Contributor: The Nerd
For better or worse, I am back from vacation, so I have wrested control of the Nerdsletter from Nerd Junior and Nerd the Third. The boys did a phenomenal job during my absence: two Nerdsletters, photos at five meets and continuous website updates, plus they continue to do great work on the season rankings.
With most of the consequential meets the next two weeks falling early in the week, we're going to post the Nerdsletter on the next two Sundays. We can't promise the timeliness of a post-State Nerdsletter due to travel commitments, but we may experiment with nightly recaps during State.
One state record...
The Fremont boys set a new State 4x800 record on Thursday at the Benson meet, running 7:42.42. The 2005 Lincoln North Star quartet held the previous record at 7:44.13. The record wasn't entirely unexpected, with this year's Fremont's distance corps even better than Fremont's typical high standards, but you don't earn a state record without incredible efforts from all four boys. UNK-commit Tyson Baker led off with a 1:55.8, Alabama-commit Carters Waters ran 1:55.9, Nebraska-commit Nolan Miller ran 1:56.6, and Tulsa-commit Braden Taylor flew to a 1:53.9. The boys were also shooting for the Fremont school record of 7:45.65, also from 2005. Here's a video of the finish.
Coach McMahon knows how to maximize his points at State, and we would be mildly surprised to see the same 4x800 squad at State. Through last Saturday, Baker had the best Class A mark in the 400, Taylor-Baker-Miller were 5th-7th in the 800, Taylor and Waters are 2nd and 3rd in the 1600, and Waters has the 2nd best time in the 3200. Fremont has a deep bench, and Aaron Ladd, Paulo Torres or one of the other boys could be called up to fill a spot or two.
Speaking of the State 4x800, a roster change at Fremont could open the door for Millard West or Pius to take a swing at the title. Pius has four solid runners: Thomas Greisen (1:55.85), 400/800 specialists Lucas Steuter (2:00.58) and James Dalton (2:02.92), and distance specialist Joe Dustin (10:01). A few of Millard West's studs will be in the 3200 a few hours after the 4x800, but Coach Johnston has a lot of options including Sam Kirchner (4:23/9:24), Piercze Marshall (4:30/9:28), Cole Haith (4:29/9:36), Seth Fey, (54.34/2:02.43), Jack Witte (1:59.69/4:21), Porter Bickley (4:35/9:58) and Sean Murphy (2:01.23).
If you're looking for comeback stories, Braden Taylor is a great one. Granted, he's already had a storied career, placing 1st (4x800), 2nd (4x400), 3rd (800) and 4th (1600) at the 2021 State meet. However, we wrote about him last October when he bonked at the State meet - one of several high-profile athletes who did so. Braden was ranked #9 in Class A going into State and he was a guy whom we thought had to place high in order for Fremont to have any chance at upsetting Millard West (they won anyway). Braden was in 10th place at 3000 meters, tied for 8th at 3200 meters (10:24 split), and then at some point just before 4600 meters he lost the ability to run. Within probably 15 seconds of walking, he was the 7th Fremont man and had zero chance of having his points count. It was clear he was cooked when he walked into my camera view (see below) at 4600 meters.
The Fremont fans and coaches, who had been yelling 'finish hard' at their first six runners, quickly transitioned to a 'Walk it in, finish proud' theme. I believe he walked it all the way in, finishing in 20:54. Based on the times of the boys who were with Braden at 4600 meters, I'm guessing that it took Braden four minutes to walk the last 400 meters. Last May, Braden ran the State 1600 in 4:18.
...and almost a second one
On the topic of state records, Dajaz DeFrand of Lincoln High heated up the track again on Wednesday, running a 23.84 200 at the LPS meet. Sarah Lyons of Brownell-Talbot set the current record of 24.06 back in 2006, and that mark still stands because Dajaz's time was wind-aided (6.2 mph). We wouldn't be surprised to see Dajaz break both the 100 and 200 records by the end of the season; she just needs the wind to stop blowing.
