Quick update of Day 1 - Victor Lopez:
Rose Caldwell set a huge PR and broke the school record in the 5000m by running 18:47. She didn't have a good finishing place because of how fast the field was (all girls ran sub 19!) but she ran tough, ran smart, and established a nice PR prior to hitting her peak this season. She will look to run sub 18:30 when we finish the season here one month from now.
Alma Santos also established another awesome PR by finishing the 1500m in 5:00.70, setting a freshman record. Alma finally looked like she put it all together and it looks like the speed work is starting to pay dividends for us right when it is supposed to!
Adrian Carrillo, Jeremy Juarez and Michael Cortez ran 4:14, 4:18, and 4:20 repectively in the 1500m. It was the first 1500m try of the season for Adrian and only the second for Jeremy.
Yvonne Rodriguez finished 17th by running 4:46.xx. She led her heat until the final 150m of the race. We have decided to shake up Yvonne's training and start training her as a middle distance runner, with the goal of working on her speed coordination. With this, we look for her to finally dip under our goal of 4:40 this year.
Finally, Danny Gonzalez set another solid PR in the men's javlin with a chunk of 166'1", good for 6th place out of 13 or so competitors. He has now improved in two consecutive meets.
Our sprinters/jumpers look to continue our PR party tomorrow against some of the best competition in the state.
Until tomorrow...
Friday, March 28, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
UT Invite in the books for men and women of UIW - 6 records smashed!
The men's and women's team traveled up the road to Austin, TX to compete in the UT Invite against some of the best competition the state can offer. Among the teams in attendance were UT, A&M, Corpus A&M, Sam Houston, Univ. of Houston, Angelo State, Lamar. It was a good test for us as we continue to look forward to the peaking season come April, early May.
Here are some of the highlights of the meet for both teams:
Jay Wilson, sophomore from Churchill HS in San Antonio continued his steady improvement by winning his heat of the 1500m in 4:01.87, good for a new school record. His time was good enough for 7th overall out of 28 athletes. If he would have been in the first heat he may have run even better. He controlled his heat for much of the race.
Yvonne Rodriguez, junior from Tuluso-Midway established another school record in the 1500m in her quest to break every female distance record we have. Yvonne's time of 4:45.48 was good for 6th place in a stacked field. She was right in the thick of things until the very end, holding 2nd place as late as until the final 200 meters. Her time leaves her 3 seconds away from the D-II outdoor provisional qualifying standard.
Jay came back a little over an hour later and again won his heat, this time in the 800m. He finished with a time of 1:57.56 to finish 11th out of 36. Once again, his heat provided little competition for him. This was his first 800m in over a year.
Yvonne, like Jay, came back on little rest and established another school record. This time, she broke the record she set at TX State two weeks ago. Yvonne finished the 3000m in 10:20.20 to miss the qualifying standard by 5 seconds! As her times continue to drop we hope that she is a few weeks away from securing herself a solid provisional mark for the championships in California.
Adrian Carrillo finished the distance party by setting a new record in the men's steeple. Adrian was running his first-ever 3000m steeple race. We have not been on top of his steeple preparation like we should have, spending a mere two weeks jumping hurdles. Nonetheless, Adrian went out in an aggressive manner and stayed with much of the pack during the race. With Shayn Weidner's help, he broke Shayn's record from last year. As Shayn continues to get healthy, this gives our distance program optimism to have 2 sub-10 minute steeplers next year.
The men's 4 x 400m finished out our day on a strong note with a new school mark of 3:20.48. Judson HS Freshman Christian Alicea started us off with a 49.10 split. He handed off to Warren HS Freshman Taylor Echevarria, who ran a split of 50.05. Taylor handed off to Christian's freshman brother George Alicea, who toured the track in 49.50. George handed off to seasoned anchor Chacho Madera, who ran a 51.56 split. Chacho was not feeling well after running the open 400 earlier in the afternoon. He is normally good for a low 49 split, bringing our time to a high 3:18, low 3:19. That is the kind of time we are looking for at this point in the season as we peak.
We have had trouble putting everything on the 4 x 400m together at this point. The two consistants all season have been George and Christian. They are pulling double duty on the 4 x 100m and have been good for a consistant 49 split. Taylor is still learning to run on the 4 x 400m and Chacho is working his way back from the flu and a hamstring injury that kept him out for 3 weeks early this semester. Once these guys get going coupled with alternate freshman John Zavala (Auscion, Paraguay South America) we will be closer to our goal of making the national championships in May.
Other noteables:
Rose Caldwell (Sophomore from Warren HS, SA, TX) showed improvement in the 3000m with a PR of 10:53. She continues to scratch the surface of her ability, which we hope will lead to a 10:35 by the end of the season.
Hayley Watts (Sophomore from Boerne HS, Boerne, TX) showed improvement in the open 400 by running 60 flat as she was completing the long jump.
