Prepared to Improvise

There are days (forgive me) when I envy schools with more resources to spend on track and field. It would be nice, I think, to have a track... or a field for that matter. Like many teams, we were inside yesterday. The rain that has been falling since Sunday night has affected low-lying Concord in rather dramatic ways, and the lower fields of the school have mostly disappeared under the murky swirling waters of the Sudbury river.

In fact, resources or not, outdoor track is the season for improvisation as weather forces all of us to adjust our careful plans.

If it wasn't rain it could be snow. How many years did we start outdoor track with shovels and spades for breaking and clearing the ice on the inside lane of the old Newton North track, probably contributing to its rapid disintegration.

We all want to get outside as soon as possible, but teams are crammed inside of gyms, dance studios, or broom closets coming up with creative ways to get some training in.

I'm not complaining. Yesterday was a really good day at practice. We were unexpectedly able to use half the gym, which allowed our entire team to do cone running and circuit drills for an hour before getting booted out and heading off to the wrestling room for some core work. And after that, a couple of kids hung around and we did throwing drills for 45 minutes. The highlight was when our athletic trainer came in to see what was going on, and in the very next drill a turbo jav slipped out of one thrower's hand and went flying in a beautiful arc across the room, narrowly missing a loudspeaker.

In other words, we were all doing our best to improvise, which is the way it should be. Bad weather can make for good teams.

Alumni Results from NU Husky Spring Open

It's a confusing season, that's for sure. No sooner does indoor track end, but outdoor track gets underway, without even a pause for breath. Hopeful marathoners are putting the finishing touches on their preparations for Boston, and the World Cross-Country Championships are one week away.

It doesn't help that the weather has been so nice. It felt almost like summer on Saturday -- a very brown and bare summer, to be sure -- and I'm sure the nice weather contributed to some very fast running at the NU Husky Spring Open, held at Northeastern's track in Dedham.

It was great to see Northeastern's Jess Barton back in action after a quiet winter. Ms. Barton took no prisoners in the 1500, winning in a time of 4:50.48.

On the men's side, Seb Putzeys ran 1:58.87 to take 5th in the 800m. Not far back, another NNHS alum, Dave Cahill, opened his outdoor season with a 2:03.21 for 12th.

Robinson 3rd at DIII Nationals

I missed this with all the excitement over the weekend (World Indoor, NCAA DI, High School National meets)...

NNHS alum Cailean Robinson placed 3rd in the DIII Indoor Championships, hosted by DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana on Saturday. The Wheaton sophomore ran 6.40 in the heats and 6.39 in the finals to place third behind Salisbury's Delannie Spriggs and another Mass. runner, Stephen Headley of Springfield College.

Eaton Sets WR; U.S. Has Best Day Ever in Heptathlon

Olympic and World decathlon gold medalist Bryan Clay won the World Indoor Heptathlon championship in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, beating out teammate Trey Harding, but the two were far behind another American competing in Fayetteville at the NCAA championships.

Oregon's Ashton Eaton not only won the NCAA title, he set a a world record with 6499 points, 23 points better than the record Dan O'Brien set 17 years ago. In fact, so astonishing was Eaton's performance, that had Clay and Hardee teamed up and taken the best score from either one in each event, they still would have lost to Eaton by 213 points.

For good measure, Eaton ran a leg on the Oregon 4x400 relay later in the meet.

Here's how the scores compared between the three Americans:

             60M   LJ     SP      HJ     60HH   PV     1000M    Total

Ashton Eaton  6.71  7.73m  13.12m  2.11m  7.77   5.10   2:32.67     
             988   992    675     906    1040   941    957      6499
   
Bryan Clay    6.67  7.27m  15.31m  2.06m  8.00   5.00m  2:50.28          
             1003  878    809     859    982    910    763      6204

Trey Hardee   6.80  7.28m  14.44m  2.06m  7.79   5.00m  2.47.76          
             955   881    755     859    1035   910    789      6184

Carla Forbes Wins TJ at NIN Championship

Hard to believe that Carla Forbes would be able to top what she'd already accomplished this indoor season, but she did. On Saturday, the MA state champion in the long jump became the NIN champion in the triple jump, soaring 12.24 (40-02) on her final jump.

Once again, Forbes showed her clutch instincts. After beginning with two fouls, she hit 12.16 on her first legal jump, and that would have been good enough to win the competition.

The 12.24 is a NN school record, of course, and only half an inch off the national freshman record.

And by the way, congratulations to the Newton South girls sprint medley, which placed fourth to make the podium.

Barnicle 4th at NCAA Indoor Championships

NNHS alum and current UNM grad student Chris Barnicle ran a personal best and Lobo school record 13:43.20 to finish 4th in the 5K at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships, and earn his first All-American award in track.

See Chris' great post-race interview on Flotrack, below:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Quote of the night: "I got lucky to be honest"

NNHS Alumni Results - 3/5/10

Chris Barnicle Runs 13:47 to Win Alex Wilson Invitational

Chris Barnicle (NNHS '05), now a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, won the 5000m at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame on Friday, in a career best 13:47.16. With that time, Barnicle qualifies for next weekend's NCAA DI Indoor Championship at Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he ran as an undergraduate.

According to the UNM web site...

"Barnicle defeated the runner-up, Alabama All-American Tyson David, by over seven seconds en route to his first collegiate victory and the second-fastest indoor 5K time in UNM history."