The grind of Fall track practice, XC battles for titles and Who-Dey!

I apologize for not being more consistent with these blogs – luckily I don’t write for a living.  I’ve actually been pretty busy and I’m sure you all feel very sorry for me.

What is the track team up to?

Most of the attention lately has been on our cross country team (see more about them below) but the tracksters have been busy too.

October and November are real grinds for athletes who aren’t competing.  There aren’t any competitions and the training is often brutal in building up a large foundation to be ready to compete from January until the summer.  We do our best to keep these 18-23 year olds interested and motivated, but to be honest I can’t wait for the season to start either!

We do have some important things we’re focusing towards, however.  We only have 3-4 weeks of the academic semester remaining and we stress the importance of finishing strong in the classroom just like on the track.  The other thing we have coming up is our annual Intrasquad Meet on December 4 in the Heskett Center.

Last week we had the “Draft” where the upperclassmen members of the Gold, White and Black squads pick new teammates from the class of newcomers.  It’s always fun to see everyone trying to get to know each other because of the common characteristic of competitiveness.  Our Intrasquad Meet is probably the most intense and fun “scrimmages” you would ever see – complete with a tug-of-war at the end!

Cross Country battles to high finishes at the MVC Championships

Myself and a few other Shocker coaches took the 650 mile van ride east to Evansville, Indiana, to watch our distance runners vie for titles in last week’s MVC Championships.  In a couple of exciting races we watched our women finish a strong second and our men tie for second.  Our men ended up losing a tiebreaker for the second place trophy.

Do you know how ties are broken in cross country?  Most people would think you take the best sixth place runner (our sixth guy was well ahead of Illinois State’s).  In fact what they do is compare the top five runners head to head (we lost that 3-2).  The guys only lost first place by 11 points so you can imagine their frustration when they found out they lost a tie for second.

However, we have a lot of really good distance runners on both sides and we think they’re going to score a lot of points on the track this winter and spring.  They run this week at the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Lawrence, Kansas, on the famous Rim Rock Farm Course.

It’s the early signing period!

For one week in November (Nov 11-17) athletes can sign National Letters of Intent for NCAA Division I track and field.  We are excited to have at least four new Shockers signing this week with the possibility of a few more by early next week.  We have sent out around a dozen NLI’s and are anxiously awaiting for many of them to come back.

We have some more athletes coming on visits in the next few weeks and then recruiting will ease back a bit during the holiday season.

 

The Bengals are 8-0!

Just wanted to rub it in to my Steelers and Browns friends.  Lord knows I was the recipient of the same for most of the 1990’s and 2000’s.  Who-Dey!

Movies!!!

I’ve been seeing a steady diet of movies (about one a week) and they’ve been hit and miss.

I saw the Steven Spielberg directed movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks.  It was also written by the Coen Brothers (Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, Fargo).  It’s a true story about an American Lawyer (Hanks) who is recruited to defend a Soviet spy during the Cold War.  It started a little slow but then built into a pretty darn good movie by the end.  This is a difficult topic to make interesting for two hours but Spielberg did a nice job.  After the movie I wanted to learn more about the lawyer Hanks played and his life after where the movie left off.  I would say that is a sign of a good movie.

Next I saw the final (so they say) movie in the series, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.  I have seen three of the previous five PA’s and have generally liked them.  I thought the original was great and PA3 was equally entertaining and spooky.  This last one was pretty solid but probably not as good as some of the earlier ones.  It’s a similar plot and has a little more in the way of CGI/technology involved in the making.  If you like these movies I’m sure you’ll like this one too.  If you don’t care for these “found footage” type movies then take a pass.

The last movie I saw was Steve Jobs about the former president and CEO of Apple.  The movie had been getting great reviews but had struggled at the box office so I figured I would check it out before it was gone from theaters.  While it was well made and offered good acting from a variety of people it was just too dialogue driven for me.  And that’s weird for me to say because I generally like movies driven by a lot of clever and well written dialogue.  I think the problem for me was this movie wasn’t that clever.  It’s not a bad movie by any means but I was probably expecting more.

Next time

Shocker basketball is getting started!  Our guys are ranked #10 and looking strong again.  Depending on how long it takes me to write another blog I’m sure I’ll be talking about the Intrasquad Meet and our new recruits (and hopefully gloating about more Bengals wins).

Until then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!

MVC Cross Country and Jaws vs The Jerk

It’s been a busy weekend and I’m a little under the weather so this is gonna be a short blog, I’ll do better next week I promise!