Photos, photos, a crazy amount of photos
The boys hit two meets this week - LPS on Wednesday and Benson on Thursday - and about 1,000 photos are now posted on our Facebook page. You can access them - and find links to all 28 high school and college meets we've shot this year - at this link. You can use the photos for almost any purpose, but we request that you don't give them to another media outlet. We don't utilize photos from other media outlets, and we request that they don't use ours.
We've also posted video of a few consequential distance races this season, including the stacked 1600 races at the Harold Scott meet. The girls and boys 1600 races are on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1l0VWLH7M0.
Rankings list
We know it's not perfect, but we continue to update the performance lists for every class as well as an all-class list for all 17 events. You can find that spreadsheet at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gD6UQ0i2KonRtm90BBEvIaaQlOR8BtdQzqjet8XGJIU/edit?usp=sharing. There is a lag in updating results, particularly ones that aren't marked as 'official' on athletic.net. In addition, with so many athletic.net and manually-entered results, there's bound to be a bug or two or twenty. If you see a duplicate listing or think something is missing, please DM us and we'll take a look at it.
That rankings list also includes team projections along with each team's top scorers. Keep in mind that the projections are based on the top performances of athletes at any point in the season, and it's unlikely that that an athlete will PR (or even compete) in every event at State. Thus, take the projections with a grain of salt.
Finally, Nerd Junior is working diligently on state qualifier projections for each class to determine which Districts will garner the most at-large berths in each event. We're working with Coach Tony Jacobsen of Wahoo on that project, and we hope to have it available next weekend.
Absolutely a bonkers season
We've talked repeatedly about the golden age of girls distance running. Stella Miner of Westside now sits 4th all-time in the 800 (2:12.10) and 5th in the 1600 (4:53.90), Jaci Sievers of Elkhorn South is 8th all-time in the 1600 (4:56.31) and in the 3200 (10:42.60), and Nebraska-commit Elli Dahl of Fremont is 13th all-time in the 1600 (4:58.81) and 12th in the 3200 (10:47.65). Lincoln Southwest's Brianna Rinn (Utah commit), who is 7th on the 800 all-time list with her monster 2:13.07 at 2021 State, ran a 2:13.49 on Wednesday and then popped off a 58.51 400 roughly one minute after her coach (see below) taught her how to use starting blocks. As if that wasn't enough, she also ran a 5:08.43 1600 that day, the 4th-best mark this season. Claire White of Westside (5:08.95) and Isabelle Hartnett of Millard West (5:09.86) have also dipped under 5:10, and a whopping 12 girls are already under 5:20.
However, this season's excellence extends far beyond girls' distance running. Sure, competition shoes have improved, but that does very little to explain the high marks we've seen in field events.
Jaylen Lloyd of Omaha Central and Reece Grosserode of Lincoln Pius continue to excel in the triple jump. Lloyd, a junior, has a PR of 48-06, which puts him 9th all-time in Nebraska history, 10th in the nation this season, and the nation's third-best junior per athletic.net. Grosserode is only a sophomore and jumped over 46-06 at all six of his meets this season. His PR of 47-10 is the third-best mark for sophomores this season according to athletic.net and he's 5 inches away from breaking into Nebraska's top-15 all-time list. To make things even more interesting, our sources inform us that Lincoln East's Malachi Coleman, a top-tier Class of 2023 football recruit, will be triple jumping at the HAC this week after going 45-00 in practice.
Lloyd (23-08.5) and Grosserode (22-5.75) are also excelling in the long jump, as is Landon Olson (23-01.25) of Battle Creek. Olson has also jumped 6-09 this year, which puts him second on the all-class high-jump list this season.
Carter Nelson, a sophomore at Ainsworth, jumped 7-00 on April 12th, good for 8th all-time in Nebraska history. At the same meet in O'Neill he pole vaulted 13-06 (4th in Class C), threw the discus 158-10 (3rd in Class C) and ran the 200 in 22.74 (7th in Class C). On top of that, Iowa State just offered him a football scholarship.
