Monday, July 28, 2014

Day 7

The final day of competition ended with 2 more Quickfeet athletes garnering All-American status.  First in the 7-8 Boys 1500 Meters McKay Wells ran an amazing race and PR'ed by 11 seconds to finish 3rd in the nation!!  His time of 5:26.76 puts him only 15 seconds off the National Record of 5:11.  McKay is still in this age group next year so we shall see what he can do with a full year under his belt!  If you have never seen McKay run it is a thing of beauty!  McKay is now the highest finisher (3rd) of any Quickfeet athlete on the national stage!  Congrats McKay!
Our second All-American today is actually our only 3 time All-American….Jaslyn Gardner!  Jaz did an amazing job this week especially since she has been battling a hamstring injury since our State Meet.  We are so proud of Jaz and she is a great example of hard work and dedication!!  Jaz finished 7th today in a close 100 meter final.  She actually has to get ready now for the Hershey National Finals next week as she has been invited to defend her 100 meter title from last year.  Good Luck Jaz!  You will be AMAZING!!
Our other two athletes that performed on the final day were Jaylon Gardner (13-14 Boys Discus) and Sophia Jensen (11-12 Girls) 1500 meter.  Jay finished 31 out of 41 competitors in the Discus and his parents had to go back and forth between the Discus and Jaslyn's 100 Meter.  Nothing like doing them at the same time!  Congrats coach Jay!!  Sophia decided today to keep her lunch in and not compete for throw-up champion like she did in the 800 meters earlier this week.  She was so much more composed and confident going into this event and it showed with a new PR of 5:26.73 and finishing 36 of 50 runners!  What an amazing addition to our team Sophia and Oliver have been to our team in only the last 6 weeks!  Congratulations to ALL of my 23 athletes who made the trip to Houston this year and competed to the best of their abilities!  We finished with a total of 7 All-Americans this year topping our previous high set last year with 5.  We now have a total of 16 All-Americans in the last 3 years!! I am so proud of how you conducted yourself on and off the track!  We showed the nation that our small community can compete with the best of them and that we are not afraid to try!  The lessons and experiences that my athletes learned this week will go with them forever and they are already better people for having done so.  Thank you to our community for supporting these athletes and their dreams of competing at the highest of levels!  We could not have done it without you!!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Day 6

Nothing like starting off Day 6 with a 9am 3000 Meter run (still in HOT and Humid weather) but that is just what Oakley Jackson did today.  This was Oakley's first major meet and even though he was a little nervous did an amazing job by PR'ing by 6 seconds in 10:47!  Just imagine if he actually ate and hydrated properly the day before….;).  I think I need to actually watch them consume the food personally instead of just believing them!  Even though he PR'ed, he learned a valuable lesson!
Next, we were able to watch Jaylon Gardner throw the Shot Put around a few times and tie for 23rd of 43 athletes!  Coach J (as I like to call him) actually threw his farthest throw on the very 1st attempt so he did a great job coming right out and getting after it.  He competes in the Discus tomorrow morning and says he is ready to "pop" a big one!!  Go get 'em "Coach J"!!
Our final competitor of the day was Connor Poulsen in the Final of the 13-14 Boys 800 Meters!  As I mentioned in a previous post Connor came in ranked 20th after our Region Meet with a 2:09.63.  Then in the first round he ran a 2:06.05 PR to make today's Final.  In practice the last 4 weeks since our Region Meet I have had Connor running splits that would put him on 2:02 pace (he did not know this BTW until we talked race strategy last night and I told him he was ready to do it!)  So today he had specific instructions that he was to stay right behind Derek Thomas (our Region Champion and #2 ranked runner).  I told him that after hitting the break line he was to get right behind Derek (who is a much taller athlete) and let him do the work.  He did just that, even though he slowed a little bit to get behind him.  Derek and Connor came into the first 200 meters in 7 & 8th place in just over 28 second.  Conner looked directly at me at the 200 meter mark and had the look of "just like this coach?"  (You will have to watch the video because it was absolutely hilarious to me!)  He even did it on the next lap!    He came through the 400 meters in just over 60 seconds and with 350 meters to go Derek made a move and Connor followed.  Now we talked the night before that we thought he would do it with 250 meters but he did it much sooner.  Connor was up to the challenge and followed!  I told him that I wanted him to do everything Derek was doing, if he moved…you move.  If he sneezed…you sneeze, etc.  When they came to the 200 meter mark Derek opened up a little over a second advantage on Connor and they still were chasing 3 other runners!  Derek caught all of them and won the race but Connor gave it everything he had and in the home stretch caught 2 of the 3 that were ahead of him and it was a dog fight until the finish were Connor finished 5th with a new PR of 2:02.75!!  He hit the 2:02 that we were shooting for and took 7 seconds off his time coming into this meet!  Connor became our 5th official Jr. Olympic All-American at this meet, which equals our highest output from last year!  I love his work ethic and personal desire to do his best every time!  Connor has matured so much this year as a racer and I could not be more prouder of how much he trust me to help him be at his best!
Tomorrow is the final day at the Jr. Olympics and we have 4 more athletes that will be competing this year then we get to go HOME!  So I probably will not be able to update Day 7 for you until sometime Monday afternoon since we will be getting back to Utah around 3am Monday.  So if you want to see how we did you will either have to watch it live or look up the results at usatf.tv.  Thank you for all your support for these athletes and I hope you have enjoyed my little write-ups!!