MVC Cross Country

I traveled with our coaching staff out to the MVC Cross Country Championships in Carbondale, IL, this weekend and we came back with mixed emotions.

The MVC has become a very strong conference in distance running recently and our team has improved as well.  Our women ended up in fourth place with our men placing fifth.  As you look at the team scores it’s easy to see how things could’ve been different.  Our women had a good total score of only 94 points and was just 23 points from second.  Our men also had a nice score of 116 and was only six points from fourth (and also two points from seventh).

I know Coach Hunter and the cross country team was disappointed in the final result but we all knew they ran their hearts out and sometimes the cards don’t fall how you want them.  Still, WSU placed higher than last year on both sides so congrats to the Shocks!  Kudos to the Bradley women and the Indiana State men who won well deserved titles.  With just the regional and national CC meets left the track season is just around the corner!

“J” Movies

This is the 10th of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) 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 168 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 five “J” movies so here is the list from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

Jaws (1975, 124 min, R, 8.1, $470m) – One of my all-time favorite movies is still a very effective horror movie today.  This was one of Steven Spielberg’s early movies and the story of how difficult it was to make is about as interesting as the movie itself!  What I wonder about is how effective would it have been without the simple musical notes that foreshadowed Jaws’ arrival throughout the movie?  Either way I love this movie!

The Jerk (1979, 94 min, R, 7.2, $73.6m) – Another classic movie from the 1970’s starring Steve Martin who “was born a poor black child in Mississippi.”  I’ve had a few friends that told me they didn’t think this movie was that great and I have no idea what they are talking about.  There are tons of great scenes and funny lines and an ending that is appropriate for the “Jerk”.  My favorite scene is near the end when Martin is walking out and keeps taking a few things, saying he doesn’t need anything, well except this, and this, and that.

Juno (2007, 96 min, PG-13, 7.6, $231m) – Directed by Jason Reitman (who also did Up in the Air), this was the breakout movie for Ellen Page that took a sensitive subject (abortion and teenage pregnancy) and made it funny as well as touching.  Michael Cera did a nice job as the cross country runner and father of Page’s baby.  I guess you could categorize this as a romantic comedy and if so, I would say it’s one of the best of that genre.  “Uhhh, I hate it when adults use the term "sexually active." What does it even mean? Am I gonna like deactivate some day or is it a permanent state of being?”

Jerry Maguire (1996, 139 min, R, 7.3, $273m) – This popular movie stars Tom Cruise as a sports agent and Cuba Gooding Jr as his only (eventually) athlete he represents.  I thought this movie was very well done and gave us the great line, “Show me the money!”  I’m not a fan of all the sappy stuff so I could’ve done with more of the behind the scenes sports action but I still give this movie a favorable review.

The Jesse Owens Story (1984, 174 min, NR, 6.8, $?) – I think this was a made for TV movie that I saw as a kid and a couple years ago I found it at a store for $2 and grabbed it up!  It’s not a bad biopic for one of the most famous Olympic track and field athletes of all time but being a made for TV movie it had its limitations.  I’ve heard there is a new Jesse Owens movie in production that is scheduled to come out in 2015.  Hopefully it will be done as well as the recent movie about Jackie Robinson (42).

All five of these movies are very good and this list includes both a track AND cross country athlete.  Win-Win!

Next week

Hopefully I’m not sick!  And I also have five "K" movies that are VERY diverse.  Check back for those!

Until then thanks again for reading, Go Shocks!!!

MVC Cross Country is this week, Throws Pentathlon, KC Royals and a couple of foreign "I" films

It’s been a busy week with all kinds of stuff going on so here’s the recap …

Track

In my world, which is the sprint/hurdle group, we had our toughest week of practice so far this fall.  Basically I killed them this week.  What does a tough week of training for a sprinter look like?  Here’s the basic outline for what we did:

Monday – all kinds of sprinting activities (and hurdling for the hurdlers), plyometrics and weights.

Tuesday – speed endurance (this only takes about an hour but it’s the most exhausting workout of the week).

Wednesday – our easy day, hurdle mobility, a couple miles to loosen the legs, stadium runs, and weights.

Thursday – more sprinting (and hurdling) as well as a hill workout.

Friday – hurdle mobility, plyometrics and weights.

Saturday – we got up early in the morning and did 10x200m (for most of the group) with one minute rest.

Sunday – I told them to take the day off!

Now maybe for some people that might not seem like a ton of stuff but understand the intensity level at which most of this work gets done for a sprinter.  I also left most of the details out and the devil is always in the details.  Needless to say my group probably hates me right now but that’s ok, hopefully they love me when the championship time comes around!