In the weights area, Sam Cappos (Lincoln East junior) has gone over 62-00 in the shot put the last two weeks, and his 62-8.75 from the Harold Scott meet puts him 11th all-time in Nebraska. Wyoming-commit Gage Griffith of Aurora has the season-best discus throw of 186-03, which puts him in striking range of a top-15 all-time mark of 192-00, while Air Force commit Nic Davis of North Platte (182-08) and Doane football commit Carson Lavaley of Wahoo (182-04) have both gone over 180-00.
Luke Bonifas of Adams Central finished 2nd at Class C XC State behind Hartington's Carson Noecker. Due to the NSAA classification system, a number of the larger schools in C and D cross country get moved up to B and C during track, and that's why Adams Central competes in Class B at the State track meet. Moving up is usually to an athlete's disadvantage, but that's not the case when Carson is so dominant in Class C. Luke (a Doane commit) ran 4:25.32 and 9:40.72 at the Crete Invite on Thursday, which gives him a 6-second (1600) and 11-second (3200) lead over the 2nd-fastest boy in Class B. He's also ranked in the 800, and that may be the most competitive distance event in Class B.
On the girls' side, the all-class gold medals in the shot and discus are a toss-up. Elly Piper of Pierce leads the shot list with a 44-08, a foot ahead of second-best Katharine Beachler of Millard North. However, eight girls have thrown over 42-00 this year, including five from Class B. For the discus, Class B and C have the 5 best throws this year, with Lovely Hibbert of Seward (145-09) and Shayla Meyer of Superior (145-05) leading the way.
Lademi Davies, a junior at Westside, has only competed in the triple jump at three meets in her career, but her PR of 38-04 in her first meet puts her 7 inches short of a top-15 all-time mark. Lademi's long jump of 18-09 is 5 inches from the top-15 list. Iowa State commit Kailynn Gubbels of Arlington continues to excel, jumping 5-07, posting the 4th-fastest 100H time this season, and her only 300H race this season (46.98 last Tuesday) put her at the top of Class B rankings. Kate Campos of Pius sits 6th on the all-time list after posting a 43.76 in the 300 hurdles and should have a great hurdles battle with Jaida Rowe of Lincoln Southwest, who is ranked first in the 100H and 2nd in the 300H.
State is going to be awesome.
Boston thoughts
I haven't made it through the whole recording of the Boston marathon yet, but two things have already jumped out at me. Sarah Ensrud Vaughn, who is 12th on Nebraska's all-time 1600 list with a 4:58.14 while competing for Gering in 2003, was listed as one of the eight contenders to watch during the pre-race coverage. Now a pro runner, Sarah ran 2:26:53 at the California International Marathon last fall, and she finished 21st at Boston in 2:36:27.
The pre-race coverage also included a piece on Valerie Rogosheske, a 75-year-old runner who was part of Boston's first official women's division back in 1972. You may recall that Kathrine Switzer was the first officially-registered women's finisher back in 1967, registered as KV Switzer, but Boston didn't open the race to women until 1972. Rogosheske gives all of the credit for the formation of the women's division to Switzer and the other women who fought for eight years to race there. In Valerie's words, "I just kind of showed up" in 1972 and ran the race.
Frankly, I wouldn't minimize the power of 'just showing up.' Showing up for practice, at work, at family events -- you first must show up, and then improvements can be made, relationships can be grown, work can be completed. Never underestimate the power of 'just showing up.'
The Vasquez fan club
We've gotten to know a lot of running families over the years, and the Vasquez family has been among our favorites. Tim Vasquez coached Nerd Junior through the Cornhusker Flyers track club, and Andy and Tommy Vasquez have competed for the Flyers and Omaha Burke. Andy was a national champion race walker at age 16, had PRs of 4:16/9:30 during high school, competed in running and swimming at Wesleyan, and he's still knocking out sub-4:20 miles as a post-collegiate racer while juggling his new roles of husband and father.
