A little of this, a little of that

By Sprints/Hurdles Coach John Wise

I wanted to touch on several topics here, hopefully there is something for everyone …

First of all, we had our annual Intersquad Meet on December 10^th.  It turned out to be a great way to open up our season!  Looking through the results it appears our athletes have done a solid job of training in the fall and if we continue to do our job we can have a successful indoor season.  It was a close competition but the “White” squad won their first ever team title, edging out the “Gold” team 151-137 with the “Black” team in 3^rd and “Gray” alumni in 4^th.  Several meet records were broken and fun was had by all!

We are now on what is considered to be “Winter Break” for the track and field teams.  Our sport is very unusual in that we practice all fall then take about a month off before our first track meet.  Obviously this time isn’t exactly “off” as the athletes are encouraged to train very hard over this time to be ready for the upcoming indoor season.

This time of the year can really make or break the season for an athlete.  All of the coaches can recount numerous times where we’ve had athletes not do what they needed to do over the Winter Break and struggle throughout the indoor season.  Last year our team did a terrific job training during the holidays and the result was sweeping the men’s and women’s indoor MVC titles!

While distance runners are fairly used to running in cold temperatures, sprinters/jumpers/throwers have a tougher time.  Often these athletes are hustling around trying to find an indoor area to train or just toughing it out in the often cold and snowy outdoor conditions.  One of the better stories is of Chris Dickman and Jordan Zerr shoveling off an entire lane at their high school track to do a workout (pictured below).  While it may seem extreme, Chris earned all-American honors last year indoor and Jordan had by far his best year as a Shocker.  Coincidence?

Dickman and Zerr's hard work paid off - this is crazy right?

Changing subjects, last week our coaching staff went to the annual US Track Coaches Association Convention.  This year was in San Antonio (last year was Orlando).  This convention has multiple purposes:  1)  This is where the coaches get together to talk about, and often argue, about rule changes and other things that affect our sport.  How to qualify for the NCAA meet is always a topic and this year was no different.  Just so you know, the two site preliminary we had last year appears to be what we’re going to have for several years down the road.  2) Attend seminars and clinics held by the top track coaches around the county (and sometimes the world).  I always come away learning a little bit and also feeling like we are on the right track and Wichita State.  3) A chance to socialize with our fellow coaches and friends without the pressure of being at a track meet.  Most of our best friends are coaches that we usually only see at meets and it was great hang out and catch up with everyone!  4) Have fun!  Myself, Coach Yost, and Coach Hetzendorf went down the giant water slide at our hotel 20 times!

We are very fired up about the upcoming indoor season at Wichita State!  At the time of writing this blog, we have 23 days until the Herm Wilson Invitational at the Heskett Center!  We’re excited to have a quality field of teams including Tulsa, Oral Roberts, Sam Houston State, and Emporia to compete against.  It should be a great way to start the season!  Go Shockers!!!