. Dominick Rosario- So. 10:09.8
16. Taylor Peliska- Fr. 10:17.1
17. Jon Newman- Fr. 10:32.8
18. Jerry Kerska- Fr. 10:52.6
19. Mike McCarthy- So. 11:05.2
20. Ben Schmitz- Fr. 11:08.5
21. Billy Schlottke- Fr. 11:10.7
22. Jeremy Williams- Class of 07 11:15.9
23. Chago Navarro- Class of 95 11:18.1
24. Kyle Saginus- Class of 09 11:23.0
25. Brent DesRoches- Class of 07 11:36.1

26. Joe Herington- Class of 02 11:44.8
27. Jay Crichton- Class of 05 11:45.4
28. Kurt Keuter- Class of 08 11:46.5
29. Pete Lawrence- Class of 94 11:54.2
30. Jed Burey- Class of 08 12:00.1
31. Sal Graziano- Class of 04 12:19.5
32. Nick VanDerra- Class of 09 12:45.2
33. John Rydeski- Class of 81 12:47.4
34. Dave Uhrich- Class of 85 12:54.9
35. Jeff Grant- Class of 81 13:03.7
36. Nick Newton- Class of 04 13:09.7
37. John Duffy Class of 82 13:24.7
38. John Mroz- Class of 95 13:30.8
39. Tom Cassady- Class of 09 13:40.0
40. Tyler O’Brien- Jr. 13:44.6
41. Scott Roberts- Class of 82 14:18.0
42. Tom Sage- Class of 08 14:41.1
43. Antonio Jones- Sr. 14:41.4
44. Cameron Harvey- Class of 02 15:00.3
45. Andy Ballard- Class of 06 16:24.4
46. Jonathon Rosploch Class of 05 16:24.4
47. Jon Kusowski- Jr. 17:13.6

Blue Team- (2)(4)(7)(10)(12) = 35 points
Gold Team- (3)(6) (8)(11)(13) = 41 points
Alumni Team- (1)(5)(9)(22)(23) = 60 points

Most Improved Alums
Dave Uhrich
2008 2009
14:30 12:54 = -1:06!

Nick Newton
2008 2009
13:45 13:09 = -:36

Matt Dunlavy
2008 2009
10:25 9:55 = -:30

Dave Henderson
2008 2009
10:31 10:03 = -:28

Furthest Distance Traveled:
Jay Crichton- Burlington, Ontario, Canada 580 miles
Matt Dunlavy- Kansas City, KS 570 miles
Cameron Harvey- Nashville, TN 560 miles
Brent Des Roches- Beavercreek, OH 400 miles

First Master’s Runner:
John Rydeski- Class of 81 12:47.4

First Field Event Athlete:
Nick VanDerra- Class of 09 12:45.2

MU T&F / XC on Golden Eagle Spotlight

2009-09-01T15:45:00.004-05:00

Marquette Athletics is greatly enhancing how it uses the Internet and over the summer has really expanded its video coverarge of all sports particularly with interviews. Here are a few like that are cross country and track and field related. Much of it can be viewed at GoMarquette.com, but all can be found by clicking HERE to link to the Marquette Athletics YouTube site.

Jayne Grebinski interview on Monday August 31, 2009

Jim Allen Hall of Fame Introduction - Inducted on August 22, 2009

Coach Mike Nelson Interview on August 6, 2009

Junior Nick Szczech Interview on July 16, 2009

Senior Track & Field Captain Rachel Thiel Interview on July 8, 2009

ALUMNI RUN!

2009-08-31T15:24:00.017-05:00

The 2009 Alumni Run was held at Bay View Park in Milwaukee on Saturday August 29th. The turnout was excellent with about 130 people in attendance. It was a great event and a great way to kickoff the 2009 Cross Country season! Thanks to al those who attended and helped out! The Two Mile race results and pictures are below.