We take it easy this week as we prepare for some more stiff competition at the Victor Lopez Invite on the Rice University campus Friday and Saturday.
For all UT results go to: http://cache.texassports.com/doc_lib/000_stats/tk/tk_032208_results.htm
Here are some of the highlights of the meet for both teams:
Jay Wilson, sophomore from Churchill HS in San Antonio continued his steady improvement by winning his heat of the 1500m in 4:01.87, good for a new school record. His time was good enough for 7th overall out of 28 athletes. If he would have been in the first heat he may have run even better. He controlled his heat for much of the race.
Yvonne Rodriguez, junior from Tuluso-Midway established another school record in the 1500m in her quest to break every female distance record we have. Yvonne's time of 4:45.48 was good for 6th place in a stacked field. She was right in the thick of things until the very end, holding 2nd place as late as until the final 200 meters. Her time leaves her 3 seconds away from the D-II outdoor provisional qualifying standard.
Jay came back a little over an hour later and again won his heat, this time in the 800m. He finished with a time of 1:57.56 to finish 11th out of 36. Once again, his heat provided little competition for him. This was his first 800m in over a year.
Yvonne, like Jay, came back on little rest and established another school record. This time, she broke the record she set at TX State two weeks ago. Yvonne finished the 3000m in 10:20.20 to miss the qualifying standard by 5 seconds! As her times continue to drop we hope that she is a few weeks away from securing herself a solid provisional mark for the championships in California.
Adrian Carrillo finished the distance party by setting a new record in the men's steeple. Adrian was running his first-ever 3000m steeple race. We have not been on top of his steeple preparation like we should have, spending a mere two weeks jumping hurdles. Nonetheless, Adrian went out in an aggressive manner and stayed with much of the pack during the race. With Shayn Weidner's help, he broke Shayn's record from last year. As Shayn continues to get healthy, this gives our distance program optimism to have 2 sub-10 minute steeplers next year.
The men's 4 x 400m finished out our day on a strong note with a new school mark of 3:20.48. Judson HS Freshman Christian Alicea started us off with a 49.10 split. He handed off to Warren HS Freshman Taylor Echevarria, who ran a split of 50.05. Taylor handed off to Christian's freshman brother George Alicea, who toured the track in 49.50. George handed off to seasoned anchor Chacho Madera, who ran a 51.56 split. Chacho was not feeling well after running the open 400 earlier in the afternoon. He is normally good for a low 49 split, bringing our time to a high 3:18, low 3:19. That is the kind of time we are looking for at this point in the season as we peak.
We have had trouble putting everything on the 4 x 400m together at this point. The two consistants all season have been George and Christian. They are pulling double duty on the 4 x 100m and have been good for a consistant 49 split. Taylor is still learning to run on the 4 x 400m and Chacho is working his way back from the flu and a hamstring injury that kept him out for 3 weeks early this semester. Once these guys get going coupled with alternate freshman John Zavala (Auscion, Paraguay South America) we will be closer to our goal of making the national championships in May.
Other noteables:
Rose Caldwell (Sophomore from Warren HS, SA, TX) showed improvement in the 3000m with a PR of 10:53. She continues to scratch the surface of her ability, which we hope will lead to a 10:35 by the end of the season.
Hayley Watts (Sophomore from Boerne HS, Boerne, TX) showed improvement in the open 400 by running 60 flat as she was completing the long jump.
We take it easy this week as we prepare for some more stiff competition at the Victor Lopez Invite on the Rice University campus Friday and Saturday.
For all UT results go to: http://cache.texassports.com/doc_lib/000_stats/tk/tk_032208_results.htm
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
2008 Track Season Update
Well, it has been quite some time since I have posted on our blog. I hope this hasn't kept (should there be any regular readers) anyone from keeping up with us. I have wanted to update how things are going for some time but just haven't found the time to do so. I have recently been prompted to update because we inexplicably did not receive coverage from our previous track meet even though I provided all the necessary information for the story to our SID. That is, sadly, the life of track and field. Very few schools cover the track and cross country program with the same detail as other notable programs.
Here is the update from our latest meet, the Border Olympics in Laredo, TX: As customary, we came back with a handful of newly minted school records. The exciting part of having such a new and young program is that we break records left and right. We continue to get closer and closer to having records that rival more established, older programs. Here is the e-mail I sent to the team upon arriving back to SA Saturday evening:
Highlights (new school records):
Men:
Chacho Madera in the men’s 400m - 50.20
Jay Wilson in the men’s 1500m - 4:07.15
David Olivares in the men’s Javelin (and a near national qualifier – the national qualifying mark is 59.40m – 190’6”)
Mark Olivares in the men’s Discus (150’ 2”)
Women:
Emily Kopecki in the women’s Discus (with a throw of 125.7”)
The men’s 4 x 400m relay nearly won the event despite missing two of our four from last week. John Zavala and Christian Alicea were not able to run. Taylor Echevarria and Jay Wilson filled in admirably for them in an effort to win for the second week in a row.
