Stars at the Collegiate and Professional Level (Male)

From 7th and 8th grade beginners all the way to signing day. For some Cadillac track stars going to the nest level is no surprise. In the last few years Cadillac has had many athletes go on to participate at the collegiate level and even a few have gone even farther, achieving the professional athlete status. I have even had the privilege of competing alongside several athletes who are now competing in college and doing great.
 The most recent athletes are Trevor Thiebaut, and Cody Stillwell. Trevor has been cleared to run at Saginaw Valley State University for both cross country and track and field. In cross season Trevor did very well in his 8000 meter run with a time of 26:18. Trevor's cross team was very good in their conference this year and are on the rise now that indoor has started. In indoor track, Trevor has ran very good times in the 3000 meter run and the 800 meter run and also the 1600 meter run. Trevor's most recent times in the 800 are 2:04, in the 3000 meter 9:04, and 4:27 in the 1600 meter run. Trevor has done a fantastic job in representing the 49601 club back home. Cody Stillwell has been accepted to throw at Ferris State University. Cody has been training all Fall and Winter to finally get ready for the indoor season. He has, however, not been in a meet yet but his hard work has still reached home. Cody has been bulking up for this season and has achieved a new squat max of 610 pounds which will definitely help out his performance later on this winter!
Another great athlete I was able to compete with was Aaron Hodges. Aaron was a great sprinter for Cadillac but was more famous for his pole vault abilities. At the 2014 Cadillac News Meet, Aaron placed a new school record at 14 feet 9 inches! With this outstanding performance he was quickly signed to Aquinas College to pole vault. In recent years, Aaron has done superb in the pole vault and has even gone to nationals. As of a few days ago Aaron placed second in the indoor championship meet and cleared his old record by almost a foot! His indoor championship qualifying height was 15 feet 7 inches! That is amazing! I am truly honored to have been apart of the same team with all these great athletes.
While all of these men are still in college (for now I should say) there is one man who graduated before my time and his name is Paul McMullen. Paul was born in Cadillac in 1972 and was in the 1996 Olympic Games in Georgia for the 1500 meter run where he placed 19th! Before that though Paul conquered several championships and even set the indoor mile record at 3:55! Now that is some true athleticism from our own little town. Paul McMullen has also been inducted into several Hall of Fame appearances including Cadillac High School's, Eastern Michigan University's, and Drake Relay's Hall of Fame.

Discus

Discus: If you liked shot put chances are you'll probably like discus too. Discus is the second throwing event in high school track and field. Like the shot put it involves lots of spinning around and throwing things, except discus has a slight curve ball added in. Instead of throwing a big, iron ball you get to throw a big, iron disc! 

The rules for shot are essentially the same for discus. They are done in the same arena and you must not break the barrier while throwing. The only thing about discus that differs from shot is timing your throw. With throwing shot most people who spin for momentum are fairly under control, but for discus sometimes the athletes get spinning so fast that they lose control of their grip and end up throwing out of bounds or hurdling themselves over the barrier. For a non thrower like myself the mechanics for throwing shot and disc seem to fairly similar but if you really want to know how to be a super star at throwing discus just the one, the only, Todd John Allen Baker Junior the 3rd!! Todd John, normally known as T.J., is known for being a tremendous athlete in all his sports! He is also a huge asset to the track team by being our number one discus discus thrower and even a state meet qualifier in the discus. T.J. is a symbol for practice and placement over power. Although this statement goes against Evan Ferritto's volleyball theory of "power over placement!" it proves otherwise in the world of discus. T.J. weighing in at around 180 pounds and being around 6 feet tall out throws many throwers who are way bigger, stronger, and taller than him. This is because T.J. has the discipline to practice his form over and over until it is near perfection. And this perfection is what sent him to the 2014 Division 2 State Meet.

