Taking life one hurdle at a time

Regular Season Wrap Up

Sun, 06 May 2012 15:23:20 -0400

We just finished our regular season and it calls for reflection as we get ready to make history and head to our first conference meet.

Overall I give our regular season a B-. We have had many improvements from the begining to the end of the year, but (call me a perfectionist) I think we al could have done better. But the best thig is that the season is nt over with. We have three days left to show what we are made of and I think that we can get it done. Actually I know we can!

Season highligts:

Jordan Taylor: He has followed his sensational freshmen campaign by an equally sensational sophmore year. He has amazing times in both the 100 and 200 races and he is definitely a favorite for this upcoming conference meet!

Thomas Judge: Tom opened up the season by getting a pr. He has worked really hard this year and has set another pr since the beginig of the season. He has the potential to really do something this upcoming meet.

Alyssa Page: She is a freshmen who has done amazing. She is super competitive and it shows in her races! She has broken into the CSUB top 20 list in te 400, 200, and100 meter races. People better watch out for her. She has a tremendous work ethic and has the potential to accomplis great things at CSUB.

Taevionna Wilson: Another outstanding freshman that has tremendous potential. She hasn’t gotten any personal records but she is on the verge of doing something great this weekend can feel it.

Collin Ellis: Collin got his first PR in 2 years in the discus two weeks ago. This guy is one of my good friends on the team and he has at least two big throws left in him this season.

Richie Maestre: This guy is something amazing. He has gotten two PR’s this season in the 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles. He ran a 54.15 in the 400 hurdles which currently places him first in conference. Watch this guy! In two years he will at least make regionals and possibly nationals.

Princess Watts: She started the season off with a bang setting a PR in the 400 that was faster by a full second then her previous PR. However, she has had some set backs due to an injury she sustained midway through the season. She is a senior and she knows what she has to do to accomplish what she wants!

Bryan Wilmert: Our sole freshman thrower surpassed our coaches goal of 45 feet in the shot put early in the season and since then has thrown 46 feet. He can do it. Go Bam Bam!

Karnell Grimes: has consistently improved each meet. He soaks up information and he can apply it. I am excited to see what he can accomplish.

Me: I have had an up and down season. I have picked up two more events, the long jump and the triple jump, in hopes of scoring some points to help the team at conference. I have experienced my triumphs and failures with my 400 hurdle race. I have fallen down twice but although I have fallen it hasn’t gotten my sprits down. I know I can do this and will do this!

Although I mentioned just a few people it doesn’t limt the amount of improvement we have had. Monica Guzman, Jazmin Lopez, Rudy Castro, Gabe Holland, Antionette Garrett, Justus Mora, Derek Stotler, and Melissa.

This is our time. It is up to us to take it. We will shock the world, I can guarantee that.

NCAA Career in Sports Forum

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:56:00 -0400

We interrupt this normal broadcast and bring you a special edition; San Francisco style.

Hey sorry I have been MIA for a while but you know STUDENT-athlete calls. Five of us from CSUB were afforded the opportunity to represent CSUB at the NCAA Regional Career in Sports Forum. This was a huge opportunity for us. I cannot thank the CSUB athletic department enough for selecting me to go to this. If I could sum up this weekend I would describe it as the tremendously amazing!

Friday, April 13

Rachel McCall (W Swim), Vance Elmore (M Swim), Dalton Kelley (Wrestling), Brandon Barnes (M Bball), and I were the ones selected to represent CSUB. We all met at the Icardo center ready to make our trip to San Fran. This was the first time that 4/5 of us have gone to San Fran without having to participate in a sport. Originally I thought it was going to be that awkward silence for four hours where you just hear crickets; however, we seized the opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better.

When we got to San Francisco we ran into traffic as it was the opening day for the Giants. Womp Womp Womp

However we did catch Stephen Curry in his black Porsche( sorry no picture). We were all put into different rooms and I was put into a room with a soccer player from UC Davis named Ethan Shawlee. Ethan and I began to immediately talk and next thing you know it was an hour later and time to go to dinner.

Now dinner was more like appetizers which made me extremely upset because I just loveeeee food. Our group sat together but were immediately separated when we played a game where you tried to collect as many bandanas as possible by getting someone to say “I” this game was then proceeded by a bingo game. After that we were told to be ready at 8 am sharp the next morning. JUST TO LET EVERYON KNOW, CSUB HAD THE MOST PEOPLE REPRESENTED OUT OF ANY SCHOOL!!!! A lot of us were hungry so we ended up venturing off into San Francisco. Vance, Brandon, Dalton, and I ventured off with some student athletes from UC Davis, Dominican University, and Fresno State. We took over an hour to find food and in the meantime froze are butts off and got to know each other a little bit better.

