Blog Archives

2013 Final Day State Meet

5/26/2013

Brandon LaHaise got the last day started off early with the Javelin. Brandon came one inch short of making finals, but competed hard and we were proud of his efforts! Next Killian got the Central boys on the score board with a 7th place in the 300m Hurdles. Next the 4x200 relay team of Wes Austin, Carrington Adams, Rylie Devier, and Killan Gause placed 6th. Carrington had to hurry thru his long jump attempts to finish them in time for the 4x200 and came just a few inches short of making finals.

Then it was the distances runners chance to add to the scoring. Eighth grader Karly Ackley used a 19 second PR in the 3200m run (11:48) to place 6th over all and match her 6th place finish this falls finish in the State Cross Country meet. Junior Camron Roehl and Freshman Leif Larsen each ran gutsy races in the boys division of the 3200m run, both PRd. Camron ran 9:50 to 7th place finish and Leif PRd to put up a new freshman record of 10:06 and place 13th over all out of 21 boys. Later in the day Camron came back to run the open 800m but wasn't succesful in placing in the top 8.

Character

5/24/2013

Sometimes you can tell a lot about someone's character by how they treat others. We have Seniors on this team who are idolized by my 10 year old son Collin. Instead of brushing him off, they have taken him to dinner, let him hang out on the bus, in camp and as seen in the picture, played Nerf guns with him. I'm fortunate to have young men on this team who have character, something that a score board will never be able to measure. And I'm proud to coach young men with this type of character.

State Meet - Day 1

5/24/2013

The first day of the 2013 state meet brought its usual highs and lows, with tears of frustration and tears of happiness. Killian Gause started the day off well by PRing and making the finals in the 300 hurdles. The girl milers, Ali Lindsay, Rachel Cox, Lily Larsen, and Karly Ackley ran hard, but came short of the podium with Ali placing the highest in 9th. Camron Roehl ran one second short of his PR and didn't finish in the top 8. Kat Reller threw the discus 131 meters to win the girls Discus! The boys 4x200m relay, Senior Wes Austin, Senior Carrington Adams, Senior Rylie Devier, and Senior Killian Gause moved on to finals, while the 4x100 relay (of the same four seniors) came up short in their quest to reach finals.

One of my favorite races finished off our day, the 4x800m Relay. The girls were ranked 9th going into the race, Senior Ali Lindsay led off the relay with a 2:25 and handed off in the top 5. Senior Taylor Ray and Sophmore Rachel Lindsay ran strong legs and kept the girls in the top 6 and gave the baton to Senior Lily Larsen to finish the relay. Lily ran a great anachor leg in 2:30 to bring the girls to from 7th to 4th in the last 100m, she came within 0.02 seconds of getting the girls into 3rd place! It was great to see all the smiles on the girls faces afterward. These are four girls that have worked hard during their careers for me and it was wonderful to see those seniors get a chance to finally be on the poduim at the state meet. The boys 4x800m relay of Jr Camron Roehl, Soph Alex Dianat, Soph Chris Caraballo, and Jr. Ben Wood ran a tough race but finished 9th. It was a tough place for them to finish but they are going to use that disappointment to fuel their desire to train harder over the next year and return to the 2014 state meet with the purpose of getting on the podium.

State Meet Schedule

5/19/2013

2013_state_meet_schedule.pdf
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The Central teams will be leaving at 1:30 pm on Thursday, stopping in Jamestown to do a workout, then continuing on to Bismarck. We are staying at the Bismarck Expressway Inn. Below is a copy of our itinerary that each of the students SHOULD have given their parents but just in case it's below. Above is the state meet schedule of events.

state_track_meet.doc
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EDC Championships

5/19/2013

The weather turned out to be much better than expected, it was sunny in the 80's, humid, and dead calm. We had decided as a Boy's distance group that we wanted to qualify our 4x800 and this meant we had to have a couple of distance runners sacrifice their chance in the 1600m. Camron Roehl, Alex Dianat, Chris Caraballo, and Ben Wood got the meet started out by running a state quailfying time of 8:22.58 and placing 4th. Killian Gause quickly followed with great race in the 300H and finished 5th. During the races on the track Carrington Adams and Jake Mussman were battling to make it to state in the triple jump. Carrington made it with a 5th place finish, Jake came up short by finishing 9th. Our 4x200m relay team of Carrington, Wes Austin, Rylie Devier, and Killian Gause had great hand offs and finished 3rd.

Next came the highlight race of the day for me as the distance coach. Going into the girls mile only Ali Lindsay had met the state qualifying time of 5:30.24.  We had four girls in the fast heat of the mile, all needing to PR to qualify for the state meet. They all ran a smart race, being involved immediately and all ran qualilfying times to make it to state. Karly Ackley 5th, 5:26.50 (PR 8.5 Secs), Lily Larsen 7th, 5:27.31 (PR 10.96 secs), Rachel Cox 8th, 5:28.14 (PR 16.23 secs), Ali Lindsay 10th 5:29.36. It was amazing to have four girls run state qualifying times when they had to! Rounding out the girls milers was Meghan Allan who also PR'd by 21 secs.