WOMEN'S RESULTS

1. Olivia Johnson- Jr. 11:33.7
2. Jayne Grebinski- Sr. 11:39.8
3. Cassie Peller- Class of 08 11:41.3
4. Anna Weber- Sr. 11:45.9
5. Molly Arenberg- Jr. 11:46.3
6. Michaela Courtney- Class of 07 11:51.9
7. Laurie Dalrymple- Jr. 11:52.1
8. Terri Emond- Class of 06 12:02.1
9. Sarah Verdoliva- Sr. 12:04.8
10. Kristin Pelzel- Jr. 12:04.8
11. Jessie Henderson- Class of 03 12:10.5
12. Amanda Beggs- Sr. 12:14.1
13. Maureen Keane- Jr. 12:20.4
14. Courtney Kelly- So. 12:20.6
15. Carly Windt- Fr. 12:27.9
16. Leslie Lawton- Class of 05 12:29.2
17. Christina Sliepka- Fr. 12:38.4
18. Kate Horan- So. 12:50.8
19. Melissa Budelier- Fr. 12:57.9
20. Bekki Misanin- So. 13:00.0
21. Jessa Hackman- Fr. 13:00.7
22. Carly Condon- Fr. 13:11.3
23. Kara Hughes- Class of 86 13:32.9
24. Reilly Hall- Fr. 14:03.3
25. Melissa Burghardt- Jr. 14:03.7
26. Laura Linnean- Sr. 14:05.5
27. Toni Uhrich 15:22.4
28. Jackie Herrington- Class of 03 15:35.1
29. Amanda Sucharda- Class of 03 15:35.1
30. Diane Held-Munzenmeier Class of 84 15:38.7
31. Sharon Fritz- Class of 09 16:57.1
32. Alyssa Davis- Jr. 16:57.4
33. Marissa Handley- Jr. 16:59.8
34. Lauren Benjamin- So. 17:01.3

Blue & Gold Team- (1)(2)(4)(5)(7) = 19 points
Alumni Team- (3)(6)(8)(11)(16) = 44 points

MEN'S RESULTS

1. Tommy Schmitz- Class of 07 9:44.2
2. Nick Szczech- Jr. 9:45.4
3. Blake Johnson- So. 9:51.8
4. Connor Callahan- Fr. 9:54.4
5. Matt Dunlavy- Class of 01 9:55.2
6. Brice Cleland- Jr. 9:58.6
7. Peter Bolgert- So. 9:58.9
8. Jack Hackett- So. 10:01.9
9. Dave Henderson- Class of 06 10:03.3
10. Patrick Maag- Fr. 10:05.4
11. Jack Senefeld- Fr. 10:05.7
12. Patrick Keeley- So. 10:09.1
13. Keith Schueller- So. 10:09.3
14. AJ Gedwill- Fr. 10:09.6
15. Dominick Rosario- So. 10:09.8
16. Taylor Peliska- Fr. 10:17.1
17. Jon Newman- Fr. 10:32.8
18. Jerry Kerska- Fr. 10:52.6
19. Mike McCarthy- So. 11:05.2
20. Ben Schmitz- Fr. 11:08.5
21. Billy Schlottke- Fr. 11:10.7
22. Jeremy Williams- Class of 07 11:15.9
23. Chago Navarro- Class of 95 11:18.1
24. Kyle Saginus- Class of 09 11:23.0
25. Brent DesRoches- Class of 07 11:36.1
26. Joe Herrington- Class of 02 11:44.8
27. Jay Crichton- Class of 05 11:45.4
28. Kurt Keuter- Class of 08 11:46.5
29. Pete Lawrence- Class of 94 11:54.2
30. Jed Burey- Class of 08 12:00.1
31. Sal Graziano- Class of 04 12:19.5
32. Nick VanDerra- Class of 09 12:45.2
33. John Rydeski- Class of 81 12:47.4
34. Dave Uhrich- Class of 85 12:54.9
35. Jeff Grant- Class of 81 13:03.7
36. Nick Newton- Class of 04 13:09.7
37. Duffy?? Class of 82 13:24.7
38. John Mroz- Class of ?? 13:30.8
39. Tom Cassady- Class of 09 13:40.0
40. Tyler O’Brien- Jr. 13:44.6
41. Scott Roberts- Class of 82 14:18.0
42. Tom Sage- Class of 08 14:41.1
43. Antonio Jones- Sr. 14:41.4
44. Cameron Harvey- Class of 02 15:00.3
45. Andy Ballard- Class of 06 16:24.4
46. Jonathon Rosploch Class of 05 16:24.4
47. Jon Kusowski- Jr. 17:13.6

