Dakota Ridge XC Track and Field

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 a...

Yesterday April 29th was all sorts of interesting amidst its boring snowy self.  Many of you may seen the story about the car crashing into RNK Running in Parker. The owner of that store is a very good friend of mine going back years. Trent Briney and I ran against each other and as yet we became friends over the years. Trent worked at the Boulder Running Company with me in the later years of my time there.  Often seeing each other during our post collegiate quest to make the Olympic Trials our friendship was forged in the grind and dreaming that is the sport of distance running. Trent made it a couple times to the Trials as he was far better then I. Easily the race of his career was finishing 4th in the 2004 Olympic Trials Marathon in Birmingham Alabama. The nearest of misses in a quest that for most, never comes that close. On Saturday, Trent experienced a different kind of near miss. Trent's polar opposite near misses, in both cases, 2004 and 2017...is a reminder to me...

This weekend... Ugh. Colorado Track and Field is really something.  Certainly its fine taking the day off today. Going to the Gym and or Pool this afternoon would be great as well. If you take the day off be sure to get a workout in on Sunday afternoon. The week ahead..... We are down to out final meets of the year, with a large focus on the league meet next week. What we do this week is maximize the chances for our potential individual state qualifying kids along with get some of you in your final meet of the year. Jeffco Elite Meet May 3-4 @ Jeffco Stadium A lot of individual stuff will take place here and we won't be doing a lot other then one or two races over the two days for some of you. We will use the meet to prepare a couple of relays for league should we have the ability to do so. Viking Invite May 5th @ DPS Stadium This will be a meet where we will give some final events to some of you who may not be in the League meet, and as yet have been wor...

Dakota Ridge Invite Recap.... It was a fantastic day. I am so very proud of all our parents, kids and Jeffco stadium crew. We pulled things off and had a fabulous day and we received quite a few compliments on how well the meet went. THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK!!! We saw some great performances on Saturday from our student-athletes.... Kyle Cannon Having a very nice season thus far, Kyle set a personal best in the Discus at 94-3 and is currently ranked 44th overall for Freshman in the State and #11 Freshman in 5A. A tremendous athlete and building block for a great future of our program, Kyle will look to get over the 100 mark over the closing meets of the season. Jack Pool With a throw of 123-1, Jack Pool moved into the Top 10 ALL-Time Dakota Ridge list. Jack will look to improve that personal best throw over the last few weeks and attempt to become the first thrower to score points for Dakota Ridge at the league meet in the discus in quite a few years. Ethan Sk...

First half season highlights ....upcoming meets ...working with the end in mind...    As we return from Spring Break...the real season is about to swing into full gear. If you missed training during break for whatever reason...I won't sugar coat it...it's going to be tough the next few weeks as we begin to put everything together. Rest is good, but when you are training as we do in Track and Field with the end in mind, interruptions in training effort can ruin what was once a promising season. We certainly hope you have stayed fit enough to keep going on what has been a fabulous start to the season. No matter where you are at having trained during break or not, never give up and fight to be your best every chance you get. We are very proud of the effort so many of you have given thus far. It has been exciting to see some new faces and the enthusiasm for the sport has brought your coaching staff great joy thus far. Below are some athletes whose season is off to a nice st...

A Picture Worth a Thousand Miles.  I often think about celebrating.  The feeling of accomplishment, a better drug then anything you will ever find.  This picture is from 2011 and is the moment Brent Vaughn, one of my closest and best friends crossed the finish line at USA Cross Country Champs. It was one of the best races of his life, and one of his biggest victories. You can read the fabulous article by Daniel Petty from the Denver Post by clicking the link here:  http://www.denverpost.com/2011/02/05/brent-vaughn-wins-2011-u-s-cross-country-championships/   In my head this image is what I think of when I think about success. In general the photos of runners crossing the finish line celebrating the effort and feeling the surge of glory that comes with it often come to mind.     For Brent as it is for most runners or really athletes in general, crossing the line after a successful effort, there is a tremendous amou...

Before I even begin to put a wrap on our  2016 season in words I want to very strongly encourage some thought about our future. Much like a ship captain who inspects his ship to see if it is seaworthy, I have put a ton of thought and "inspection" into our ship in its current state. As we sit in port awaiting our 2017 Track and Field season and our 2017 Cross Country season, upon inspection and thoughtful consideration, I have found some cracks in the hull of our ship. That is to say...we have some problems we need to address. My aim here is to encourage everyone to deeply consider their actions, behaviors and attitudes and contemplate how they can improve them for betterment of the team.  The cracks in our hull are most notably centered around our character, both individually and collectively. We are young and wildly talented in running, but we are also quite in need of a character check. With youth and lack of maturity comes issues of character. I have been through sea...