While T.J. is killing the competition for the boy's team, a true Freshman named Liz Pyles came aboard the girl's team and started her throwing career off stupendously! Liz not only became the best girl thrower her first year doing high school track but she did it with a broken foot too. Even with a boot on her foot, Liz was still able to throw really well for the girls and qualify for the state meet in shot but fell short in the discus, but this year, hopefully without injury, both her and T.J will be able to qualify for both shot and disc! 

When it comes down to the basics of any throwing event, technique must always come first. It never matters how strong or tall you are, if your form is terrible your place at that meet will be terrible also. So if you ever think about trying out throwing in case running isn't your thing just ask Liz or T.J. about it so they can give you a good perspective on it. Also if you just want an autograph from either Liz or T.J they'll be signing in the spring so make sure you have your paper and pens kids!

Shot Put

Shot Put: For everyone who still hates running, you're probably a shot put kind of person. Shot put is for the kids in track who are focused on bicep curls and pec-deck rather than going for an easy 3 miles. Shot put, however, is more based on technique than strength. The strength doesn't hurt to have but it's definitely less important than faulting every time you go to throw. 

First let's talk about shot put technique since everybody's probably wondering. Well the first thing you should know is that there's two forms, but for beginner's sake we'll stick to the basics. The first thing is that you should prop the shot (the thing you throw) on your neck with it placed in your dominant hand. If you're a guy the shot will weigh 12 pounds or 8.8 pounds for girls. Once you have the shot positioned step into the ring on the ground. The ring will have a guard standing about a 6 inches to 1 foot off the ground on the side of the ring facing the the grass. This grassy area is marked with white lines spreading from the ring outward in a cone like fashion (see Figure 3.16). Now this is where you starting leaning and gain some momentum. And once you feel ready you shuffle forward sink your hips, shoulders, and arms and fire the shot as far as you can, without leaving the ring or having the shot exit the painted lines. If you do step over the wall of the ring or throw outside the lines the attempt is not counted. Also, don't be worried if your first throw is bad, you have 3 attempts total to throw it as far as you can! Then your best throw is the one they keep. 

For throwing events this area is truly blessed. We are coached under Mr. O, who has an outstanding track record( Literally!). Mr. O has sent countless numbers of athletes to Individual States and even has trained up a State Champion! You may know him as Riley Norman, AKA the huge guy who used to go to Cadillac who had blonde hair and was Tanner's cousin. Riley won State Championship's in his 4 year career at Cadillac, and a lot of that is due to Mr. O and his stellar tips and exercises. Besides the fact that Mr. O has formed a Champion he also has turned many people into good shot put throwers who have never lifted or even heard of shot put. The fact that were able to work with someone who makes the activity fun and knows how to help in every way possible is truly amazing! 

So if you're ever not in the mood for running try picking up a huge spherical ball of steel that ways anywhere from 8 to 12 pounds and try giving it a toss! Who knows, maybe you'll even turn out to be a State Champion in the end, but you won't know unless you try! 

Figure 3.16 

RILEY NORMAN!!! 

(Tanner Christensen's cousin)

Pole Vault

Pole Vault: Undoubtedly the most dangerous field event offered in high school and also one of the most iconic events in track. That's why most medals for track have a person running on them and a person pole vaulting next to it. It's probably the most iconic event due how fun it looks. Just imagine it. You're standing in front of a bunch of people with a long pole in your hands. You're bouncing back and forth from the front of your foot to the back of your foot just waiting for the right time to take off. Once you take off you sprint toward a bar positioned 11 feet in the air and ram your pole into the ground and find yourself trying to bend and wiggle over that bar (reminding you that you're 11+ feet in the air) and free falling down to the soft, plush mats below.

Now that sounds like a lot of fun but it's easier to imagine it than to actually do it. To be a good pole vaulter you need lots of upper body and core strength. Flexibility never hurt anyone, but getting up to the bar is your first task. To start off pole vaulting you need to get down your steps just like high jump or long jump. The only exception is that at the end of your steps you plant your pole and jump instead of only jumping. Once you get a good plant all you have to do is ride that pole to the top and try to dance your way over the bar. More advanced pole vaulters like Lisa Metzger, collegiate athletes, and professionals try to bend the pole on their way up to the bar so that way they get "sling-shoted" up and over the bar, rather than trying to wiggle over it. 