Blue Team- (2)(4)(7)(10)(12) = 35 points
Gold Team- (3)(6) (8)(11)(13) = 41 points
Alumni Team- (1)(5)(9)(22)(23) = 60 points

Alum Tommy Schmitz breaks 4:00 Mile

2009-04-28T16:27:00.006-05:00

Marquette track and field / cross country alum Tommy Schmitz broke the 4:00 mile barrier this weekend at a meet at the University of California.

Find a link to the GoMarquette.com story here.

Here is a video of the race from RunnerSpace.com. Tommy is in and out of the picture throughout much of the race, starting toward the back and running much of the race in the 3rd or 4th position. There are also several rabbits that dropout throughout.

Watch the post-race interview from FloTrack.com here.

Marquette Twilight

2009-04-28T16:13:00.002-05:00

Despite pretty nasty weather conditions we were able to complete this year’s edition of the Marquette Twilight. For those of you out there helping out, thanks so much! The weather really affected the performances on the track and in the field events. That said, the throwers were able to find a few successes as Rachel Thiel finally recorded her BIG EAST qualifying mark in the shot put after a long road back from knee surgery. Generally speaking this was not a competition to write home about in terms of times and marks. It was a competition to write home about in terms of effort. Everyone who competed Saturday really got after it. How we compete is key as we get ready for the BIG EAST Outdoor meet this upcoming weekend at Villanova.

Due to the weather we don’t have any pictures this week.

Find the GoMarquette.com story, copy of the MU Radio broadcast, and results here.

Find the Marquette Tribune story here.

Arkansas Wrap-Up

2009-04-24T21:50:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we send half our team to the John McDonnell Invite at the University of Arkansas. The other half stayed in town and competed at the Wisconsin Lutheran Warrior Relays. You can check out the GoMarquette.com recap as well as find results here. At Arkansas, the team had to deal with a thunderstorm and a 45 min delay during the middle of the meet. We had several strong performances, but we are still looking for the big breakthrough from a number of areas. Time is running out as we only have one more meet before the BIG EAST meet on May 1-3.

Here are a few pictures from Arkansas…

Senior Nick Van Deraa tied his outdoor PR with a vault of 15-1. Nick also anchored the 4x400m relay to a season best time of 3:15.73 with a spilt of 48.8.

Junior Jayne Grabinski improved her PR in the Steeplechase to 10:34.15. That mark is #2 in school history behind All-American Brianna Dahm. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a nice piece on Jayne in the Thursday April 23 edition. Check it out here.

Junior Michael O'Brien continued his consistent season running 54.59 in the 400 Hurdles. Mike also split 48.5 running the 3rd leg of the 4x400 that ran a seasons best time of 3:15.75.

Sophomore Alyssa Davis jumped 38'9.75" in the triple jump. That is the second best jump of Alyssa's career.

Sophomore Tyler O'Brien ran a season's best 200m with a time of 21.73 in a downpour (the rain is the reason for a smaller number of pictures this week). The meet was suspended for about 45 minutes due to lightening shortly after Tyler's race. Tyler came back later in the meet to lead off the 4x400m relay with a split of 49.4 and help the team run a season best time of 3:15.75.

Marquette vs UWM Dual Meet

2009-04-16T09:29:00.008-05:00

Hello everyone, I am sorry that my updates have been lacking lately. The past couple of weeks have been very busy and I have had to put off updating the blog.

Last Friday both our men's and women's teams came out victorious as we renewed a dual meet series with UW-Milwaukee that we hope to continue on an annual basis from here on out. Some years we may compete indoors at UWM and other years we will be outdoors at the Valley. We do not necessarily have a set pattern of when it will be indoors and when it will be outdoors, it will probably come down to where we can fit the meet in with our respective schedules.

