Summer flings are good while they last
A Summer Fling is simply a relationship over the summer that is free of hassle and drama (in most cases)… I am not a relationship counselor so I will not go into detail of what thoughts that some of you may have about the wording that could be a correlation somewhere else.
Trust me when I say this I am not picking on summer track because I love the summer season. I feel that it is vital to the development of aspiring track and field athletes. It is also crucial for coaches to get their feet wet and really learn how to coach. It’s that simple.
I have been fortunate enough to be in this running game for most of my life (over 30 years) and I owe my life to the sport that has given me so much. But at the same time I have had a few bad experiences that made me see things in a different light. I feel in general people have good intentions in wanting to help young people reach those goals… then others don’t know need to work on some things.
I was recently involved with a youth track and field organization which on the surface appeared to be great. The director of this club talked a good game in the beginning. She boasted of getting corporate sponsorship and rich donor money that would produce the best organization that Illinois has ever seen. It would entice the best coaches and top athletes to join this “Super Club.”
After several months of meetings, this so-called plan was rolled out. In the early beginning it looked all good. There was a love affair there it seemed. But once the high school season ended things changed. The director showed her true card as the summer season began. She questioned her own organizational chart. How do you order coaches that you hire to change their workouts from one day to the next? My experience as a coach and as a director of a program was always been ‘if you hire me to teach and coach, let me teach and coach.’ I understand that you have to be very direct with parents, colleagues and athletes in conveying your message, but you have to be flexible as well.
As this summer has just about reached its apex I know realized that I was caught up in a summer love affair… a fling at the expense of someone else’s greed.
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Shamier Little holds on for Jr. Nationals 400H title (Milesplit photo credit)
This past weekend was perhaps the height of the summer fling of summer running with the junior nationals meet held at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. It’s “Track Town USA” as they say. A few select Illinois alum and current high school athletes competed in this prestigious meet. The top two finishers who meet IAAF qualifying marks will go on to compete in the Junior World Championships that will be back in Hayward Field in several weeks.
Here are a few highlights:
• Anthony Peters (Sr., Bartlett) is your typical average high school distance runner. He ran on his high school xc and track teams producing satisfactory marks. However, his true calling is race walking. He has competed in the 1mile and 3k varieties over the past several years. He tackled the 10k distance and won in 48:19.16. It was a five minute improvement from last year’s third place performance. He beat his twin brother Alex who finished in 48:23.04.
• Josh Eiker (So., Galesburg) competed in his first national championship meet and fared well. The emerging star was the only returning high school sprinter that competed. Eiker ran 21.54 and finished 7th in his heat.
• Conor Dunham (Sr., Chicago St. Ignatius) placed 12th in the prelims of the young men’s 400H running 54.87.
• Men’s 5k: former St. Ignatius superstar Jack Keelan now at Stanford University placed third running 14:27.03. Caleb Beck, formerly of Oswego HS, now at Bradley University clocked 15:01.82.
• Jonathan Wells, formerly of Fox Lake Grant and soon to be U of Illinois student-athlete takes junior men’s high jump title with a 6-10.75 leap; Justin Kretchmer, who competed at Waterloo HS, is now at U of Kentucky placed 2nd.
• Cahokia super sophomore Ja’mari Ward cleaned up in the jumps. He took 7th in the LJ (24-6.5) and 5th in the TJ (50-0).
• NCAA Women’s 400H champion Shamier Little was back in action after nearly a month off. The former Chicago Lindblom College Prep legend is now super starring for the Texas A&M University. Little won her prelim heat easily in 59.44 on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday she was mired in dog fight against the child prodigy freshman Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic, NJ. Little won by a slim margin 55.43-55.63.
• Former Wheaton-Warrenville South standout Hope Schmelzle now at Purdue University placed second in the women’s 3k steeplechase logging 10:35.19.
• Soon to be Stanford University performer Lena Giger of Highland placed fourth in the hammer throw heaving the ball and chain 178-3.