14 Dakota Ridge historical performances this week...

14 Dakota Ridge historical performances this week... 

This week I watched a team of kids succeed in the best way they could despite a myriad of tough circumstances. We had 14 of the best performances in Dakota Ridge history this week. Kids who chose to come to the competition where ever it was this week...and give what they had no matter what circumstances they dealt with to get to that moment of performance.

Here is the thing about Track and Field.... The honest most brutal aspect of life as a Dakota Ridge student athlete in Track and Field....We don't have a track. We barely have the facilities to operate successfully a Track and Field team. We have a Weight Room.  We have some throwing rings. Thanks to Coach Clark we have a decent jumping pit. We have a high jump pit but often no great place to put it. We have a lake and a park and hallways. We use what we have to the best of our ability. We are a team made up of different skillsets performing different competitions across a broad spectrum of circumstances. No student-athletes in any other sport in this school face the situations we face that DIRECTLY impact the performances we are attempting to attain. You see, here is the difference...You go to play a basketball, lacrosse, soccer, football, volleyball, baseball, softball, hockey, etc. etc game...you're part of team, running plays and working together to get a team win.  You can be skillful in the context of the sport even when you are tired. You could be injured and still have your performance help the team win. You can sit out because of injury or health and your team will bring you along with whatever success they achieve without you on the field or court. You can make it to state championship tournaments along with your team, even when you are not your best most skillful, most athletic rested self. You can do hard practices, doing burpees, running lines, lifting weights the days before your games and still win games and succeed.

There is a completely different paradigm in Track and Field. If you overwork yourself the days before your competition, your in trouble. You will not be your best self in the moment you want to be. You cannot run a 4:20 mile, Jump 21 feet, run a great relay leg, having gone all out in a physical fashion in the days before the competition. You cannot perform your best Long Jump, when your legs are shot and tired from hours of practice in a different sport. If you need to high jump a 6-2 jump to make the State championship track meet... and you overtrain or over exert physically the day or two before the competition is set to occur, you certainly run the risk of not being your best self on that day you need to be. If your training is not great for months, weeks or days before the competition, you are not going to become your best self in this sport.

It is a brutal fact of life in Track and Field that your training IS the sport.

Quite often coaches in other team sports have no concept of physiology, training, peaking for the championship performance(s). Most other sport coaches frankly have no idea what its like to write a training program that is geared to get the very best from an athlete in a certain window of time be it a day or a week or two. Once you add in all the crazy circumstances we face as high school Track and Field coaches within a school, it is a small wonder how anyone is successful in getting the best from their athletes. Speaking on behalf of my staff, we work incredibly hard to help our kids be the best they can be this time of year amid all the crazy circumstances the kids and us face. While we work very hard..I am constantly grateful and often pleasantly surprised by the incredible efforts of our kids. It is the kids that do the job. Our kids carry the torch of success and they did so this week in amazing fashion. The kids deserve so much credit for their efforts despite all the circumstances they face...they are amazing. 

Here are a few examples...


Let me talk about Chris Taylor to start here.

Chris had his best 200m of his career on Thursday night, running 23.21 to put him at number 5 All time in Dakota Ridge History. All year he has battled shin splints. ALL YEAR. Working out in our hallways...doing what he could before the pain stopped him. He has had less then ideal training all year and as yet... On Saturday at Cherry Creek, he ran one of his best 400m and followed that with a fabulous 200m again, in 23.41.... We will wonder, just what he could have run Saturday if he had not had the extremely poor luck of having to run the mile in gym on Friday in between races. That's terrible recovery for a kid fighting off injury all year. Its bad luck for a kid who has fought for every tenth of a second this year to be his best. I feel terrible for such luck for a senior who I admire and respect for his courage. He deserved better in the closing weeks of his career but it is what it is, we cannot control what happens in gym class. Fortunately, he will get next week to write an ending to his career and we are thankful he may not have the gym mile during the League Championship stretch. He will be one to watch on Tuesday at the League Championship.