Nick Ackley gave his all in the boys 1600m, PR'd but came up just short by finishing 7th in the mile, followed by Alex Dianat's 9th place finish.   Over at the Javelin Brandon LaHaise threw 161' 5" to punch his ticket to state and also finish 6th!. Carrington showed why he was the 2013 Cliff Cushman award winner by jumping to a 2nd place finish in the long jump.

The lone Central EDC champion came from Karly Ackley.  Karly ran smart stragetic 3200m race, she took the lead with 800 meters to go and never looked back. Lily Larsen went out and tried to qualify her 2nd event of the day and ran tough but came up just short by placing 7th. Her brother, Freshman Leif Larsen turned in one of the gutsiest performances of the day in the 3200m run for the boys. Going into the race Leif had the goal of placing in the top 6 and being the first freshman distance runner for Central boys in the 3200m to make it to the state meet. With one lap to go, Leif was over 50m out of 6th. Over the last 200m Leif passed the Davies runner to finish 6th in a time of 10:08.55, tenths of second from breaking the freshman record. But he earned one more chance to break that record by running at the state meet.

Tip of the Hat to Red River

5/18/2013

It was another windy day at Cushman during the Last Chance meet, lessening the chances, due to the shorter outdoor season, for distance runners to qualify for the state meet. But the weather brought out what is great about athletics and especially Track & Field. Red River's Senior Adam Leach and their Distance Coach DaFoe suggested that Leach could break the wind for Central's Camron Roehl in the 800m. Camron had already quailfied the 1600m and 3200m. Leach has also qualfied the 1600m and the 800m. Earlier in the meet Red River had qualified their 4x800 relay with the help of Adam's blistering anchor leg of 1:58.

During the 800m race the wind was blowing at 25 mph along the back stretch of Cushman Field. From the gun Adam took the front to block the wind and lead Camron through the first 400m in a perfect 58 seconds. After breaking the wind up to the 600m mark, Adam slid out to lane two and let Camron run to the finish line in a state qualifying time of 2:01.58 (SQ time is 2:01.74). It was a classy selfless act by Adam and Coach DaFoe. It made me proud to be part of a running community in Grand Forks that has friendly rivals, who are willing to help each other. I look forward to being able to return favor!

Thursday Practice

5/16/2013

Even though today was a wet day for practice, our team had a great day working together. Lots of kidding around and laughing, one example is shown in the picture, Killian showing off his new hairdo!

Days like today, bring back memories of being part of a team and all of those hours and hours of practice you had with your teammates. Isn't that one of the best parts of being on a team? Hanging around in the locker room, running together, and sharing stories. I always loved going to practice, I guess I still do! It is always great to be around a bunch of people working toward a common goal and having fun while doing it. The fun of practice is something that people who havent been in sports won't understand. I'm asked all the time "why do you like to run?" It's not the act of running always, its more running with your teammates! I think the memories of the times spent together in the locker room, on the track practicing, running on the roads, lasts longer than the wins and loses during competition.

Last Chance Meet

5/15/2013

The last chance meet started off with introducing our Seniors. It is always fun and rewarding to see the athletes you started working with as freshman grow up to be adults. It is also also hard to see them move on.

Senior Carrington Adams used another windy day to his advantage to win and qualify the 100m Dash in a time of 11.34 (SQ time is 11.44). Camron Roehl continued his successful year by qualifying his 3rd open event, the 800m. Other Knights who got PRs are Rylie Devier (100m), Taylor Deem (100m), Alex Grove (100m), Jake Tuck (100m, 200m, 400m), Andrew Torrey (1600m), Ryan Keogh (1600m), Rufus Gbieor (400m), Darian Colgrove (110H), Ben Wood (800m), Taylor Tomlinson (800m), Leif Larsen (800m), Shane Jensen (800m), Adam Grove (200m, Triple Jump), Jack Mussman (Discus, Shot), Chris Lautt (shot), and Dontay Allen (Javelin).

Blustery East/West Classic

5/11/2013

It looks like a rather blustery day, today
It sounds that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
Looks like a rather blustery day today

A.A. Milne "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustry day"

The East/West Classic averaged 42 mph winds with gusts up to 52 mph on Friday. Carrington Adams used that to his advantage and leaped to a state qualifying long jump of 21' 2". Dispite the conditions our 4x200 almost ran a qualifying time and finished 3rd against some of the best teams in the state. PR performances were turned in by Brandon Gregie (300H), Alex Grove (300H), Adam Grove (100m), Rufus Gbieor (100m), Taylor Deem (110H), Lucas Nelson (TJ), Jack Mussman (Discus), Terance Adams (shot), and Brenden LaHaise (shot).

New Record Board

5/9/2013

The Boys and Girls Track & Field Teams have a shiney new modern record board
to highlight our school records. It is located in the entryway by the stairs to the gym. It is 6ft tall and 4ft wide, and was made possible by a donatation from our wonderful GFC Booster Club. It is a great way to highlight the records our amazing athletes have achieved by competing for Grand Fork Central High School. Included on the record board also are the Cross Country records for the boys 5k and girls 4k.