Interestingly enough, after doing some digging through old files, it appears that the last dual meet HOSTED by Marquette was back in 1972 when UWM beat Marquette at Marquette Stadium. As far as I could tell by looking at the old files it may have been the last Marquette track meet held at Marquette Stadium. If any of you know anything different, please let me know!

To check out the GoMarquette.com recap and meet results click here.

To check out the photo gallery from the meet click here.

Here are a few videos from the meet...

Tyler O'Brien winning the Men's 100m... making him "Milwaukee's Fastest Man"

Olivia Johnson just edged out Katlin Millin to win the Women's 800m.

Nick Van Deraa took 2nd in the Pole Vault with a jump of 14'6". The pole vault took place in the Marquette Gym the due to the umpredicatable weather in the Valley. This was likely the first official track & field competition held in the Gym since the 1960s.

Alyssa Davis won the Triple jump with a jump of 36'9.75" (her first jump).

Mike O'Brien won the 400m Hurdles in a time of 54.82.

Erynn James won the high jump with a jump of 5'5". Erynn only took 2 jumps on the day. Everyone else was out of the competition when Erynn came in at 5'3". She made that height and proceeded to 5'5", deciding to stop after clearing the bar.

Shawn McLarney took 2nd in the Long Jump with a jump of 22'0.25"

Liz Wilkie took 2nd in the Pole Vault with a PR 11'6.25"

Eric Meissner won the Men's 800m; just holding off Peter Bolgert and UWM runner Jake Spaciel.

Lauren Darnall took 3rd in the Pole Vault with a PR jump of 11'0.25"

Georgia Relays

2009-03-27T13:49:00.026-05:00

The men's and women's track and field teams opened the outdoor season with several top performances at the Georgia Relays last weekend. The meet was highlighted by NCAA regional qualifying marks by Jayne Grebinski in the 3000m steeplechase and by Erynn James in the high jump.

Read the official GoMarquette.com release of Day 1 here and of Day 2 here.

Check out some pictures and the details below....

Junior Jayne Grebinski qualified for the NCAA regional meet in her first ever 3000m Steeplechase. In addition to winning the race, her mark of 10:37.06 makes her #2 in MU school history behind All-American Brianna Dahm's 10:01.77 set in 2002.

Junior Erynn James won the High Jump with a NCAA Regional qualifying height of 5-8.75 (1.75m). The mark ties her outdoor best set n 2008.

Senior Scott Mueller won the 5000m with a BIG EAST qualifying time of 14:31.78. Scott also ran a leg on the 4x800m "B" team as well as ran the 1600m leg of the Distance Medley splitting a PR 4:17.0.

Senior Jessi Ehlen placed 2nd in the Hammer throw to 2008 Olympian Martina Harasnova with a throw of 173-10. That was also a BIG EAST qualifying mark.

Sophomore Nick Byom set a lifetime best in the High Jump with a BIG EAST qualifying leap of 6-8.75 (2.05m). Nick had 2 excellent attempts at 6-10.75 (2.10m) with is the NCAA Regional qualifying mark. Nick's jump moves him to a 3rd place time with 2008 grad Raymond Bratchett on the all-time list.

Sophomore Alyssa Davis set a new outdoor PR in the triple jump with a BIG EAST qualifying mark of 38-0.75 (11.60m). That moves Alyssa to #4 on the all-time list.

Junior Jeff Kluge recorded BIG EAST qualifying marks in both the Hammer and Discus. His PR Hammer mark of 180-1 moves him up to #5 on the all-time list.

In their first time running the event, Freshmen Courtney Kelly (front) and Kate Horan finished 2nd and 3rd and qualified for the BIG EAST in the 3000m Steeplechase. Courtney's time of 11:19.66 and Kate's time of 11:20.80 make them #9 and #10, respectively, on the all-time list.

Junior Audra Ketelsen recorded BIG EAST qualifying marks in both the Discus and Javelin. Her PR Javelin mark of 128-7 moves her up to #2 on the all-time list.