Cadillac Track's best pole vaulter, Lisa Metzger,  was on of the best pole vaulters in our region for track and field. She made an appearance at the MHSSA Track and Field state meet last year which is phenomenal considering you have to place within the top two at regionals or meet the state standard. The state standard is a set height or time for each event that if beaten qualifies an individual for the state meet. So that way if the winner of pole vault jumps 12 ft. and second and third place both jump 11 ft. 6 inches (but second place beats third place by attempts) all three girls go to states! Lisa's tips on how to be a good pole vaulter include lots of all around strength in the core, legs and upper body. Her next tip is practice, practice, practice. Lisa's takes a lot of her time to pole vault, no matter what season it is! 

On the funny side of pole vaulting seeing kids wipe out is hilarious. It's also pretty scary to watch but depending on how severe the wipe out is determines whether it's comical or frightful. If you've ever watched YouTube or TV before you've probably seen somebody wipe out while pole vaulting. An example of a funny video I saw was when a girl tried to plant her pole an ended up missing the plant and hitting the official on accident. It was more of an embarrassing moment than a wipe out but anything more intense than that just makes me cringe. So if you're ever pole vaulting remember the wise words of R.L. Stine, "Jumper beware! You're in for a scare!" 

Long Jump

Long Jump: This event is just high jump on the X-axis. This event is like the "800 meter run" of the field events meaning that everyone ends up doing this field event. This event requires a lot of speed and a good broad jump. The goal is pretty obvious, to see who can jump the longest. The event is usually in the infield or in a separate area away from the track. The long jump area consists of a runway and at the end a worn, withered board that the long jumper has to jump off of, and after that board you have a long patch of uneven sand that you land in. Now if you step a tad bit over this board it's called a fault and your jump is not counted. You get 3 jumps so make sure your steps are down. Now maybe you're thinking why don't they rake the sand so its even? Well I don't know, maybe everyone working long jump is already preoccupied with other things like measuring the jump or spotting the person measuring or maybe even supervising the whole thing. I don't I guess someone will have to investigate one of these days. For the withered board, however, it just gets withered due to exposure to the elements and over time it obtains its gnarly look. I just wish we'd replace it like every two years so it isn't so slippery and dangerous. Also you never know how wide the board is going to be. Some meets the board is like 5 inches wide and at another it's like 2 ft. A good thing remember is the board width changes from place to place so be wary.
Now that I'm done talking about the board let's talk about the technique and approach of long jump. Like high jump, long jump also requires a set of steps that you guess and check on. Once you've found your steps you mark them out with chalk and do a few run-throughs. These are running your steps as fast as you can but instead of jumping you just run into the sand. It's very important once you hit the board to really exaggerate your running movements by maybe making a grunting sound and by stepping aggressively and flailing your arms. All the best athletes do this. I seriously don't know why but it apparently works really well for getting warmed up.
Once you've gotten your steps down and you've ran-through a few times you're ready. When you get to the actual jump at the end it's not all about powering forward. I've heard Laura Dahlquist yell many a time at how you got to get up and out at the same time. I mean saying you need to do both is way easier than actually doing it. When the competition is going on and the pressure is mounting down on you it gets hard to do both. If you're William Spence, Cadillac's best long jumper/sprinter for the 2013-2014 season, this is easy as 1 2 3. When it comes down to it just make sure you relax, say a little prayer and envision Todd Baker yelling these relaxing and soothing words, "Just Jump!"

High Jump

High Jump: I couldn't have picked a better field event to start our shift into the field side of track, AKA the more enjoyable part. High Jump is pretty self-explanatory, you jump. The main point is to run at the bar which is placed in front of some mats and jump off of one foot and make it over the bar and and to the mats without knocking the bar off the standers. It seems fairly easy, but the concept and the actual jumping technique are two very different things.