We did see a roadrunner which was a sign that the Roadrunners were going to do big things this weekend.

Saturday April 14

The day started early at 8 am with breakfast being served (such a happy camper). The workshop began with Courtney Lovely speaking. A little bit of background: Courtney worked at GSU while Coach Barnes was there and knows the family very well. She started with the skills of being a leader, which I think was my favorite session. We were then asked to define ourselves and what we want to be remembered as. She asked us to answer this question: “What would you like your tombstone to say about you?” It took me a while but I figured out what I wanted:

“Went to bed every night happy and seized everyday for the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives to help mold them into becoming better than their wildest dreams!”

Vance says its going to cost a lot but oh well c[=.

Afterwards we were given a break and were able to go explore. An athlete from Fresno, Lisa Beach, recommended a cupcake shop and I could not resist! I also was able to see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time as well.

The workshop continued and they had a internship/graduate assistant and a administrative panel where there was a Q&A section, job search session, networking workshop, and resume building session.

One thing that I really took away from this was how to network. I knew it was important but I was continuously told how important it was. Paula Savage from UC Berkley was the person in charge of this and he gave us numerous do’s and do not’s of networking which I really find invaluable.

The resume building session was conducted by Tiandra Finch; a current intern at the NCAA. She taught us many valuable tips and I have put them to use and have improved my resume with them. The workshop ended with an ice cream social.

Now I am going to be honest with you. NCAA student-athletes are regular people, and what do regular people want to do when they don’t have school, work, practice, or to wake up supremely early; be social. And that is what we did. All of the student-athletes gathered and we mingled and had a great time. I met so many amazing people that night!!!!

Sunday April 15

The final day was bitter sweet. As much as I was excited to not be sitting in a chair for 8 hours but I was sad that I was going to leave. The key note speaker was Tony Stewart who played 10 years in the NFL. He was amazing and gave us a wonderful acronym; SWEAT

Stand up and speak for what you believe in.

Work hard, but work smart.

Effort and execution.

Attitude is everything

Trust your technique and team in triumph and trouble.

He was then followed by DeNita Turner who is a barnburner! She commanded the room and held everyone’s attention. Words do not begin to describe her. She taught us about creating our own brand and finished it with an etiquette workshop. The day ended and we had to part our ways. But before we departed San Francisco how could we not stop and see the golden gate bridge.

This weekend I met a lot of people and learned a lot of useful information. It was a great opportunity and is probably one of my most memorable weekends in college. I look forward to continuing the friendships I have built and continuing to evolve as a person as well!

Recap of Cal/Nevada championship

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:30:25 -0400

This weekend was the Cal/Nevada championship. This meet is a big meet for most of the schools in California because it is a two day meet with best competition from all of California or Nevada. Now this is the last Cal/Nevada championship I will EVER compete in so it calls for some reflection.
My freshman year I didn’t qualify. In fact, I remember sitting in my teammates room while she was in Fresno and ended up winning the high jump. I said to myself then that I will always make Cal/Nevada no matter what and I have. The following year I just made it in the 400m relay. Since then I have made it in the 400m relay as well as the 400 hurdles. As I look back, I have come a long ways! From not qualifying to qualifying in all my events. I actually am amazed. There has been tremendous growth by myself.

We took 11 guys and 7 girls. We did pretty good. Definitely room to improve. It was the first time we had a two day meet this year so it was a huge learning experience. The highlight was Alyssa Page and Taevionna Wilson qualifying as freshmen in two individual events. Alyssa Page even qualified for finals in the 200. Jordan Taylor continued his sensational sophomore campaign and won the 100 meter dash and came in second in the 200 meter dash with a seasonal best of 21.30. Video will follow for these two individuals races.

Watch me today! Watch me accomplish something amazing!

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:50:29 -0400

Watch me today! Watch me accomplish something amazing!

Success is acheived through belief and pride; Recap of the Cal Poly Invitational

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:20:37 -0400

Yesterday was the second race of the year, as a complete team. We started off with a team meeting and coach told me to break it down. I told everyone simply, “That today is about pride. Pride in CSUB. Pride in your community. Pride in the coaching staff. Pride in your teammates. And Pride in yourself.”

Overall we did well as a team. We had 18 seasonal best which are listed below.

The person that did the best overall is Princess Watts. Princess is a senior and she is a different type of leader on this team. She is not the most vocalist person but she does everything the right way. She works hard. She is the epitome of a student-athlete which you can see with the amount of work she puts into her studies and how she consistently makes dean’s list.