Here is tomorrow's schedule.  Again all times are UTAH start times!
Go to usatf.tv to watch live!!

8:00am McKay Wells (under 9 Boys) 1500 Meters
approx.9:00am Sophia Jensen (11-12 Girls) 1500 Meters
11:00am Jaslyn Gardner (13-14 Girls) 100 Meter Final
11:00am Jaylon Gardner (13-14 Boys) Discus



Friday, July 25, 2014

Day 5

Another fantastic day at the Jr. Olympics!!  Today was all about the 400's, 100 Semi's and the 4X400 Relay!  Carter Slack (9-10 Boys), Jacob Bastian (11-12 Boys), Kylie Dorius and Lexi Olds (15-16 Girls) and Chris Poulsen (15-16 boys) all did a great job of going out and competing to the best of their abilities today.  They ran aggressively and did their best to compete.  Even though their races didn't go quite like they hoped, I am so proud of what they learned about themselves for competing at this level of competition.  It is not for the faint of heart and this experience will help them prepare for next year.  Myley Alexander and Connor Poulsen also competed in the 400 where Myley ran a SB time and finished 35 of 49 athletes.  Connor ran a PR of 54.43 almost 1 full second from his previous best and finished 30 of 59 athletes.
Next up for Quickfeet athletes was Jaslyn Gardner in the Semi-finals of the (13-14 Girls) 100 Meters.  After the girl next to Jazz had a false start, she quietly (professional like) regained her focus and shot out of the blocks on the restart and ran her way into the finals with a time of 12.15.  This puts her with the 4th fastest time going into the Final.  Jazzy has now made the finals the last two years in this age group!  The race is wide open going into the final so anything is possible for Jaslyn!  I say don't bet against her….but that is just me!!!
Finally, our day ended with the (13-14 Girls) 4x400 team made up of Emme Leavitt, Daviana Vaka, Laveni Vaka and Myley Alexander.  This is the same group of young ladies that finished 4th last year in this event in the 11-12yr old age group.  Now they are the young ones and it showed a little bit.  This year they finished 17th of 39 teams and did a great job!!  They gave it all they had even after having to wait for 1.5 hours longer than the scheduled time.  The heat and humidity took its toll on them maybe a little more than they thought it might.  I have been looking at the results all day from yesterday's 4X100 hoping that maybe they would sneak into the top 8 and into the finals after missing out by 1 spot but unfortunately they are still in 9th!  I know I am silly or crazy…..take your pick!