Junior Mike O'Brien qualified for the BIG EAST meet with a 400m Hurdle time of 55.03.

Sophomore Tyler O'Brien (left) and Junior Randey Fisher each recorded PRs in the 400m running 49.08 and 49.34 respectively.

Junior Kelly Corcoran qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the Hammer with a mark of 154-9.

Freshman Blake Johnson placed 3rd in the 5000m with a PR time of 15:07.57. Blake also was a member of the 4x800 relay.

Freshman Stephanie Grant placed 2nd in the 400m and led off both the Sprint Medley Relay and the 4x400m relay.

Senior Eric Meissner was on relay duty at Georgia running the 800m leg of Sprint Medley in 1:52.7, the 400m leg of the Distance Medley in 49.5 and anchoring the "A" 4x800m Relay.

Senior Nick Van Deraa was also a busy man at Georgia. In addition to competing in the open Pole Vault, Nick ran the 3rd leg on the 4x100m, a 200m leg of the Sprint Medley, and anchored the 4x400 in 48.8.

Senior Liz Wilkie placed 4th in the Pole Vault.

Freshman Jenny Zahn competed in her first 400m Hurdle race placing 6th with a time of 1:07.34.

Sophomore Jon Kusowski Qualified for the BIG EAST in the Hammer.

School Records Fall at Alex Wilson Meet

2009-03-08T22:13:00.008-05:00

The men's and women's track and field teams finished the indoor season in style with great performances at the Alex Wilson last chance meet hosted by Notre Dame. All five who competed at the meet (pictured left to right: Erynn James, Sarah Verdoliva, Tyler O'Brien, Katlin Millin and Olivia Johnson) set personal records and three set school records.

Read the official GoMarquette.com release here.

Check out some pictures, videos, and the details below....

Redshirt Junior Sarah Verdoliva ran 2:12.38 in the 800m to break the 11-year old school record set previously by Jessica Berlowski in 1998. Sarah had surgery for compartment syndrome this past fall and is still not 100% yet. The sky is limit once she is healthy!

Sophomore Tyler O'Brien has returned to form, running 21.87 to break his own school record after a December back injury set his training back about a month.

Junior Erynn James equaled the school record in the high jump clearing 5'9.25" (1.76m) to tie Christine Spindler's 1993 jump on the record board. Erynn missed the latter half of the 2008 outdoor season, all summer and all fall with a stress fracture in her plant foot. This was only Erynn's 4th competition of the season.

Junior Katlin Millin and sophomore Olivia Johnson each set their indoor personal best marks at 2:14.19 and 2:14.24 respectively. That will tie Katlin for #8 and Olivia is #10 on the all time list.

BIG EAST Indoor Championships

2009-02-28T22:14:00.011-06:00

The BIG EAST Indoor meet took place at the New Balance Track and Field Center in The Armory in New York City on Saturday February 21 and Sunday February 22.

This has been a busy week, so this post is (again) a few days after the fact… but I have posted a lot of great pictures from the meet. All of the great photography you are seeing on the blog this season has been taken by some of the coaches and athletes using a new Digital SLR camera that we purchased for the team this year. The pictures taken at the BIG EAST meet were taken by junior high jumper Erynn James on Saturday and by senior pole vaulter Liz Wilkie on Sunday.

The BIG EAST, over the last couple of years, has become one of the truly elite conferences. It is deep in every event… not just the mid and long distances. We took some solace in the fact that we had numerous PRs and several place, or improve upon their place on the top-ten lists, but we were also frustrated in several events by performing at a level that was among the best in MU history but still not even placing!

One case in point would be Jayne Grebinski. Her time of 9:40.19 in the 3000 is #3 on the all-time list, yet it was only good enough for 10th place.

In other instances performances that were basically the same as last year placed significantly lower. Our women’s 4x800 team ran about 7-tenths slower than last year’s 3rd place team. This year we placed 7th.

