Running the Race

• Tweet
• Pin It

The runner lines up with his opponents and gets down onto the spikes. The race begins and his mind clears with the heat starting to take effect. Junior Michael Krause overcame doubt in himself to win a conference title. 

The track team won three events at their spring conference meet. They won the long jump, triple jump, and 400-meter dash. The team almost won the 3200 with senior Elias Found losing by a mere toenail.

 Krause said, “I go to Scott Field with my jumping partners [Thomas Duch and Matthew Barthol] and practice on technique and form. We would review some Olympic athletes competing in their respective events and build our technique off of theirs.”

The track team all put in a lot of time; however, the distance runners start much earlier than the rest of the team which comes with some more physical challenges. Sophomore Joseph Moellers said, “We practice six days a week, rain or shine, and I worry about getting a physical injury, like a stress fracture.” He said, “[I work on] knowing how to set a pace that I can maintain and achieve the time I am striving for. It can sometimes be discouraging to run a “slower” race.”

Krause won conference with a 43-foot 10-inch triple jump. He said, “This was my second jump in the triple jump finals. I had a good jump of [under 43 feet] prior to this jump. After my first jump of 42-feet, 9-inches, I had gone over to talk to my coach about what he wanted me to improve on in regards to form. I was surprised that he didn’t say anything about form. He just told me to jump.  He said, ” Don’t worry about anything on this run-way, just run and jump. You have the ability to jump 44 feet.” This got me pumped, but I had heard something that had struck a nerve with me. Some of the athletes behind me said I couldn’t do it. In some ways there were right; I didn’t jump 44 feet, but I stole first place from every single one of them. In my mind, I was telling myself that I have to show them who I am and what I can do.”

Runners don’t always set out to achieve a personal record. Moellers said, “During the conference race, I only was looking to make state placement. My coach said not to worry about running a PR, which for me would have meant to break 4:49 in the mile. I ran right behind the Conway guy in sixth place and finished in seventh. From third place to seventh place, there was only a five-second difference. I did end up running a PR which is currently a 4:44.”

Richmond Terrell

+ posts

• Richmond Terrell

  https://liftoffnews.com/?author=103

  Lax to the Max
• Richmond Terrell

  https://liftoffnews.com/?author=103

  And Then There Were Four

• Tweet
• Pin It