Princess is probably one of the people I am closer with on the track team (so forgive the love fest). Princess did amazing!!!! She ran her first 400 meters of the season in lane 9. Lane9 is 400 meters around the track like every other lane; however, usually it is the kiss of death. It is a hard lane to run out of because you are basically running by yourself. Some non runners might think that running by yourself is a good thing, but runners know that running by yourself is the absolute worse.

But this didn’t stop her. She ran the most technically sound race of her life (which is obvious by the PR). She got out hard the first 100 and didn’t allow anyone to make up any ground on her. Usually the second 100 of the race high school coaches tell athletes to relax, but I personally think that is the worse thing to do. You can’t relax ever in the 400 its about moving as fast as possible using the least amount of energy. So what Princess did was find a nice pace and continued it. At the 300 mark she just pumped her arms and got after it and positioned herself to win. The last 100 is the one thing you cannot train because it is about heart, desire, and whether or not you believe that you can. You can’t see it all but check out the video of her race and you will see. She is currently ranked 49^th in the West in the 400 and if regional’s were today she would be going to sunny Austin, TX. Huge for a small program like ours. Her race.

Next person that had a really good day was Richie Maestre. I can’t confirm this but I believe he had a PR in the 110m hurdles today (one of my teammates is going to have to help me out). He also ran a 56.29. I couldn’t be any more proud of this kid than I am; especially after two weeks ago where he ran a sub-par 400 (to his standards). He came and closed the gap like no other in this race and you can see it here. I am predicting that the world better watch out for this guy in the 400 hurdles in the next couple of years if not this year. Between his potential and his work ethic he is a force.

The next person that showed me something was Derek Stotler. Now Derek ran the steeple chase earlier in the day for the first time ever and he got a DNF (did not finish). Now if he was a senior and didn’t finish the race he would of heard a mouthful; however, he is a freshman and needs some loving =]. But what he did was he came back from his bad race and ran a 12 second PR in the 1500m. That’s big. In track you get one shot. If you have problems, they usually affect your race. However, Derek didn’t let that happen. Ya, he had a bad race; OH WELL. He came back and ran hard for his next race and that’s all Coach Al wants. He just wants effort from everyone on our team. If you give it your all then what more can we ask for?

Now my recap (It is about to get personal):

I have been running for 9 years now, and I have always been in the shadows of my sister and my cousin who are just naturally phenomenal. I have never really believed in myself. I just ran and it was whatever. I wanted to do good but I was afraid of success. I have been mediocre for so long it has become who I am and as a result I was afraid to be successful. But idk what it was about this week, but I was faced with a decision. Am I going to continue to be mediocre or am I going to try and be successful. I chose to finally believe in myself and I went after it today. Now I did not run a “great” race but I made my decision and went after it. I relaxed too much on the back stretch and I allowed the runner to my inside to make up a lot of room on me. Now me in the past would have given up. But not today. I wanted this so bad. I wanted this for my head coach Al. I wanted it for my mom. But most of all I wanted it for me. I hit hurdle 6 and relinquished a bigger lead. But I refused to give up today. I even hit number 8, 9, and 10. Still I believed and what happened was I ran my seasonal best and I am .5 away from my PR. I know now that I can do this! I am saying this right now. I will shock the world this year so continue to watch out. Here is the video of my race.

18 Seasonal Best (if you have participated in 2 or more races/events):

Amanda Duket; 100 m; 13.54

Brandon Washington; 400 hurdles; 56.22

Bryan Wilmert; Hammer Throw; 135’ 2”

Claudia Cuevas; 1500 m; 6:00.05

Collin Ellis; Discus; 141’8”

Courtney Parker; Javelin; 85’6”

CSUB (Garrett, Page, Wilson, Watts); 4x100 relay; 47.79

CSUB (Mora, Taylor, Maestre, Washington); 4x100 relay; 42.53

David Mitchell; 400 m; 53.69

Deanna Lynn Rubio; Long Jump; 15’10”

Derek Stotler; 1500 m; 4:25.95

Gabe Holland; Discus; 151’10”

Mark Rasavong; 100 m; 12.08

Megan Thomson; 800m; 2:23.16

Melisa Cruz; 1500m; 5:01.15

Monica Guzman; 5000m; 20:27.66

Richie Maestre; 110 hurdles; 15.49

Rudy Castro; 1500 m; 4:32.86

Brandon Washington and Richie Maestre running the 400 meter...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:06:56 -0400

Brandon Washington and Richie Maestre running the 400 meter hurdles at Cal Poly. Came 1,2 in the heat

Thomas Judge throwing jav at the Cal Poly Invite

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:04:36 -0400

Thomas Judge throwing jav at the Cal Poly Invite

Amanda Duket running the 200 m at Cal poly Invite

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:02:39 -0400

Amanda Duket running the 200 m at Cal poly Invite

Antionette, Alyssa, and Taevi running the 200m dash at the Cal...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:01:40 -0400