That being said we are not planning on moping around about these challenges. Challenges are at the heart of athletics. We as coaches will continue to work hard recruiting student-athlete that can compete to win in the BIG EAST and continue to develop those on currently on the team to reaching new heights within themselves.

A prime example of a group reaching new heights within themselves was our men's 4x800m Relay. Their time of 7:37.06 was the fastest men's 4x8 in 27 years. That team featured 2 seniors who had disappointing performances in open events and 2 freshman who were really unknown quantities. The put together a great team that we are very excited about going into the outdoor season.

Here are a few pictures and the details....

Senior Co-Captain Jessi Ehlen placed 5th in the weight throw with a toss of 57-7. The 4 that placed ahead of Jessi are 4 of the top 14 in the country.

Senior Co-Captain Kyle Saginus ended his MU track career in style by anchoring the Distance Medley Relay with a a PR 1600m split of 4:14.8. Kyle has only indoor eligibility remaining for the 2009 season.

Senior Co-Captain Liz Wilkie placed 10th with at jump of 11-3.75. Liz just grazed the bar on her "would-have-been PR" 1st attempt at 11-9.75

Junior Anna Weber ran a PR 9:58.22 in the 3000m.

Redshirt junior Co-Captain Sarah Verdoliva ran the 800m, the 800m leg of the Distance Medley Relay, and the 4x800m Relay. She failed to advance to the final after making a tactical error in a slower section of the 800m running 2:16.04. She redeemed herself nicely by running a 2:14.7 split in the DMR and led off the 4x800 with a sizzling 2:13.8.

Senior Co-Captain Nick Van Deraa placed 9th in the pole vault with a jump of 15-3 (pictured above). Nick missed out at 15-9 which would have been a PR and new school record.

Nick came back after the pole vault to run a 48.8 split on the Distance Medley Relay and also anchored the 4x400m Relay to a 6th place finish with a split of 49.0.

Sophomore Tyler O'Brien placed 7th in the 200m with a time of 22.16 after running 22.05 in the prelims.

Junior Co-Captain Rachel Thiel competed in only her 2nd indoor meet of the season after missing much of the fall and indoor season recovering from surgery.

Freshman Billy Schlottke ran a lifetime best 1:54.7 split on the 2nd leg of the 4x800m relay.

Junior Dani Owen ran 2:58.82 in the prelims of the 1000m. That time was 0.01 off her PR. Dani came back to run 2:15.5 as the 3rd leg of the 4x800m relay.

Junior Michael O'Brien ran the prelims of the 500m in 1:05.50 and came back to split 49.2 on a key 3rd leg of the 4x400m Relay.

Sophomore Olivia Johnson narrowly miss qualifying for the final of the 1000m running a PR 2:54.64, a time good enough for 4th on the all-time list. Olivia also anchored the Distance Medley Relay to a 6th place finish with a split of 5:00.5 as well as anchored the 4x800m relay to a 7th place finish with a split of 2:16.2.

Senior Mark Kopecki ran 4:11.85 in the mile to qualify for the final. That time was a PR and placed him #9 on the all-time list. Mark placed 12th in the final with a time of 4:16.32. He came back to lead off the 4x800m relay with a split of 1:53.8.

Freshman Albojay Deacon competed in the Triple Jump and fouled all three prelim attempts.

Junior Katlin Millin ran the 800m and the 4x800m relay. She ran a disappointing 2:19.00 in the open, but followed it up with key 2nd leg carry of 2:14.0 in the 4x800.

Senior Mike Heim threw 52-8 to place 11th in the weight throw.

Senior Eric Meissner, a favorite to make the 800m final, got caught up in traffic in a slow and tactical 800m prelim. His time of 1:55.91 was not enough to advance. Eric came back to run a 1:55.3 800m leg of the Distance Medley Relay and a 1:53.6 anchor leg on the 6th place 4x800m relay. The 4x800 time of 7:37.06 was the fastest men's 4x800 in 27 years.

Frehman Stephanie Grant ran the 400m leg of the Distance Medley Relay. Stephanie is the daughter of former MU 800m star Jeff Grant.