Andy has been at the top of the heap since we've know him, but Tommy's path has been much steeper. He was a 14:00 3200 guy as a 12-year-old, which he cut down to 13:00 as a 14-year-old. He lost his freshman track season to COVID and his sophomore XC season to OPS. As a sophomore last spring, he had had PRs of 4:53 and 10:31, a huge improvement over the 5:22 and 12:06 he ran at the start the year. Now a junior at Burke, Tommy has put in a lot of work to see incremental improvement, so we were thrilled to see him nail a 9-second PR and win the 1600 at Benson with a 4:35 - his first varsity victory. Persistence does pay off.
Nerd Junior was even more excited to get a pic of Mr. Vasquez celebrating. If you're a track parent, you celebrate your kids' PRs with gusto. If we were naming honorary running nerds, Mr. Vasquez would be at the top of our list.
Mental health deserves a spotlight
We wrote about this topic earlier in the year, but the US is seeing an alarming trend of suicide among high school and collegiate athletes. Lauren Bernett, a James Madison softball player who propelled her team to the College World Series last year, died this week. Sarah Schulze, a member of Wisconsin's track team, died three weeks ago. Katie Meyer, a goalkeeper on Stanford's national championship soccer team, died in early March. Closer to home, Skutt and Papio LaVista have suffered their own losses in the last six weeks.
While I have a personal connection with mental illness, I can't speak to the reasons for why suicide among high-performing individuals seems to be on the increase. Maybe social media has made us more aware, but it seems much bigger than that. ESPN columnist Kate Fagan has written a powerful book about a Penn distance runner, Maddy Holleran, and I think it's a great read for adolescents and parents. We have tremendous on-line and in-person counseling options these days, but it's important for struggling kids to ask for help - and for friends to seek help if they see problems.
A Best of the West idea that should head east The Scottsbluff track team tweeted a video of the 'Gauntlet 4x400' at the Best of the West meet, where fans are invited to line the last 80 meters of the track (inside lane 1 and outside lane 4) for both the girls and boys races. The video is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/i/status/1519169981237313536. We know this isn't legal for Districts or State, but with team titles often decided by this last event, why not do this at conference meets and some of the larger meets? Track is cool; features like this make it even more cool.
Toughness personified
We were on the track at the LPS meet on Wednesday for the girls 800. Roughly 25 meters after the start, Kennedy Bartee of Lincoln High was clipped from behind and went down hard. The race was called back and Kennedy spent about five minutes in the medical tent before the race was restarted - with Kennedy back on the starting line. I'm not sure our photos do justice to how badly Kennedy was hurt, but she's in the picture below with the red singlet, the bandaged knee and a bloody face and shoulder.
One of the first people to respond to our Kennedy-is-awesome tweet was Lincoln East's Berlyn Schutz, #4 in the photo above, who gave Kennedy some love. Despite the hard fall, Kennedy set a new PR of 2:30. Kennedy was one of the most surprising runners of the 2021 XC campaign, moving from a non-qualifier in her sophomore season to a 6th-place finish as a junior. You don't improve that much by being soft, and Kennedy proved again on Wednesday that she's got a bright future. As for her recovery - on Thursday she said her wounds look worse than they feel. Here's her picture one day after the fall.
Fasting and fast
One of the more remarkable performances during my absence was the 1:56.77 800 by Ahmed Muse of Omaha Central at the Dennis Smith Invite on April 21. Ahmed was racing frequently this winter so we thought he'd do well this season, but he dropped his PR by almost four seconds during that race. Even more remarkably, he achieved his PR during Ramadan. Ahmed is fasting from liquids and food during daylight hours during Ramadan, which runs from April 2 to May 1. It's not an ideal situation for racers, and we previously wrote about Mahassin Abakar's (also Omaha Central) fasting during the 2019 state meet.
