in meets by coach mike on 09 Mar 2008
Finally a track meet! The Wildcats par took in the first track meet of the 2008 season. The SIU High school boys meet held at Carbondale. I didn’t really know what to expect , practices had been limited and some of the guys had just came off basketball season at the end of last week. But we ended up with some very good performances. Who needs practice? Field events started off real well, in the high jump, 3 guys, one who had never jumped, one that was injured all last year. So when we cleared the opening height, we were off to a good start. Sager, the injured one, ended clearing 6′2 looked good, and has 6′5 or better in him. Follet, number 1 from last year, struggled some but cleared 6′0″ to tie his best from last year. Then the 1st time jumper/middle distance/senior has no form, but has a lot of hop, cleared 6′. Thats Pruden. So those were highlights. Follet also pole vaults and he either pr’ed or tied his best from last year at 11′6″. That in its self is amazing since we had not been able to bend a pole or get steps down due to the weather. The other vaulter Jordan, no relation to Michael, cleared 10′. The other jumpers were ok and will get better, had a couple nice jumps from Hargis in the long jump. Our main jumper is having some ankle problems. Jones who has been ready to race for a month had a good outing in the 3200M, finished 4th in a time of 10:29. Back to Pruden, this guy has had no preseason training, went out and ran a 2:06 800M, finishing 4th, winning his heat. Kory was part of the school record setting 4×800 from last year. Brummel ran a good 400M in a time of 54.22 finishing 5th. After a long day, its always nice to see the 4×400 relays toe the line. We weren’t sure what some of the guys had left in the tank, but they sure showed us. We were in the next to last heat, Pruden got us off to good lead, Wilkins battled to keep us there and then Brummel opened it up a little, handing to our unknow Dan Conklin, Dan is about 6′4 or 5 and he was racing against a much shorter but a very fast kid from Belleville East. Dan did a great job of holding him off and keeping him in the 2nd lane and then pulled away. Officially this group set tied the school indoor record for the event. Coach Cummings and I were a little shocked but not totally. Pride goes a long way as does tradition. The last few years we have been good in this event, so the guys knows what it takes. Great job guys!
The team looks to be strong in some areas and needs some work in some, but the group has some talent and as long as we all work hard we’ll get better and hopefully reach our team goals. We have some nice additions in Doug Hanus in the sprints and some young freshmen that could help us.