Junior Jayne Grebinski ran a PR 9:40.19 in the 3000m. The time was good enough for 4th on the all-time list, but only good enough for 10th place in the race. Jayne also leg off the Distance Medley Relay with a 3:35.9 1200m split.

Sophomore Alyssa Davis placed 15th in the triple jump with a mark of 37-3.75.

Junior Kelly Corcoran threw a PR in the weight throw with a mark of 51-11.5. That placed her 11th in the competition. Kelly also threw the shot put 42-4.25 placing 16th.

Senior Tom Cassady ran a 49.9 split on a key 2nd leg of the 4x400m relay. Tom moved the team from 5th to 2nd by the handoff.

Sophomore Nick Byom placed 6th in the high jump with a mark of 6-7. He had his hips over the first attempt "would-be PR" bar of 6-9 before brushing it off with his calves.

Freshman Blake Johnson showed signs of great things to come by leading off the Distance Medley Relay with a 1200m split of 3:02.6 He came back to run a 1:54.7 3rd leg on the 4x800m Relay.

2009-02-17T16:32:00.010-06:00

Hoosier Hills

We used this meet as a tune-up of sorts for those who needed one more competition, and as a last chance meet for those who still needed to qualify for the BIG EAST meet. We were successful in both areas and we added a few more BIG EAST qualifiers and fine-tuned our technique as we prep for the BIG EAST in New York City! You can check out the GoMarquette.com story here.

Here are a few pictures and the details....

Senior Mike Heim qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the weight throw with a mark of 51-1.75

Freshman Naana Mensah competed in the 200m.

Junior Michael O'Brien ran the 400m. Mike qualified for the BIG EAST in the 500m earlier in the season.

Sophomore Marisa Handley jumped a PR 5-3 in the High Jump. The picture is of her 3rd attempt at 5-5... you can see just how close she was!

Freshman Lauren Benjamin competed in the 60 Hurdles and the Long Jump. She set a hurdle PR with a time 9.71.

Sophomore Kristin Pelzel ran 5:17.25 in the mile.

Junior Kelly Corcoran qualified for the BIG EAST meet in both the shot put and the weight throw. Her PR distance of 50-11.5 in the weight throw placed her #7 of the all-time list.

Freshman Keith Schueller ran 9:09.08 in the 3000m.

Freshman Kate Horan ran 10:26.36 in the 3000m.

Sophomore Jon Kusowski threw a PR and BIG EAST qualifier in the weight throw of 54-4 that places him #10 on the all-time list.

Senior Drew Craig set a PR running 8:58.01 in the 3000m.

Junior Dani Owen ran a PR and BIG EAST qualifier in the mile with at time of 5:07.14.

Freshman Carly Windt set a PR by about 20 seconds in the 3000m with a time of 10:42.99.

Junior Brice Cleland ran a PR 4:20.25 in the mile, narowly missing the BIG EAST qualifying mark.

Freshman Albojay Deacon jumped a BIG EAST qualifying mark in the Triple Jump.

Freshman Blake Johnson lead off the Distance Medley Relay with a split of 3:08.3.

Freshman Billy Schlottke ran 2nd (400m leg) in the DMR with a split of 50.5. Earlier in the meet Billy ran a PR in the 800 with a time of 1:57.57.

Freshman Dominick Rosario ran 3rd (800m leg) in the DMR. Earlier in the meet Dom ran a PR in the Mile with a time of 4:22.48.

Freshman Patrick Keeley ran anchor (1600m leg) in the DMR. Patrick also competed in the open mile earlier in the meet.

2009-02-17T13:43:00.014-06:00

Meyo Invitational

This is a week late, but better late than never! The Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame saw numerous PRs, BIG EAST qualifiers, top-10 all-time marks and 2 near misses at school records. Check out the GoMarquette.com recaps for the Meyo Invitational here.

Here are some highlights and the accompanying pictures….

Sophomore Tyler O'Brien showed that he is returning to form running 22.19 in the 200m after missing several weeks with an injury earlier in the season.