We're not advising this approach for non-religious reasons; it's a tough path for even the most devout Muslims. Back in 1991, I spent six months as an accounting consultant in Saudi Arabia, and I was in the country during Ramadan. As Ramadan progressed, the physical condition of our Muslim colleagues deteriorated and their energy levels flagged. Absences increased dramatically midway through Ramadan, not because employees were sick; they were simply exhausted. Our Pakistani supervisor, who was also fasting, had a term for it: 'calling in hungry'. We're excited to see how fast Ahmed can run when he's fully fueled.
Romary update
We've missed watching Daniel Romary (Lincoln Northeast, Iowa State commit) run this season, and we reached out to him on Friday for an update. You may recall that Daniel, Gabe Hinrichs and Liem Chot contributed to an electric 2021 State meet, with Daniel winning the 800 (1:52.15) and finishing 3rd in the 1600 (4:14.28) and 3200 (9:04.37). In August he won a USATF national championship in the 1500, and last October this 'speed guy' finished a surprising second behind Hinrichs at State XC.
For much of the winter and spring, Daniel has been dealing with leg pain that has prevented him from running more than a mile. While he doesn't expect to compete in an individual event this season, he's open to running a relay if it would help his team. We're hoping we get to see him at Burke one more time.
We're lucky to have school-based sports... and no war
During my time away, I was on a COVID-delayed anniversary trip with Mrs. Nerd to Germany and Austria. Most German high schools do not have sports teams that compete against other schools; athletics are offered by club teams, akin to the club soccer model that is now common-place in the US. I did stumble by this track on the grounds of a boarding school located in the shadow of Neuschwanstein, the castle that inspired Walt Disney's castle at Disney World. I could think of worse places to run.
When we checked into our hotel in Austria, the desk clerk commented, "Finally, some Americans." He told us that his hotel typically has about 50% of its guests from the US, but we were the first Americans he'd seen in a few weeks. When I asked why, he replied, "Well, the war is 600 kilometers away." It's easy to forget how compact Europe is. When we were in Vienna, we were about 350 miles from the Ukraine border - roughly the distance between Omaha and Ogallala. War sucks.
I've heard the past few years that the European people look down on the US, but that doesn't seem the case at least in terms of popular culture. If someone was wearing a Yankees hat or any article of clothing that said New York, we knew they were European. 'Camp David' is a very popular brand among the older set. American music was played in every restaurant we visited one, an authentic German restaurant.
Iowa doesn't have what?
I saw a tweet earlier this week that the pole vault is not one of the events contested at Iowa high school meets. One coach responded that small schools didn't have coaches or money to offer the event, but it seems like Nebraska does it pretty well. As I look at the top 15 list, I see Class A and B jumpers at 15-00, a Class D jumper at 14-00, and three Class C jumpers at 13-07 or better.
Notable Performances (* - wind aided)
Girls:
100: Neryah Hekl (Lincoln) 12.10, Lademi Davies (Westside) 12.46, Kennedy Bretschneider (LSW) 12.58
100h: Jaida Rowe (LSW) 14.21, Kailynn Gubbels (Arlington) 14.82, Laney Songster (LNE) 14.92, Taylor Schuster (LSW) 15.01, Grace Pham (PLS) 15.59