Track and Field is often called everyone's second maybe third sport and for many of our athletes competing this is true. For Maya Nefs (Hockey) and Kallie Hayes (Cheer, Gymnastics) Track and Field is one of a couple sports for them. They are incredible student athletes.

For Maya Nefs, she has only been able to run full time with us for about 20 days. In those 20 days with less then ideal training...she has begun a legendary rise. On Saturday, she ran the #3 ALL TIME 400m for Dakota Ridge with a stunning 59.01. She already has the #4 All time 200m from earlier in the year. On Tuesday at the League Meet she will attempt to continue her late season magic and look to solidify her spot in state meet while also winning a Jeffco League Title. Maya is an incredible athletic talent at Dakota Ridge.

Kallie Hayes has been a revelation. On Saturday she launched herself onto the ALL-TIME Long Jump list at #9 with a 15-8 jump that is only the tip of the iceberg of her potential in Track and Field. She ran the 4x100m and the 200m as well to complete her day. She is a fantastic talent and next week will look to move higher and higher on the Dakota Ridge all-time list and attempt to score well for our team in her events at League.

Nick Probst found himself choosing to leave behind a sport he loved to embark on a new journey in Track and Field. He found himself on the ALL-TIME Dakota Ridge list at #8 for shot put throwing a 40-11.25 on Wednesday night.

Dimy Dobrev is proving along with Christ Taylor and others at Dakota Ridge that some of our fastest and best athletes in the school are playing soccer in the fall and running track in the spring. It's easy for someone without understanding to dismiss the athleticism of these guys because they have recently had some rough years in soccer as a team.  However, individually, every soccer player we have had out in the spring has had incredible impact in Track and Field for us. They have recently been the toughest and fastest kids we have had. Dimy is already number 2 all time in the 300 Hurdles and #6 in the Long Jump at Dakota Ridge. With a year to go in 2017-2018 school year he has a chance to re write some school records and be one of our best athletes in Dakota Ridge History.

Kellie Fleming's story is one of heartbreaking knee injury and fantastic redemption. On Saturday she jumped 15-4, 2 years and 2 knee surgeries after she had done so as a sophomore. She found herself number 11 on our ALL-Time List with that long jump. A testament to heart and soul Kellie is an amazing athlete, previously a soccer player as well.


Alexa Buchli went 4-10 in the high jump this week. A Basketball, Tennis, Volleyball player she is a phenomenal athlete and young lady. Sick most of the week she came out and jumped her best and became the 8th girl ever to jump 4-10 for Dakota Ridge.


I cannot tell you how proud I am of these kids and ALL of our kids in Track and Field

At Dakota Ridge High School Track and Field we operate in an imperfect world and in an imperfect system. A system that requires our kids to quite often not train appropriately for the craft of Track and Field. Many times, in fact... almost all of the time... training is skipped or not performed to maximum benefit because our kids are facing deficiencies in facility, practices or tryouts for other sports or extraordinary poor luck in timing in gym and weight lifting classes, wherein they have to perform in the class and sacrifice their best self in performances in Track and Field. As yet, our kids adjust, making tweaks to less than ideal training, adjusting rest and effort to meet the circumstance they are in. They adjust in incredible ways, and they should be lauded for the efforts they put in quite often under less then ideal situations. I am so impressed with the competitive spirit of the kids who come compete in our Track and Field program. They truly are the best athletes in the school for what they face and how they become successful in this sport.

With one week to go, I encourage as much thought as possible to what it might take to be your best self on Tuesday and Saturday for the League Championship. Whether that is rest physically or mentally, doing the correct workouts to get yourself ready to be great and or visualizing a great performance...We encourage you to continue to be the competitive giants you have been this year. We are fortunate and blessed to coach the kids on this team. Lets finish the season and careers strong for Seniors and for our youngsters with an eye to a bright future.