Senior Nick Van Deraa narrowly missed the school record in the pole vault (15-7.75) - jumping 15-5.75. Nick finished the day with a 48.1 carry as the 3rd leg on the 4x400m relay.

Sophomore Olivia Johnson ran a PR 2:56.25 in the 1000m placing her #6 on the all-time list and qualifying her for the BIG EAST meet.

Senior Mark Kopecki ran a PR 4:13.51 in the Mile.

Sophomore Nick Byom jumped 6-6.75 in the High Jump.

Sophomore Laurie Dalrymple ran a PR 17:35.04 in the 5000m to earn her first BIG EAST qualifier.

Senior Tom Cassady ran a PR 36.75 in the 300m.

Senior Kyle Saginus ran a PR 14:48.43 in the 5000m which places him #8 on the all-time list.

Junior Katlin Millin ran 1:16.97 in the 500m to qualify for the BIG EAST meet.

Junior Jayne Grebinski ran 9:57.02 in the 3000m to qualify for the BIG EAST meet.

Junior Anna Weber qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the 5000m with a PR time of 17:34.29.

Junior Amanda Beggs ran a PR in the 5000m of 17:48.83

Sophomore Alyssa Davis jumped to a big PR of 38-10.25 to make her #3 on the all-time list.

2009-02-04T13:48:00.007-06:00

Wisconsin Elite Invitational

Unfortunately this has been a busy week so I don’t have a lot of time to write a large detailed blog. The primary highlights for the team came in the weight throw and the triple jump.

Behind the results:

Super-senior Jessi Ehlen threw a 13 inch PR in winning the women’s weight throw at 60-6. She is now only 6 inches away from the school record currently held by Julie Sorrentino (61-0) and 12.5 inches away from NCAA Provisional qualifying (61-6.5).

Sophomore Alyssa Davis jumped to #4 on the MU women all-time indoor triple jump list. The number four seems to be Alyssa’s lucky number as her lifetime best jump of 38-0 was number 4 in a series of 6 jumps that saw 4 of the 6 attempts just below, or at 38-feet. Before her breakthrough Saturday, Alyssa had jumping in the 35-36 foot range.

Sophomore Jon Kusowski had about a foot PR in the men’s weight throw. His throw of 53-6.5 made him #10 on the all-time list.

Freshman Albojay Deacon jumped a PR in the Triple Jump. The manner in which he did it is what stands out. A.D. fouled his first two attempts and needed to take a “safety” jump on his third attempt ensuring that he would get a mark and qualify for the final for 3 more jumps. He moved his mark back 3 feet and took off well behind the board and ended up with a PR!

This upcoming weekend we are off to Notre Dame (again) for the Meyo Invitational. We are looking for some big performances on the track and on the runways. The throwers will be taking a weekend off.

Here a few pictures from the meet:

2009-02-04T11:46:00.002-06:00

Alumni Update

2006 Marquette Track & Field / Cross Country graduate Tommy Schmitz narrowly missed breaking 4 minutes in the mile this past weekend running 4:00.96 at the University of Washington Invitational.

Here is Tommy's race:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

2009-01-26T11:57:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-01-21T22:20:00.019-06:00

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...

2008-12-17T10:26:00.003-06:00

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

2008-11-17T20:36:00.002-06:00

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

2008-11-02T17:13:00.002-06:00

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

2008-10-27T10:01:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-20T18:41:00.002-05:00

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).

2008-10-14T13:35:00.017-05:00

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

2008-10-05T10:19:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-16T12:12:00.000-05:00

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

2008-09-03T12:08:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-05-31T23:47:00.000-05:00

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

2008-05-31T00:42:00.000-05:00

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

2008-05-07T23:53:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-29T10:13:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-25T23:12:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-04-10T21:13:00.000-05:00

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)

2008-04-03T17:02:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-10T16:38:00.001-05:00

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!

2008-03-06T10:03:00.001-06:00

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

2008-03-02T22:47:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-02-11T23:43:00.000-06:00

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

Coaches Corner

2007-12-28T09:18:00.001-06:00

Coming soon...