Track and Field Season Review....
2017 Track and Field Season Wrap up and future thoughts...
At Graduation on Friday we will see one of the most enigmatic classes in the history of Dakota Ridge leave us. They will be missed for their varied stories, personalities and talent. Enigmatic is the proper word here. It's difficult to express their value to us as they are all so beloved by our coaching staff as individuals and personalities. More then once we had tears on Saturday as coaches. For Clark, Tvrdik, Stenbeck and Hitzges, this class has a special place in our heart for how wonderful they are as a group and individually. As group they were also filled with bewildering bad luck and limiting factors that relatively to other classes led us to a lot of might-have-been feelings.
For me personally, I have said it many times, this class has made me a better coach in many ways. The work put in to help them along the road of success, they may not fully understand but it was there, always there. This class was the class that saw me through a personal transformation in my own life. In 2013, I left a job I had been in for 15 years to pursue another career. From the fall of 2013 to today....I switched jobs from Boulder Running Company to Runners Roost, began and finished a Masters Degree in School Counseling, was hired by Palmer Ridge on May 24th, 2016...But in large part because of this class turned the job down to be able to stay at Dakota Ridge. On June 1st, 2016 I was hired by Ken Caryl Middle School which cemented me staying here at Dakota Ridge. This last fall and over the course of their Senior year they rode the wave of my own beginning in a career in education. They rode the wave of uncertainty as the district nearly ended my job in January, only to decided to keep it. This class went on a wild and rich ride with me in my own life and for that they will have a special place among my coaching memories.
The class of 2017 was in many respects the richest in personal story we have seen.
Kellie Fleming was a talented young Cross Country runner in the fall of 2013. Running 22:27 for 5k. She was also a talented soccer player and competed for our Dakota Ridge girls soccer team her freshman year in the spring of 2014. Kellie was injured that freshman year in Soccer. Rehabbing for a year she came back to Dakota Ridge athletics in the Spring of 2015 in Track and Field. She had an incredible meet in Broomfield that season. As a sophomore jumping 15 feet and running a talent filled 1:05 400m that day. Setback found her again in 2015 as she was injured for a second time. She spent her Junior year just trying to find herself athletically coming off two horrible knee injuries in her young career. She ran cross country with us this last fall. Doing the best she could with what her body would allow her to do. She came into this Senior year of Track and Field gaining momentum in her quest to return to her former self. A week ago she set her personal best Long Jump at 15-4.25 and on Saturday, she made finals in the Long Jump. Kellie was a testament to resiliency and determination that frankly many student-athletes lack in our current era of instant gratification. Kellie's story is rich in personal growth as she battled her way back over the years. Doing all she could just to be out there, fighting for every jump, every step on the track. Kellie's potential was unmet athletically because of those injuries. But the other end of the spectrum is the incredible person, full of grit, resilience and gratitude that she has become because of the story she lived. We are as proud of her for her effort, passion and perseverance as we would be if she had won a State Championship. She is proof you can work hard enough and give enough of yourself in your context to make those around you proud and bring honor to your story.
Josh Shaver...Josh never joined us for Cross Country in the fall. I believe he played soccer a bit, dabbled in some Golf as well. He ran Track for us for three of his four years, skipping his junior year on the oval. This year coaching him was incredibly fun as his enthusiasm to be a part of the team and run was awesome. I enjoyed how his passion to get faster really showed up every day. He kept wanting to do more and more and run faster and faster. At the R2j meet April 13th for the 1600m, Josh went out fast and kept it up, winning his heat that afternoon in a fantastic 5:16 Personal best. At one point he also went out and tried his first 3200m run of his career and loved it as well. It was a joy coaching this young man because you could tell how much it meant to him to be out for the team and out running fast. Shaver we will miss you my man, you were great for us!!
Ethan Skinner.... What a senior year. Mr. Dakota and a lead role in the musical...Ethan finished his career here in style with Personal Best in the Triple Jump at League this year. Ethan is not the greatest athlete in the world, but he competed like one and had fun doing it. The size of his heart? enormous. He very well might be one of the best kids we have met as coaches. When you talk to this guy and spend time with him, you leave feeling good about the time spent with him. He just has that quality. He is just a superb young man. We are fortunate to have been able to coach him and have the privilege of his time spent on our team.
