By sprints/hurdles coach/recruiting coordinator John Wise
Well, we have just finished our 2nd indoor meet of the season and while we still have a long way to go we are starting to see what kinds of teams we have this year.
Well, we have just finished our 2nd indoor meet of the season and while we still have a long way to go we are starting to see what kinds of teams we have this year.
It appears our women are going to be very good. Every event group looks better than last year. We didn’t graduate many points from last year (so that’s what we were hoping for) but you never know until the season gets rolling. We think the MVC is going to be a battle with Southern Illinois again and this year we feel more confident than last year (and we won the MVC Indoor title last year). Our women easily won our first meet against Sam Houston St, Oral Roberts, and Emporia St and this past weekend beat Alabama, Missouri, Houston, and Air Force while losing to #12 ranked Nebraska. It was an impressive showing for our ladies and they appear to be coming together as a strong team earlier than we imagined.
The men’s team is a different story but we are hoping for the same result. Unlike the women, we did graduate several of our top performers last year. We felt like we had athletes ready to step in and replace many of those points we lost. We still do feel that way but it looks like it’s taking a little longer to develop than the women’s team. Also we’ve had some unfortunate injuries and tweaks along the way so our men’s team is not at 100% right now. The upcoming off weekend should get some of our key guys back into action by our Feb 4-5 home meet. Everything we are doing as a team is gearing towards the MVC Championships 5 weeks away – so we have time, but we don’t have any time to waste. Indiana State is looking very good in the early season and Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois appear to be strong again as well. We are hoping to make it a 4-team race – remember last year our men were picked 4th in the MVC pre-meet poll and won by almost 30 points.
Up in the office we are recruiting hard. The NCAA signing period begins in early February and we’ve received several verbal commitments that should sign in a couple weeks. Just today we had six recruits on campus in six different events, and I know at least one of those recruits reads this blog on a regular basis. J Other than that it’s just your typical 60-hour work weeks and getting home at 2:30am from long bus rides!
On the recruiting subject – check out our new Virtual Media Guide. There are several Shocker stars making cameo appearances in pop-up videos throughout the guide. You can access it through Goshockers.com or click here à http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/384031e7?SPSID=591033&SPID=2843&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7500#/384031e7/1
Personally, I am really proud of our women’s 4x400m relay, breaking a 5-year old school record this past weekend in winning the adidas Classic. In the past couple years we have won MVC titles in the men’s 4x1, 4x4 and women’s 4x1 but our women’s 4x4 has struggled to reach that level. This year looks to be very different and our depth in that event is a key ingredient to their success. Practices have been very intense and they have pulled together with a common vision. Look for this group to challenge for that title this year!
Hopefully everyone is having a great start to the New Year! Let’s go Shocks!
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