 MVC Cross Country Championships

This is a big week for our program as our cross country team will head to Carbondale, Illinois (Southern Illinois University), for the MVC Championships.  This year’s meet looks to be very close for both the men and women.

Historically we’ve had very good women’s cross country, winning a string of five straight MVC titles from 2006-2010, but after a couple a second place finishes in 2011 and 2012 our young ladies group fell to fifth last year.  This year’s group is a year older and running much better so a higher finish looks very possible.  Our men haven’t won a MVC title since 1987 but a third place finish a couple years ago laid the foundation for the men’s team we have today.  The guys probably would’ve liked to have run better at pre-nationals but we think they are much better than what they showed.  It’s a fun group to watch work together and I’m excited to make the trip to Illinois for the meet!

The races happen Saturday morning.  If you can’t make it in person make sure to check GoShockers.com for the results!

Throws Pentathlon

Our throwers were the center of attention this weekend as they held their annual Throws Pentathlon meet at Wichita State.  Coach Hetzendorf started this meet a few years ago as a fun way to do some testing and now it’s turned into an actual meet with some great performances!  I was able to watch most of the competition and saw several personal bests – and for that to happen in October shows our throws group is ready to do big things in 2015!  Good job Dorf!

Recruiting

On top of practice, MVC Cross Country and the Throws Pentathlon, we are all very busy  with recruiting.  The NCAA changed the recruiting calendar this year for track and field to include an early mid-November two-week period for signing.  Because of this, more athletes are visiting in the months of October and November so they can decide where to go to college.  I have a dry erase calendar in my office that shows all kinds of important dates as well as all of our official visits in RED.  My calendar is full of RED!  It will be crazy seeing how many recruits will be around Cessna Stadium in the coming weeks – hopefully we will convince our fair share to commit to Wichita State!

Speaking of that, we got our first commitment recently and I was fortunate enough for it to be one of the athletes I’ve been recruiting.  Because of NCAA rules I can’t comment in this blog about it specifically but I can say we are excited how our recruiting is going and the future of Shocker Track & Field is bright!

Kansas City Royals

Believe it or not with all that is going on I had a free day (well some free hours) so I went up to Kansas City to take in the hysteria that is the Kansas City Royals fans.  Being from a smaller market myself (Cincinnati), I can appreciate not having this opportunity very often.  The last time the Royals were in the World Series was 1985.  I remember being in high school when the Reds were in the World Series in 1990 and how fun it was to be living in the area.  Since they aren’t playing the Reds I will be pulling for the Royals to take the crown!

There were a lot of angry Royals fans after the loss Saturday night.  Memo to all Royals fans: it’s been 29 years since the last time you were here, enjoy it!

“I” Movies

This is the ninth of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) 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 164 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 only have two “I” movies and they are both foreign films so here is the short list from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

In Bruges (2008, 107 min, R, 8.0, $33.3m) – I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this movie but it is one of my all-time favorites.  It stars Colin Farrell as a hitman who is dealing with his personal demons when a job goes wrong.  It’s darkly funny and very well put together (Bruges is a city in Belgium by the way).  This is the movie that I became a big Colin Farrell fan as I think he is a very good actor.  The English director Martin McDonagh recently did a movie called “Seven Psychopaths” that also starred Farrell.  If you haven’t heard of In Bruges, don’t worry its well worth your 107 minutes!

The Idiots (1998, 117 min, R, 6.9, $??) – Last week when I said I’d give anyone a million dollars if they could guess the two “I” movies I own it was because I knew no one would get this one.  Thanks for those of you who tried, luckily my million dollars are still safe, haha!  A couple years ago I got into a phase of wanting to buy and watch weird movies (I guess I was bored with regular movies) so I found this one online and it’s about as weird as it gets!  It was part of a series of experimental movies made in Denmark in the late 1990’s.  The plot of this movie is that a group of people gather to basically act mentally handicapped in social situations to see what would happen.  Then it went further to their home lives and that’s when it got really weird.  I can’t say I enjoyed this movie although I did laugh several times and it made me think when it was over so I would say I was entertained.  I’m pretty confident I’m the only person in Kansas who owns this movie!

Next week

Obviously I will be back to talk about how our cross country teams did at the MVC Championships as well as letting you know if my group still hates me!  I’ve got 5 “J” movies coming next week including one about a really mean shark and another one about a jerk!

Until then thanks for reading and Go Shocks!!!