200: Dajaz Defrand (Lincoln) 23.84*, Kennedy Wade (Bennington) 25.13, Lademi Davies (Westside) 25.49, Zakeirah Johnson (Burke) 25.51, Adrianna Rodencal (Lincoln Lutheran) 25.70
300h: Makayla Thompson (Burke) 44.89, Kali Jurgensmeier (Bishop Neumann) 46.35, Carli Bailey (Ansley-Litchfield) 46.37, Kinslee Bosal (Bishop Neumann) 46.94, Kailynn Gubbels (Arlington) 46.98, Piage Horne (Scottsbluff) 47.05, Macy Richardson (Sterling) 47.13
400: Lucy Dillon (Fremont) 57.68, Brianna Rinn (LSW) 58.51, Stella Miner (Westside) 59.26, Britt Prince (Elkhorn North) 59.52, Taylor McCabe (Fremont) 59.72
800: Brianna Rinn (LSW) 2:13.49, Jaci Sievers (Elkhorn South) 2:17.34, Brynn Hirschfield (York) 2:17.98, Story Rasby (Sutherland) 2:18.63, Berlyn Schutz (LE) 2:21.52, Sydney Stodden (Elkhorn North) 2:21.77
1600: Brianna Rinn (LSW) 5:08.43, Isabelle Hartnett (MW) 5:09.86, Madison Seiler (Gering) 5:19.57, Kendall Zavala (Norris) 5:33.33, Tyra American Horse (Gordon-Rushville) 5:36.94
3200: Claire White (Westside) 11:14.77, Julia Karmazin (Elkhorn North) 11:57.77, Gabi Westfall (Skutt) 12:12.94, Hannah Swanson (Nebraska Christian) 12:14.84
Shot: Sage Burbach (Norris) 43-08.75, Kinsley Ragland (LNS) 43-01.50, Addison Schneider (Humphrey) 41-00
Discus: Chloe Walker (Columbus Scotus) 134-10, McKinley Grover (Gordon-Rushville) 127-09, Michalee Brownawell (Hershey) 127-07, Cailey Stout (Scribner-Snyder) 124-02, Hadley Dowty (Fremont) 122-09, Kinsley Ragland (LNS) 118-03
High jump: Tasia Sadler (LNE) 5-04, Hannah Ajogbeje (Burke) 5-04, Ann Bose (Southern Valley) 5-04
Pole vault: Marissa Rerucha (GICC) 12-01, Hailey Watermeier (LSW) 11-06, Hailey Newill (Fremont) 11-06, Mariah Tessman (Heartland) 10-07, Savannah Bishop (Elkhorn North) 10-07, Reagan Cool (South Loop) 10-06
Long jump: Taylor Bredthauer (Norris) 18-09, Sadie Millard (MW) 18-05, Imani Skanes (Omaha NW) 18-00.25, Joselyn Olson (Columbus) 17-10.25, Carly Purdy (NP) 17-06.25
Triple jump: Lilee Kaasch (MS) 37-04, Josi Noble (Cross County) 36-06.50, Mae Siegel (St Patrick) 35-05.75, Jordyn Williams (Norris) 35-01, Cierra Marks (Omaha NW) 34-11, Jordyn Carr (Tri County) 34-11
Boys:
100: Malachi Coleman (LE) 10.53*, Jaylen Lloyd (Central) 10.68, Gabe Miles (LE) 10.77*, Jake Leader (LSW) 10.79*, Collin Fritton (LSW) 10.81*
100h: Javon Leuty (Lincoln) 14.52, Tyler Carroll (Central City) 14.53, Jackson Roberts (Boone Central) 14.89, Dash Bauman (LE) 14.98, Tony Berger (Riverside) 15.01
200: Malachi Coleman (LE) 21.58*, Jaylen Lloyd (Central) 21.89, Gabe Miles (LE) 21.98, Jack Gillogly (Prep) 22.04, Jake Leader (LSW) 22.17*
300h: Jackson Roberts (Boone Central) 39.62, Wyatt Archer (Skutt) 40.45, Cooper Diamond (Bennington) 40.52, Tyler Carroll (Central City) 40.65, Rhett Cullers (Chadron) 40.82, Grant Barrett (MW) 40.89
400: Mitchell Deer (Sidney) 49.18, Connor Wells (St. Paul) 49.26, Isaiah Zelasney (Osceola) 49.31, Rylan Birkby (St. Paul) 49.88, Brayton Johnson (GICC) 50.09, Zyon Knox (Omaha North) 50.19, Cole Murray (Waverly) 50.34
800: Gabe Hinrichs (Elkhorn South) 1:53.36, Ben Alberts (GICC) 1:55.83, Thomas Greisen (Pius X) 1:55.85, Reed Emsick (Burke) 1:55.96, Grant Dixon (Elkhorn South) 1:59.37
1600: Evan Caudy (NP) 4:23.35, Luke Bonifas (Adams Central) 4:25.32, Tanner Cooper (Norris) 4:31.37, Riley Boonstra (Norris) 4:31.51, Ian Salzar-Molina (Lexington) 4:32.32, Tyler Salter (Northwest) 4:35.80
3200: Isaac Graff (LE) 9:39.28, Grant Wasserman (LNS) 9:39.72, Luke Bonifas (Adams Central) 9:40.72, Juan Gonzalez (Fremont) 9:40.91