Here is tomorrow's (Saturday) schedule:
All times are UTAH times:
****Watch us at usatf.tv****

8:00am Oakley Jackson (13-14 Boys) 3000 Meter
11:00am Jaylon Gardner (13-14 Boys) Shot Put
1-2pm Connor Poulsen (13-14 Boys) 800 FINAL


Thursday, July 24, 2014

Day 4

Another spectacular day at the Jr. Olympics here in Houston, TX.  We got our day started with the 17-18 Girls Long Jump where Abby Taylor finished 18 of 41 athletes!  She got better with each jump but it wasn't quite enough to get her to the finals.  So proud of our "oldest" athlete and the example she sets for the rest of the team.  Great job Abby!!  Next we ventured back on the track for the (15-16 & 17-18) Girls 100 Hurdles where both of our Heptathletes showed that they were more than able to keep up with the rest of the ladies.  Kaylee Carter improved her time in the open 100 hurdles from her Heptathlon with a time of 16.47 placing her 30 of 46 Girls.  Olivia (Birthday Girl) Leavitt decided to give herself a present for her birthday by running a new PR of 14.63 in her hurdle race and finished 19th of 40 ladies. Her time on Monday in the Heptathlon was 14.94 so I think she figured out how to run on this track and heat rather quickly.  So proud of our "oreo"!
Next, up was the 100's where Oliver Jensen (11-12 Boys), Sampson Doyle (13-14 Boys), Kylie Dorius  and Starlee Woodbury (15-16 Girls) and Abby Taylor (17-18 Girls) ran some amazing times with at least half of them setting new PR's in the process!  When you factor in that these runners best times came when they ran at altitude and "thin" air, to running in Houston which is close to sea level and humid.  So to PR or even run the same time you did at altitude is quite incredible and these athletes did that!  Our final 100 meter runner Jaslyn (Jaz) Gardner is the Nations top returning runner in the 13-14 Girls 100 where she finished in 8th place last year.  This year Jaz has been winning every race by almost 1 full second in the 100.  She has not been pushed once this year so when she ran a 12.27 at our Region meet in the 1st round, I knew she was ready to "POP" a big one here.  Jaz, decided it was time to get one of those "POPS" in so today she ran a 12.09!  This is a new PR and new Utah Youth Record.  Coming into this season the all-time Utah High School State record was 11.85 and our goal was to break 12 this year for Jaz and start knocking on the door of this record.  She is starting to pound on that door because she made a few technical errors and still ran this incredible time.  If she puts it all together and corrects them then a sub 12 will happen soon!!  Her time tied her for the 3rd best time going into the semi-finals.  So we shall see what happens tomorrow!  Oh and BTW, I did mention this all-time high school time that Jaz is approaching…..she is going to be a FRESHMAN this coming year!!  She just finished the 8th grade!
Our last events of the day were the 4X100 where we had a 13-14 Girls and a 15-16 Girls team compete.  Our (15-16 Girls) came in with a season best of 52.43 and today they ran 51.73 and finished 32nd.  Our (13-14 Girls) came in with a 53.39 at our Region meet and as a result we were placed in lane 8 of our heat.  Our team of Myley Alexander, Laveni Vaka, Daviana Vaka and Jaslyn Gardner today ran a 49.44 which placed them 9th of 40 teams and one place out of the finals!!  We had a couple of rough exchanges that made it difficult for us to crack the top 8.  These ladies have a low 48 in them and although they were disappointed to finish one spot out of the finals they did an amazing job!  Their time is also a new all-time Utah Youth Record!  So proud of these incredible young women!!!

Here is Tomorrow (Friday) Schedule:
All times are UTAH times:
Follow us on usatf.tv

8:00am Carter Slack (9-10 Boys) 400 Meters
9:00am Jacob Bastian (11-12 Boys), Myley Alexander (13-14 Girls), Connor Poulsen (13-14 Boys) 400 Meters
10:00am Kylie Dorius and Lexi Olds (15-16 Girls) and Chris Poulsen (15-16 Boys) 400 Meters
11:30am Jaslyn Gardner (13-14 Girls) 100 Meter Semi-Final
2:30pm (13-14 Girls) 4X400 Relay:  Daviana Vaka, Laveni Vaka, Emme Leavitt and Myley Alexander