Kaitlin Little....I hope Kaitlin knows how much she means to us as coaches. She almost switched schools a year ago and I hoped she would stay simply because we just flat like having her on the team. She stayed thankfully and we are so happy she is finishing school an Eagle. We asked her to fill in for us and be a fourth thrower at League Relays this year and she did a GREAT job. Kaitlin is a wonderful young lady and we enjoyed watchin
Kaylee Patino...Kaylee was hindered by asthma her entire career in Cross Country and Track and Field. As yet, she kept coming out and managing it because it meant something to her. She wanted to be a part of the team. She loved of being here and loved what being on our team meant for her life. She wasn't fast. But it doesn't matter. Rarely do kids in her situation really fight to be a part of this. She did. Much like Kellie, I will always be thankful for the effort she put in to never give up. I appreciate how wonderful a young lady she is and I will miss her coming to practice and chatting with me about running and life. She is a gem, a true gem of a student athlete and we will miss her courage and passion.
Olivia Robinson...Steady and dependable in competition for us, Olivia Robinson managed a job, school, social life all the while providing us with a wonderful smile and great effort. She saved her best for last as she set personal bests all year in all her events. A great Relay kid we could always count on to do a great job she took part in numerous relays over the years and this year was on our 3rd place 4x100m team at League.
Chris Taylor....Joining us in 2016 as a Junior, this guy is also a testament to overcoming obstacle. I highlighted his story last week, but wanted to reiterate what Chris Taylor's career here taught us and meant to us. Chris is the poster child for why we need a Track. Fighting shin splints is not easy. Let alone when you have nowhere else to run sprints except on surfaces that are very much less then ideal 5 days a week. Add in what may or may not happen in gym class of all places, and you have a cocktail of negative factors to overcome that Chris's has next to zero control over. Soldiering on, he worked hard, had a great attitude, and always showed up and competed to the best of his ability. Chris, along with some other great Soccer players also clued us in on something we will look to exploit going forward. Soccer players are great. Chris and his soccer player teammates have proved coachable, dependable and talented for a boy's track and field team desperately searching for those ingredients. As we lose boy athletes to Lacrosse, Rugby and football offseason work, it has become quite evident that we need a fluid partnership with Boy's Soccer at Dakota Ridge. Chris was so fantastic over the last couple years despite his shin splint battle. He had the #4 Dakota Ridge All time 200m time on Tuesday with a 23.13. He had a Top 10 Dakota Ridge 100m run of 11.71 earlier this year. His 400m was solid and would have been better if he had had the chance to train properly and not been fighting his injuries. He made finals in our league championship meets the last couple years, he was on relays, he encouraged teammates and recruited athletes for Track and Field. He was a joy to coach because of his quiet inspiration, tenacious competitiveness and passion to see himself improve. We applaud Chris Taylor, and we are so very thankful he ran for us the last couple years.
Nick Probst...As I watched Nick Probst throw the Shot Put on Saturday, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for him and his family and I had small measure of personal pride. Nick came to me one afternoon in the spring of his sophomore year... Baseball wasn't working out. The sport he had grown up loving and wanting to play in high school so badly had gone in a direction he didn't want. He was incredibly sad that what he had hoped would bring him joy was doing the opposite. Nick came to me that afternoon knowing something. He came to me knowing that in our programs here at Dakota Ridge, you can find a home if you want to dive in and embrace what we are doing here. We have worked hard to create conditions for success in our program and Nick however subtle knew he could find a sense of belonging and acceptance here. Nick talked about how difficult it was to give up Baseball that day. Two years later, he has lived a joyful and fabulous high school experience here. Nick didn't throw the furthest and he didn't have loads of statistical success in throwing. He did make it over 40 feet in the shot put and 108 feet in the disc for his career. He made finals in the Shot Put on Saturday for us. Nick became a leader in the truest sense of the word while in our program. He embraced the challenge of change in his life and achieved a level character seldom seen among high school student athletes. The experience he gained here far more valuable then any statistical success.
