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Nampa Idaho
Thanks to Ted Rudder for many of the images below!
Last weekend I took the long 6 hour drive up to Nampa Idaho to watch Sarah compete. After about 45 minutes into Idaho I just *had* to stop. Taking the next freeway exit I stopped to use the restroom...
Hello Idaho!
The ride wasn't too bad since I had a book to listen too, but the ride home with Sarah was definitely much more enjoyable. Thanks to the Rudder family I had a place to stay Friday night. Not to mention they have the best pretzel jello around! But enough about me, let's get to the meet.
Saturday morning I hopped over to where Sarah was staying and said hello. Once again she was getting the pre-meet jitters. It was slightly worse for this meet because of two factors:
The ring
Sarah's not a big fan of their ring. She likes fast rings. That is, rings that are very slick and allow the thrower to gain some speed. Nampa's ring is a really slow ring. So slow in fact they even practiced on carpet all week to try to prepare for the meet.
The time
This meet was her first meet back after a week without a meet. That may sound like a good thing. But anyone who knows sports knows that the week of is a week of grueling practice, and achy bodies. Sarah said she didn't feel recovered yet from that week.
Walking into the place was a little different than I was used to. It felt like a Rodeo. And in fact they had the first throwing ring I'd seen that used dirt instead of grass.
Now for the heavy stuff...
Weight Throw
First up, the weight. Coming into the competition Sarah was in the top ranked position. This means in thrower terms that she was in the 3rd flight (group of throwers), and she was the last thrower, which is the coveted throwing position.
She struggled getting a good throw off at first, but was able to get a 55' 3" throw off. Good enough to put her into 4th place. Yet even after placing herself in a fairly good position she couldn't seem to pull things together to pull out one of her big throws.
She wasn't too happy about being 5 feet under her PR. But I think it has given her the fire to really throw a huge one this weekend at Pocatello.
Shotput
Next up was the Shotput. The funny thing about Sarah is that the less she cares about the shotput, the better she starts to do. Figuring she didn't do so well in the Weight, she went out and gave it her all.
She was able to throw a PR of 41' 3". A solid 2" over her last PR. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to put her into the finals. She ended up in 11th place, but all-in-all was pleased with her Shotput results.
Waiting in the shotput warmups line.
Smiling? She may not be happy about her meet results. But she was more than thrilled to have me come and watch her throw. She also got to ride with me home, and while we spend a couple hours in a blizzard we got home safetly, and fairly quickly too.
Post Meet Pictures!
For more pictures and details check out my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/snard6
This has a throw by throw account as well as some pictures. For future updates of Sarah's competitions follow me on twitter, and of course check here.
Utah Daily Chronicle Recap:
http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/sports/track-and-field-rakes-in-top-10-performances-in-idaho-meet-1.2157382
Results:
http://www.runnerspace.com/news.php?do=view&news_id=8938
Images courtesy of Ted Rudder
As stated in the previous post, Sarah did fantastic in both the BYU and Boise meets. Here are a few pictures from the BYU meet.
Closeup on the thing Sarah does best!
Sarah performs in the Weight (Seen above), Shotput, Discus, and Hammer. During the indoor season she primarily focuses on Weight and Hammer, doing the Discus and Shot more for fun than anything. At 20lbs per Weight Throw, we keep asking ourselves, what else could Sarah throw 60 feet?
Sarah, Nikkie, Kastin
Kep (Head coach), Sarah, Tapio (Throws coach)
So you may ask, what does it take to throw ~60'?
Turn 1
Form: The difference between a good thrower and a mediocre thrower is how well they can maintain good form under pressure. Try spinning around using a 20 lb counter balance, it's not as easy as it looks. Trust me, I've tried.
Turn 2
Endurance: One throw sounds painful. Try throwing anywhere between 20-100 throws per day. After a full week of painful practice, going out and giving it your all not 1, but 6 times.
Turn 3
Strength: What's it take to fly? Lots and lots of force. There's a good reason we link jet engines with force. A good throw requires many hours in the weight room pushing up more and more poundage.
Nice work Utah Track & Field!
Category:
BYU,
Sarah,
Throwing,
Track and Field
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