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Jr. Olympics Day 3

Today was Day 3 at the Jr. Olympics and it was fantastic for our Quickfeet athletes!!  We had several PR's in the 800!  Carter Slack got our day off to a rocking start with an 8 sec PR in his race.  He came in ranked 47th but finished in 23rd place!  Sophia tried to set a new record on who could throw up the most and still set a new PR.  She did both!  Jacob ran a gutsy fantastic race even though he came up just short in the PR dept.  Emme Leavitt finished 4th in her heat and 17th overall with a new PR of 2:25.42!  Her previous SB (Seasons Best) was 2:29 so this was a HUGE run for her.  She has another year in this age group so look out for next year ladies cause Emme is coming for ya!  To finish our 800 meter runs for the day was Connor Poulsen (13-14 Boys) who came in tied for 20th out of 54 boys entered with a time of 2:09.63.  Connor decided that he wanted to race in the finals and become an All-American so he went out and ran a 2:06.05 800 and finish with the 5th fastest time in the meet!  Ya that is an almost 4 sec PR and puts him in the FINALS on Saturday!!  Our first athlete to qualify for the Finals!
In the 200's Oliver Jensen did an amazing job and ran a new PR of 27.92.  Oliver came in 57th of 58 athletes and finished in 46th place.  Kylie and Abby gave it everything they had in their 200's and did a great job!
To finish our day we had the 13-14 Girls 4x800 team compete……and compete they did!!  They came in 19th of 27 teams and had to run in the slowest heat.  The won their heat by 31 seconds SHATTERING their previous record and Utah State Youth Record of 10:58.51 with a 10:20.89 to finish 6th in the nation and become JR.OLYMPIC ALL-AMERICANS!!!!!  The team was made up of Lilly Poulton, Myley Alexander, Ashlyn Redfearn and Emme Leavitt!!!  So extremely proud of all our athletes and they way in which they are competing!!  Lets do it again tomorrow TEAM!!  Here is the schedule of events and athletes who are competing:

*****WATCH US AT usatf.tv*****
Thursday:
All times are UTAH times!
7:00am Abby Taylor (17-18 Girls) Long Jump
9:50am Kaylee Carter (15-16 Girls) 100 Hurdles
9:50am Olivia Leavitt (17-18 Girls) 100 Hurdles
11:30am Jaslyn Gardner (13-14 Girls) 100 Meters
11:30am Samson Doyle (13-14 Boys) 100 Meters
12:00pm Starlee Woodbury and Kylie Dorius (15-16 Girls) 100 Meters
12:30pm Oliver Jensen (11-12 Boys) and Abby Taylor (17-18 Girls) 100 Meters
4:00pm Myley Alexander, Laveni Vaka, Daviana Vaka and Jaslyn Gardner (13-14 Girls) 4x100 Relay
5:00pm Lexi Olds, Kaylee Carter, Kylie Dorius and Starlee Woodbury (15-16 Girls) 4x100 Relay


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Jr. Olympics UPDATE!

     First, our two ladies who competed in the Heptathlon did a fantastic job!! Olivia Leavitt (17-18 Girls) finished in 15th place with a total of 3889 Points!  It was 79 points higher than her previous Heptathlon a month ago.  Today was her 3rd Heptathlon ever.  Great job Olivia!!!  Kaylee Carter (15-16 Girls) finished in 12th place and had a HUGE second day to move up in the standings.  This was Kaylee's second ever Heptathlon and she scored 3898 points!!  Her previous best total was one month ago at the Region Meet with a total of 3323!  Kaylee PR'ed in several events!  Her biggest improvement came in the Javelin where she went from a best of 77'-10" to one month later throwing 111'-10"!!! Ya that is a 34 foot improvement!!  She finished 2nd in that event.
     I am so very proud of these fine young ladies on how well they competed under these HOT and HUMID conditions!! It was only 96 degrees with a guess of about 80% Humidity!  Ya it was miserable but they were AMAZING these last two days!!!

Here is our schedule for tomorrow (Wednesday) of athletes who are competing:
All times are UTAH times!
9:45am Carter Slack (9-10 Boys) 800 Meters
10:45am Sophia Jensen (11-12 Girls) 800 Meters
10:45am Jacob Bastian (11-12 Boys) 800 Meters
11:00am Emme Leavitt (13-14 Girls) 800 Meters
11:00am Connor Poulsen (13-14 Boys) 800 Meters
1:45pm Oliver Jensen (11-12 Boys) 200 Meters
2:40pm Kylie Dorius (15-16 Girls) 200 Meters
3:00pm Abby Taylor (17-18 Girls) 200 Meters
4:00pm 4x800 Relay (13-14 Girls)
Lily Poulton
Myley Alexander
Ashlyn Redfearn
Emme Leavitt
Again you can watch this meet and all these races at usatf.tv