The Border Olympics was our first full team meet of the outdoor season. We dual meeted at Texas A&M Kingsville Feb. 22. The highlights of that meet included our men setting new school records (and winning) the 4x100m and 4x400m relay. They ran 3:21 in the 4x400m in their first-ever action together. We are excited about the possiblities this season holds for our 4x4 squad. We have set a goal of running 3:12 this season, which we believe will give us a strong shot to qualify for the outdoor national championships in California late May.
Indoor Highlights:
Yvonne Rodriguez pulled off a tough double in mid-February with a school record setting 5K performance at Iowa State February 15th (18:07) followed by a win and new school record in the indoor 1600m the next day at University of Houston (5:10). Both marks were close to national provisional qualifying standards. Yvonne and I decided to make a run for the indoor national championships even though we had no intentions of doing so three weeks prior to that and our training indicated that much. We have always had the intention of peaking in late April, early May in anticipation of outdoor nationals. However, after running to an easy 18:12 in her first indoor race in four years, we decided to go to Iowa a week later to see if she could shave 20 seconds off of her time. Despite failing to do so, it was a good learning experience for both of us.
Our throws program has taken off this season, led by Coach Paul Northway and Mark and David Olivares. Mark and David have worked hard the past year to put on some much needed muscle weight. The returns are evident. Both have set big PRs this season and have also been instrumental in recruiting Danny Gonzales (who threw 155' in his first-ever javelin competition) and Emily Kopecki, who has improved to 125' in only her second college meet.
We travel to TX State this Friday with a goal of running sub 42 in the 4x100m and sub 3:19 in the 4 x400m. Our women sprinters look to improve as they have thus far this season and work toward achieving their goals as well. We will have a much needed break from competition the weekend after TX State before resuming competition at the UT Invitational March 22nd in Austin, TX.
I vow to be more faithful to updating this blog. Please check back for regular weekly updates from now until the end of the spring season.
Until next time...
Here is the update from our latest meet, the Border Olympics in Laredo, TX: As customary, we came back with a handful of newly minted school records. The exciting part of having such a new and young program is that we break records left and right. We continue to get closer and closer to having records that rival more established, older programs. Here is the e-mail I sent to the team upon arriving back to SA Saturday evening:
Highlights (new school records):
Men:
Chacho Madera in the men’s 400m - 50.20
Jay Wilson in the men’s 1500m - 4:07.15
David Olivares in the men’s Javelin (and a near national qualifier – the national qualifying mark is 59.40m – 190’6”)
Mark Olivares in the men’s Discus (150’ 2”)
Women:
Emily Kopecki in the women’s Discus (with a throw of 125.7”)
The men’s 4 x 400m relay nearly won the event despite missing two of our four from last week. John Zavala and Christian Alicea were not able to run. Taylor Echevarria and Jay Wilson filled in admirably for them in an effort to win for the second week in a row.
The Border Olympics was our first full team meet of the outdoor season. We dual meeted at Texas A&M Kingsville Feb. 22. The highlights of that meet included our men setting new school records (and winning) the 4x100m and 4x400m relay. They ran 3:21 in the 4x400m in their first-ever action together. We are excited about the possiblities this season holds for our 4x4 squad. We have set a goal of running 3:12 this season, which we believe will give us a strong shot to qualify for the outdoor national championships in California late May.
Indoor Highlights:
Yvonne Rodriguez pulled off a tough double in mid-February with a school record setting 5K performance at Iowa State February 15th (18:07) followed by a win and new school record in the indoor 1600m the next day at University of Houston (5:10). Both marks were close to national provisional qualifying standards. Yvonne and I decided to make a run for the indoor national championships even though we had no intentions of doing so three weeks prior to that and our training indicated that much. We have always had the intention of peaking in late April, early May in anticipation of outdoor nationals. However, after running to an easy 18:12 in her first indoor race in four years, we decided to go to Iowa a week later to see if she could shave 20 seconds off of her time. Despite failing to do so, it was a good learning experience for both of us.
Our throws program has taken off this season, led by Coach Paul Northway and Mark and David Olivares. Mark and David have worked hard the past year to put on some much needed muscle weight. The returns are evident. Both have set big PRs this season and have also been instrumental in recruiting Danny Gonzales (who threw 155' in his first-ever javelin competition) and Emily Kopecki, who has improved to 125' in only her second college meet.
We travel to TX State this Friday with a goal of running sub 42 in the 4x100m and sub 3:19 in the 4 x400m. Our women sprinters look to improve as they have thus far this season and work toward achieving their goals as well. We will have a much needed break from competition the weekend after TX State before resuming competition at the UT Invitational March 22nd in Austin, TX.
I vow to be more faithful to updating this blog. Please check back for regular weekly updates from now until the end of the spring season.
Until next time...
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