Shot: Sam Cappos (LE) 62-05, Gage Griffith (Aurora) 60-10.50, JT Brands (Oakland-Craig) 56-08.50, Landon Ternus (Columbus Lakeview) 55-03.50, Sam Thomas (Elkhorn North) 53-06
Discus: Gage Griffith (Aurora) 186-03, Caiden Frederick (PLS) 173-07, Aiden Betz (Elkhorn) 170-04, Nathan Baldwin (Sutton) 163-07
High jump: Micah Biltoft (Sandy Creek) 6-08, Breck Samuelson (Adams Central) 6-07, Dae'vonn Hall (BW) 6-06, Jacob Dowse (Sidney) 6-05, Sawyer Dickman (Sidney) 6-05
Pole vault: Drew Sellon (Fremont) 15-00, Caden Carlson (Aurora) 14-09, Jose Flodman (LE) 14-00, Aaron Price (Scottsbluff) 14-00, Owen Kaps (Bertrand) 14-00, Mayson Ostermeyer (Crofton) 13-10
Long jump: Preston Witulski (Beatrice) 21-11, Tyson Denkert (Kenesaw) 21-09.50, Jackson Roberts (St. Patrick) 21-08.50, Nick Colvert (Bennington) 21-08, Myles Sadd (Doniphan-Trumbull) 21-04.25, Chance Elwood (Sutherland) 21-01.25,
Triple jump: James Gninefou (Skutt) 44-05, Xavier Marburger (Harvard) 44-03.75, Tony Berger (Riverside) 44-03.25
Commitment lists and college guides
We continue to update our Class of 2022 commitment list at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/post/class-of-2022-commitment-list, although it's gotten so long that we need to make some formattig updates. If you or your favorite athlete isn't on the list, shoot us a DM or e-mail jayslagle@hotmail.com with the info.
On a related note, we've invested a lot of time into developing a college selection guide and a list of nearby XC/TF programs. While the guides are largely focused on distance running, the same process can be applied to any sport. Selecting the right college is a big deal, and we think these two tools can be incredibly helpful to athletes and their parents. One of the best pieces of advice - "go to a college where you're still be happy if you are injured or quit the team." Overuse injuries are a fact of life for most T&F athletes, and stress fractures can take away an entire semester of competition.
Don't be a stranger
What's the best way for us to learn about great stories? It's when fans and coaches find us at a track meet or send us a DM/e-mail. The Fall and Rise of Emmett Hassenstab is a great story; I never would known about Emmett if Patrick Grosserode hadn't reached out. Even if you don't have a story, come find us at a track meet; we'll be wearing Nerd gear and carrying very large cameras.
Yes, we make mistakes
Did you find any errors in this article? We do this as a hobby, so we don't have editors looking over our shoulder. If you find an error, shoot us a DM on Twitter or Facebook, or e-mail us at jayslagle@hotmail.com. As always, thank you for all of your gentle corrections.
Coming up
We'll be at the Metro conference meet on Tuesday, and we hope to hit at least one other meet this week if school/work commitments don't get in the way.
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Originally written for and posted at www.preprunningnerd.com by Jay Slagle. Did you love reading about Nebraska high school running? Visit www.preprunningnerd.com for rankings, results, photos, long-form articles, frequent updates on our blog page, and a bunch of other cool stuff that only running nerds would think to do. If you want to see meet photos or just need to kill a few hours on social media, follow @PrepRunningNerd on Twitter and Instagram, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/preprunningnerd.
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