Benton Meldrum.... Two of the most gratifying personal best performances in my coaching career came this week in the form of Benton Meldrum. The idea here...is that you progress in our sport, year after year and eventually in your final weeks as a senior you set your personal best performances in your final efforts of your career. Benton did that in the 1600m on Saturday running 4:46.08 coming from 5:12 as a freshman. In the 3200m last Tuesday he went 10:04.30 coming from 11:35 as a freshman. In the middle, he achieved a 4.6 GPA, was student body everything, played the lead in numerous musicals and plays, had a couple girlfriends and generally did just about everything a high school kid could do. In my time here, (since 2006) I have never seen anyone like Benton Meldrum. He is a time management genius. I have no clue when and how he ran and trained over the last few years. We would go long stretches without seeing Benton in person in the offseason and in the case of our opening stretches of seasons in Cross Country and Track and Field. He was busy. But he was running at some point. He was also leading without actually being there. True magic. His Senior year was in fact just like his personality...charming. Benton sang and danced and schooled his way to finishing 32nd in Cross Country at the State meet and finished his career here with the two personal bests this week on the track. He will speak at Graduation on Friday..to put a wrap on his high school career. Then...Benton will find something else to do.
Garick Howard...I have written about Garick before, and all I said about him in Cross Country a few months ago ( Read Here ) still rings true. Fittingly, Garick finished his career here with a 1st heat win in the 1600m on Saturday. Running 4:54.24, like Benton, using his final race to set his Personal Best. Garick's story is one of my favorite in my coaching career and I am so blessed to have been able to have this young man be a part of my coaching life.
Tony, Braden Bryce. Most days, I think about them keeping the team State qualifying streak in Cross Country going for us. I think about how they ran some of the most mysteriously incredible and wonderful races I have ever seen. Bryce's 16:22 in Arizona his junior year and his state xc race that same year. Braden's 16:45 in Alamosa in XC and his late season 400m swoon to score us league Track points this year. Tony's 17:10 5k in Alamosa this year in XC and his 10:42 3200m this year in Pueblo come to mind. I think about how hard they worked during stretches in Cross Country and Track and how great they ran together for 4 years. I think about most of them running about 20 minutes in Cross Country for their first race freshman year....and finishing their career with PR's of Bryce 16:22, Braden 16:45 and Tony 17:10.
Maybe they are the reason I call this class enigmatic. The mystery behind Braden's career stats chief among them. I often think about how they had workouts and long runs so good I left practice wondering just how fast they could run in the next race. But then there is this..sometimes....I felt completely inadequate coaching them and would lay awake at night thinking about how I failed them as coach because I couldn't draw more from them when it mattered most, most notably in Track and Field.
I reflect today, looking at numbers and thinking about their four years. I largely sit here thinking I am guilty of creating an unreasonable expectation on them. It's my own fault for trying to unjustifiably attach my own desires to win championships on them. You see, they did what they were supposed to for four years. They got better every year, They worked hard, they had a wonderful experience of being a part of some special teams; 2015 XC team and our top 10 performance in XC this year. They competed hard in Track and Field and provided as stated above some very memorable performances and some fantastic memories. Realistically, what more is there to want? They are fabulous young men who had very nice careers here and they did exactly what anyone would hope for that is part of our program...they created wonderful memories and kept tradition alive. I am and always will be thankful for the hard work they put in and for the memories they were a part of.
Charlotte Jones...For four years Charlotte was reliable, steady and oh so energetic. Her contribution to our team was largest on the social side, where her fun and engaging personality gave us all smiles and made us all feel better when we needed it. In 2015 Charlotte was asked to run the 3200m by me at the Pueblo Invite. She ran great that night hitting her still to this day best of 13:01. We could count on her to be competitive and great in Cross Country every year. Her clutch performance this year in Cross Country, that saw her run the League Championship on her injured knee is one of the most compelling and gutsy races I have seen a kid run. On Saturday she finished her career here with a 6:20.36 1600m run. Her consistency over the years was fantastic and her leadership and energy over the last few years will be missed.
Celina Wilkerson...Much like Charlotte, Celina brought an energy and joy to our teams over the years that will need to be taken up by someone now that she is graduating. Celina, over her career was a special athlete with some of the best range of athleticism we have had. In her career, she High Jumped, Triple Jumped and Long Jumped, Ran the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1600m. She also ran on nearly all of our Relays in Track at one point or another. This year, she as a part of our school record 4x300m team at League Relays and ran a leg on this years 3rd place 4x100m team at League. She also ran Cross Country for three years, and in her sophomore year in 2014 she made our Top 7 in Cross Country and ran in the State Championship. Celina also played a little bit of hoops in the winter a couple years here at Dakota Ridge. She is a wonderful athlete and better person and we are very thankful we had the privilege of having her be a part of our programs the last few years.