When first doing high jump you must measure yourself some steps. These steps help form a curve that you run on your approach to the bar. To find your steps you use trial and error and try a different starting place each time until you find a place that's comfortable. Once you have this spot you immediately use a tape measure to measure your distance, from the standers, how far out your steps are and how long they stretch down the apron( Apron: the no circle part of the track where kids are found to be most happy.) of the track. When you get these measurements recorded its best to calculate the angle that you create by doing the mathematical formula known as the Pythagorean Theorem. Basically you just take your two measurements and square them, add them together, and square root the sum to get your final measurement or the hypotenuse of our triangle(see figure 2.4). 

Alright so now that we've done the math portion, and obviously marked you down for your work, we're ready to jump! On your run at the bar you wan to keep a tall posture and don't hunch while also increasing your speed. When you in front of the bar and parallel to it that's when you make your giant leap and go flying over into the soft mats. Sometimes, however, you may find yourself brushing your rear end on the bar and thinking to yourself, "Ohh crap Ohh crap!" In this small window of time one will usually find themselves getting out the way of the bar because if you land on it you get a nice big bruise and somehow a tear in our skin. To this day I still am clueless on how landing on a bar can tear your skin off but hey it's about the victories not the failures. 

Now hopefully from what I've described you aren't thinking you jump and you magically appear on the other side because if you are you might as well go do long jump like everyone else. After the jump comes the hardest part of high jump which is arching your back and holding it for the right amount of time. If you hold for the whole jump your legs will it it on the way down but if you snap out of your arch too soon your butt will come down on the bar. 

All this stuff going on at once is very overwhelming but the best advice I've ever gotten is, "Just Jump!!" - Todd Baker. Another good thing to remember is before you take of at the bar just flow forward and backward a few time and scan the area. Maybe even say a little prayer to yourself? That never hurts. Every kid I've seen do all of these usually does pretty good, like 6 Ft. good.

figure 2.4

Relays

Relays: They can either be your favorite part of track or the thing you dread most. When it comes to relays, there's only 2 sprinting relays and 2 distance relays. For sprints there's the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x200 meter relay. The other 2 distance relays are the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay. What's true for all relays is the fact that any individual running a leg of the relay usually runs a faster split rather than an open event time. For example Someone could run a 4x800 split of 2:08 minutes and only be able to run an open 800 meter run time of 2:11. The only exception to that though is Max Stebbins, who oddly ran a faster 800 split during the mile than his split for the 4x800.

 When people wonder why they run faster in relays there's usually two major theories. The first theory is you run faster because 3 other guys on your relay are counting on you to do your best. So that pressure subconsciously affects your endurance and your drive during your leg of the race. The other theory is that instead of starting and ending at the finish line you receive and give hand-offs in a designate lane portion which can range anywhere from in front of the the finish line to 10 meter ahead of the finish line. The hand-off lane varies on what relay you're in. In my opinion I believe that the first theory is more accurate. In my case always feel excited or even anxious before every relay because I'm afraid I'll lose it for us or do the worst out of the other 3 people in your relay. Also when the stakes get higher and higher the thought of Winning a relay or placing really well motivates you and subconsciously gets you moving faster. 

When it comes to hating or loving something in track (which is a reoccurring theme) Most people tend to like relays more than individual events because for an individual event you need to rely on your skills alone and talent to win. On a relay, however, you don't need 4 superstar athletes. A relay of 4 decent kids could beat a relay with 1 great runner and 3 bad runners because it's more about having 4 guys who run consistent times and times that are all about the same. If your team is inconsistent you could run a really good race one day and do completely awful the next time you run. For those who hate these relays it's probably because they tire you out so quickly that you can't recover for your individual events. I can't remember how many times I've gotten a persistent cough from running the 4x800 just one time. 

For the most part relays are a good way for kids to bond and share success as a team, or sometimes get really mad at one kid for blowing the race and having the complete opposite effect. It's really all up to chance and dedication to determine how good a relay will be.