Antionette, Alyssa, and Taevi running the 200m dash at the Cal Poly invite

Derek Stotler running the steeple chase at the Cal Poly Invite

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:00:24 -0400

Derek Stotler running the steeple chase at the Cal Poly Invite

Jordan Taylor running the 200 m at Cal Poly Invite

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:59:30 -0400

Jordan Taylor running the 200 m at Cal Poly Invite

Justus Mora running the 200 at Cal Poly Invite

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:58:32 -0400

Justus Mora running the 200 at Cal Poly Invite

Princess Watts running the 400 meter for a life time best at the...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:56:48 -0400

Princess Watts running the 400 meter for a life time best at the Cal Poly Invitational

Most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle; Northridge recap

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:54:26 -0400

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.”-Olympic Creed

This is a quote that comes to mind after today’s meet at the Northridge Invitational. Although this was not the Olympics, today was a stepping stone towards my goal of competing in Des Moines, IA at NCAA championships. Today was less than optimal conditions; and I am being modest about that. It poured all day long from the time we got to Northridge at 7am until the time we left at 2pm. Track is similar to soccer where we run no matter what the weather as long as there is no lightning. Lightning is the only way that the meet is or can be canceled. Well seeing that in the seven years in I have lived in California, I can only remember one day where there was lightning. That being said the meet still went. In the words of my coach, “They have an all weather track with surface that is for all weather.”

Beautiful sunny California.

Beautiful sunny California cont.

David enjoying the weather!

So the coaches were faced with an option; do we allow the athletes to compete or do we tell them no. Well the coach left it up to us. A handful of us stayed and some left. I was one of those that stayed as well as 400 runner David. Now we knew that we were not going to run any great times, and that we were not going to do the best of our ability. I can’t speak for David but to me this was about pride. Ya it sucked out there, ya I may run horrible, ya I may get sick tomorrow morning. But so what. I am here already and might as well participate. I am a big quote guy so here is one by Lance Armstrong, “Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute, an hour, or even a day. But eventually it will subside. If I quit however it will last a lifetime.”

So I participated today. I warmed up by doing squats, lunges, toe touches, standing high knees, running up and down stairs, and putting a crap load of icy hot on and I was ready to go. You can catch us doing our warmup here.

Where David and I found shelter and did our warmup at.

Although you might read this and get the impression that I ran an amazing time I didn’t; I actually failed. I ran in lane 9 in the pouring rain. I ran a 59 second race that was slower by 2 seconds from last week. I had no one near me to pace or judge (nearest person was in lane 4). I did horrible. I was passive instead of agressive. I did not run to the best of my ability. But you know what I ran, and so did David. I think that speaks a lot. That although we had the option to quit we still tried. Although I didn’t run my best I still tried. I might face these adverse conditions later on this year (maybe next week) but I know that I won’t melt and I know what it now takes to run in these conditions. David actually ran the same time he ran last week. He ran a better race but just died the last 160 meters. But you know what David will probably die at the 150-140meter mark the following week and he will keep improving after that. As a coaching staff that is all that they want; improvement. Whether it is with the time, physical, or mental they just want people to improve.

Our throwers also stayed and competed. Although it wasn’t the best of conditions they tried. Were they successful; not entirely. Did they do the best this season; no. But you know what they did was; they tried. Sometimes success cannot be measured by the wins but by the attempts. Today was hard for the throwers. They had two inches of rain in their ring which limited what they were able to do because of the possibilities of injuries. But you know what, if it was easy everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great. And there was not a lot of people that actually tried. Therefore, when I look at my teammates that participated I have a new found respect for them. Gabe actually ended up placing 3rd and Collin placed 6th in the discus. Our freshman, Bryan, out standing put the field in the shot put and placed 1st.

This is a road. A long winding road to greatness. You will experience ups and downs but if we continue to be persistent and grow with the tribulations then we will be successful at the end.

How we warmup at CSUB.

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:41:50 -0400

How we warmup at CSUB.

Jordan and Michael running the 100 meter dash at the Ben brown...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:05:07 -0400

Jordan and Michael running the 100 meter dash at the Ben brown invite

Justus in the 100 meter dash at the Ben brown invite

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:03:46 -0400

Justus in the 100 meter dash at the Ben brown invite

Taevionna running the 400 at the Ben brown invite

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:40:46 -0400

Taevionna running the 400 at the Ben brown invite

Antionette running the 400 at the Ben brown invite

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:34:28 -0400

Antionette running the 400 at the Ben brown invite

Brian throwing shot at the Ben brown invitational

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:29:58 -0400

Brian throwing shot at the Ben brown invitational