Even
though we had a few Shockers competing this weekend, I had a rare weekend
off. That gave me plenty of time to look
at the MVC race, play golf and catch a cold!
Fast times at Notre
Dame
Last
week I mentioned how some of our top distance runners didn’t compete at UNI to
prepare for the Notre Dame Invitational and the resulting performances were
impressive indeed.
Notre
Dame’s oversized track is made for running fast times and this meet is a dream
for anyone wanting to run a PR. They put
together several sections of distance races, many with rabbits, and all you
have to do is let the pack pull you around (and be in tip top shape haha).
Our
ladies were solid but our guys were particularly impressive running off times
of 1:51 in the 800m, 4:05 in the Mile and 14:25 in the 5000m.
Now
onto our final “team” meet of the year before the MVC Indoor Championships …
Herm Wilson
Invitational Preview
Next
Saturday (is there a better way to spend Valentine’s Day), we will be hosting
the Herm Wilson Invitational, named after the former Wichita State head coach
who led the Shockers to prominence in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. We will have a scored meet against
UT-Arlington, Oral Roberts and Emporia State.
UT-Arlington
will provide the most competition in the team race as we will try to improve on
our #16 rankings for both the men and women in the latest National Dual Meet
Rankings. It will also be our final home
indoor meet as we start looking closely towards the MVC Indoor Championships at
the end of February.
We
expect a large crowd Saturday so come out and enjoy the meet! If you can’t make it in person be sure to catch
the live video through GoShockers.com.
How does the MVC
look?
The
MVC championship picture is beginning to take shape now that most of the league’s
distance runners have raced in their primary events. Every week I take a close look at the MVC
performance lists on TFRRS and track how the competition is doing. Here’s how it looks as of now:
The
men’s meet should be a battle between as many as four teams. I think that Wichita State and Indiana State
will probably be voted by the coaches as the favorites but I think Loyola and
Southern Illinois have a chance at the title too. What you can’t tell by looking at the lists
are what events will the coaches enter their top athletes in while searching
for the most points. The coaches at all
of these schools will no doubt be trying to figure that out in the coming
weeks.
On
the women’s side I think it’s going to come down to three teams: Wichita State, Indiana State and Southern
Illinois. On paper we appear to have a
small lead but we’re trying to overcome some injuries and won’t know what kind
of team we’ll have until we start competing in the championships. We have several ladies that are competing
well though, and are excited about the opportunity they have at UNI.
The “Garth Brooks of
Wichita”
Since
I had a weekend off I got the chance to go out and see former Shocker Javelin
thrower Adam Capps play a concert on the west side of Wichita Saturday
night. The reason I made the Garth
Brooks reference above is that Brooks threw the Javelin for Oklahoma State
while in college before hitting it big on the country music scene. While Adam was a better thrower than Garth,
he is a tiny bit behind in the music department. He did a great job and we had lots of fun,
here is a link to a new song he wrote that I think is very good.
“Number” Movies
This
is the final of a 24 part series (well not quite, you get one more bonus next week)
where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q,
X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers). I currently own a small collection of 179
movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.
Most
of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely. Some are movies that I had not seen but was
curious about. Some were gifts from
people with bad tastes in movies.
I
own three movies that begin with a number so here they are from best to worst …..
Movie Name (year
made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Worldwide box office)
127 Hours (2010, 94 min, R,
7.7, $60m) – This movie, that is based on a true story, stars James Franco as an
adventurer who gets trapped under a boulder while climbing through a canyon in
Utah. Basically his arm get caught
between two rocks and the movie deals with his desperation and if he’s going to
cut his arm off to survive. It’s a very
intense movie and very well done. It
really makes you think what the human body is capable of when it comes down to survival. Franco is great, I highly recommend this
movie!
8 Seconds (1994, 105 min,
PG-13, 6.4, $19m) – A very likeable movie about the life of Lane Frost, a Bull
Riding World Champion in the 1980’s. I remember
the first time I went to see this movie I was a little skeptical because Luke
Perry was playing Frost and Stephen Baldwin was playing Tuff Hedeman – not exactly
the two actors you would think of for these roles. But to my surprise they did a really good
job. I’m sure they added some typical
Hollywood drama to the story to make it more interesting but even with that I
found myself intrigued by the lifestyle of these cowboys and the rough times it
created for their families.
15 Minutes of Fame (2008, 89 min, NR,
PG-13, 6.4, $??) – I spent $5 on this movie as a joke because the cover was the
fakest and cheapest movie cover I’ve ever seen (see right).
This movie is a coming of age story about two guys who ….. well I don’t
really know what happens. This movie was
so bad that it took me about 15 minutes of boredom before I turned it off.
Next week
I
will be back to talk about the Herm Wilson Invitational as well as one final
bonus section about the movies I own on VHS!
That should be interesting.
Until
then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!
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