Remy Vancil, Jacob Gambos, Emma Cunningham, Jacob Bowar, Hunter Piz...As always, we have Seniors who we wish we could have had for four years. This year we had the privilege of meeting and coaching these three kids. We wish them the very best in all endeavors going forward and I want to thank all of them for coming out and being a part of our team this year.
Bailey LaBlanc...She was shy, timid and small as a freshman. She is no longer shy or timid. When so many others were afraid of the 800m, Bailey was not. She ripped off a personal best 800m in her final career race Saturday, loving every last second of it. Always bubbly, kind and a tough hard working student-athlete Bailey is the type of teammate and student-athlete we as coaches hope to have on our teams our entire career.
Youth movement....
The most intriguing aspect of the year was our youth. A massive and crazy talented boys freshman class with tons of potential for the future. A new young and hard working coach, who gave life to a part of our team that had been dormant. A sophomore class of young ladies beginning to emerge. Three Sophomore boys each building their own legendary stories.
Over the course of the year, the waves of talent began having immense impact as it began crashing ashore. Austin Vancil made the State Track and Field Meet as a Sophomore. Connor Ohlson led a remarkable group of Freshman distance runners by finishing 5th and 7th at League and running times that put him up there with some of the best freshman in the nation. Wyatt Oglesby ran his very first 1600m run of his High School career in under 5 minutes, a rare and fantastic feat.
Micaela Mossbrucker (freshman) and Kallie Hayes (sophomore) both had Long Jumps in the top 10 in Dakota Ridge History and performed admirably in many other events in Track and Field as youngsters this year. Sydney Hoffman is a fast and fabulous sophomore we share with Lacrosse, she will continue to have impact in the sprints for us in 2018.
Kyle Cannon, Izaak McWilliams, Joe Carlson, Luke Pool and Nick Ballard were phenomenal in their debut year as throwers. They give our team hope for a very bright future in a much needed area for our Field side of Track and Field.
Jeremy Sheehy and Nico Capolungo could very well become two of our school's best sprinters going forward. The weight room, some maturity and a passion to be fast will be the ingredients for success for them. Should they embrace the grind of becoming great in Track and Field they very well could become the cornerstones of our sprint crew.
Eli Harding is brilliance waiting to happen. His 47.77 300m Hurdle this year is a mere shot off the bow of his potential.
Coach Gysin and the Hurdles...
When I hired Andrew Gysin for our coaching staff I was excited about his willingness to do the dirty work. Being our first in-building coach in awhile, I knew his hiring would have a great impact on what our vision is for the program. Coach Gysin is my "rookie of the year" for all his hard work and willingness to embrace all that I asked of him. Essentially, I gave him a part of our team, the Hurdles, that we had struggled to get kids into for the last few years. His day to day energy gave momentum to the cause. He knew next to nothing about hurdles last June when we met to get him on staff. I told him this thing called "the internet" is great for everything especially coaches trying to learn new events in track and field. So because of Google my expectations were in fact somewhat high for him. He delivered. Dimy Dobrev and Julianne Iarusso scored points at the league meet in 300m Hurdles and showed great improvement throughout the year. Not only that he had Kate Freiheiter and Julianne Iarusso getting over the 100m Hurdles this year which we had not had anyone in that event in quite awhile. Along the way Andrew helped out EVERYWHERE!! I asked him to cover us so many times and he came through for us big time all year. Thank you Coach Gysin and I look forward to your continued work as we keep building on what we have in our young and talented squad.
Junior Class Stars....
Speaking of Dimy Dobrev and Julianne Iarusso, they are going to be two kids to watch next year in Track and Field. Both came to us from Soccer, (see Chris Taylor)...and their athleticism and more important, passion and hard work will be big for us next year. They had a big impact this year and no doubt will have a fabulous and legendary senior year in 2018.
I have this funny inkling about Chris Widger. Another soccer player, he might be the beginning of something I have hoped for for years. We are desperate for 400m-800m kids. Moving Chris up to the 800m and becoming a true middle distance kid might be the start of something for our program. A few miles run, and some weight room mixed in we will see if we can build the sub 1:59 800m soccer guy I think he is.
