No Such Thing as Luck: Fantastic Practice Facilities

I really like this picture that Coach Stalker snapped the other day at practice it shows the men and women running out of the fog as we do some threshold intervals in preparation for the Regional Championships.  Great finishes at a meet have nothing to do with luck and.  You have to be prepared and the only way to do that is at practice and we are really blessed that just a mile or so north of campus we have Green Valley State Park.  A 500 acre lake with miles of trails around it. It is a fantastic place to run.  We also have a huge indoor pool right on campus that we train in too.  You can get a great workout without all the stress on the joints.  On the west side of campus we have a golf course that we run on as well.  Plus out by my house we 11 miles of continuous dirt roads that we get to every couple of weeks.   All combined we have some fantastic places to train. We stay on grass, dirt and trials as much as we can.   It cuts down on the wear and tear caused by the streets.    

Coach Stalker: Great Asset to the Spartans

We are really fortunate to have as our Assistant Head Coach Cari Stalker.  Cari was the first girl in the history of Iowa High School Track and Field to win the state championship in the 400m open four years in a row while she was a runner at Valley High School in Des Moines, Iowa.  All told she has 8 state track titles, 5 in individual events and 3 on relays.  She has 3 titles from the Drake Relays and she ran track at the University of Iowa.  Cari was also a recent inductee into the Iowa High School Girls Hall of Fame.  She knows her stuff and she is a big part of our success but she does take a lot of flak for being from Valley.    

Excellence at Every Level

So far this season we have had 3 athletes selected as the ICCAC  Athlete of the Week (Walt, Tressa and Peter) and 2 selected as ICCAC Scholars of the Week (Nick and Patrese.)  As a coach I think it is fantastic when an athlete receives an honor based on a performance.  It is a great testament to their hard work.  I think that all of  them will tell you that the awards would not have been possible had it not been for their teammates.   

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers........

The one thing that Coach Stalker and I really stress each season is that this is a great opportunity for everyone that might not come around again.  It is not just a great chance to run at places around the country but also a great chance to make life long friends from around the world, receive a tremendous education and have experiences that will shape you for the rest of your life. 

We have been fortunate to have some great people run for us over the last few years and this years group is outstanding they really believe that the most important person on the team is their teammate. Everyday at practice they show up and are ready to go.

2nd at the Viking Invitational: Barriers are there to be broken!!

    Friday was our first time running at the Viking Invite in Ewing Park in Des Moines and what an exciting day.  The mens team finished 2nd and we saw Walt have 50 meter lead at 5000 meters evaporate to a 5 foot lead with 10 meters to go, but it ended well as he edged out a good runner  to earn the title.

   The course had few steep hills but it was a great spectator course as the runners had to run a big loop and people could cut across to cheer and watch.

  No matter the sport there is always a barrier line that you don't want to fall below or one that you want to break, like running a sub 2:00 minute 800 or breaking the 4 minute mile.  Once you break through times just start getting better and better and you start to get some confidence in your abilities.  Ethan and Jake both ran in the 29's, it was a goal that they had established early and had been working for sometime.  It is fun to watch  someone who sets a high goal and then does everything they can to achieve it.

  Our ladies were outstanding.  Tressa finished 18th and Patrese finished 50.  Patrese has been injured and this was her first meet back in 4 weekis and she ran well.  We only have 4 weeks till nationals so we need to keep competing and getting better as we get ready for a chance in a liftetime. 

Brissman-Lundeen Invite: TOP 10- AWESOME!!

    When you get to the Brissman-Lundeen Invite you know two things are going to happen. One the field of  runners is going to be huge and two, the course is going to be fast.   This year was no different.  There were 350 runners on both the men's and women's side and we had 6 runners set p.r.'s plus Walt set a record for having the fastest 5K in the college's history. 

    The race started FAST, Walt and the leaders hit the first mile at 4:56.  Jake B., and Nick K., remarked that they hit the 5K mark at faster times than they have ever run.  With everyone running that fast I was hoping that it would show up in the final placing and it did.  Walt and Pete both placed in the top 50 Jake B., was 55th.  Everyone's performances helped us to finish 9th out of 29.  That is a big finish against some very good teams.  GO SPARTANS!!

   Tressa Miller had her best race of the season, running her best time yet on the 6K course.  Her last 1,000 meters were inspiring as she was passing people  left and right.  She is really starting to understand what it takes to be a great runner on the college level.

    A top ten  at Brissman is big and I felt really great about how everyone ran.  Next week we are off to the Viking Invite in Des Moines, IA. We will have to run well there because there will be a great field there,