Paris Sutton is sneaky strong and has always been athletic. Some hard work with Coach Amy this summer and a passion to become a over 40 Shot Put guy, he has a chance to be a surprise to the rest of the league in 2018.
Jack Pool....I am quite interested in what our gentle giant can throw next year. I just have this feeling with a solid summer and fall of work he can get out to 145-150 in the disc in 2018. He is at 123 right now. A fabulous kid, he will be a big help to our team at League next year by scoring in the discus.
Stefan Los...I love this guy. He works hard and runs hard. He got sick mid season and it completely derailed his season. He was on track for some great races at League for us. He has great heart and soul and he will bounce back and will have a fabulous Senior year.
Mark Testa... 4:38... 1600m. 10:07... 3200m. A School Record in the 1200m during League Relays. Off the charts potential. He will realize his potential with a great summer and Cross Country season. In Track next year, he might be a monster no one but us saw coming.
Skylar Lodice....Skylar is arguably one of the best all around athletes we have had on the team. No kidding she doesn't know this yet..but I am going to get her to try the shot put and discus this summer. Just to see whats there. Imagine a meet where she runs 5:20 for 1600m and 2:25 for 800m and throws 28 feet in the shot put and 90 in the discus. Hmmm???? She is one of the toughest young ladies I know and has been steadily improving this season and really ran well at league scoring in the top 5 in both the 3200m and 1600m for us. She is on her way to a special Senior year in 2017-2018 school year.
Michelle Renner... One more race to go this year in Track and Field. She will try to finish with a podium race on Saturday at State in the 1600m. Fast becoming one of the best in school history her Senior year has the potential to be quite special.
2018....Lots of great kids, plenty of potential
...here is how to realize it...
We are a young team and there is a lot to be said about what we did well this year. For 2018 we will need the year to implement some programming and hard work to improve our standings in the league and get more kids qualified for for the State meet next year.
Here is what we need for both sides, girls and guys to improve at league.
...and three ways we can improve across the board for 2018.
Girls:
League Team Scores:
1 Lakewood LAKE 202 2 Chatfield CHAT 159.5 3 Ralston Valley RALS 119.5 4 Pomona POMO 90
5 Dakota Ridge DAKO 88
6 Arvada West ARVW 84.5 7 Bear Creek BEAR 65.5 8 Columbine COLU 52
Here is the breakdown of points per section of team For us:
Throws (Disc/ Shot): 0 points
Jumps (High/Long/Triple/PoleVault): 22 points
Sprints (100/200/400): 13 points
Hurdles (100H, 300H) 6 points
Relays (4x 1, 2, 4, 8 and SMR): 18 points* (we scrapped 4x4, giving up on 3 points)
Distance (800,1600, 3200): 29 points
Throws stand out as we ended up with only 1 competitor (Anna Strauss) in the throws. We need to get girls out and willing to work with Amy.
The big thing that stand out for us is depth. If you look at the team that has won 8 years in a row now in our league (Lakewood)...they have a lot of girls out for Track and Field and they have a ton of depth, scoring multiple kids in multiple events.
Relays. Five Relays...if we get just 4th place average in all of them we get 30 points. But for that we need the depth. We will revisit this idea here shortly...
Boys:
1 Pomona POMO 168
2 Ralston Valley RALS 154.5
3 Lakewood LAKE 121
4 Columbine COLU 96
5 Bear Creek BEAR 93.5
6 Arvada West ARVW 64
7 Chatfield CHAT 54
8 Dakota Ridge DAKO 51
Throws (Disc/ Shot): 0 pointsJumps (High/Long/Triple/PoleVault): 3 points
Sprints (100/200/400): 6 points
Hurdles (100H, 300H) 6 points
Relays (4x 1, 2, 4, 8 ): 9 points
Distance (800,1600, 3200): 27 points
No need to sugar coat anything here. It's not a lot of points. Certainly, we can do better.
We need guys out for Track and Field. I get it.. we have Lacrosse, Football Off Season, Baseball, Rugby and club sports to contend with. But perhaps there is some hope in Soccer athletes as I have highlighted. We can also recruit more guys like Gambos from Hockey I bet. We have a strong freshman class and we have some great coaches here. We just need MORE Student-Athletes. We have the makings of something special with this freshman class as we have a number of young guys with potential.
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