June 1, 2010
Welcome to my final blog. Sorry it has taken so long to appear, I have been busy moving away from Cedarville forever and starting my new life as an adventurer for the Adventuresaurus Collective. If you have not heard of the AC, please Google them and learn about their awesome ministries.
Franzey told me to start with the sentimental stuff early, so here it is. Thanks Coach Bo, Coach Scott, Coach O, Jimmy, and Jason. You guys are the best place to start because I was awful at this running thing when I first came to Cedarville and you guys helped change me into a pretty good athlete and runner. I hope you continue to be the best people you can be in whatever you pursue.
Thanks to the teammates I have had past and present. There are too many influences to name, so I won’t, but all my teammates are what made my career fun and unique. And to my closest friends on the team, I’ll miss you. It will be hard to surpass the last couple of Mays. And, the 4x4. Not enough can be said.
This past weekend ended the final track meet of my career. And it was in amazing fashion. Mosquito Fleet, Buffalo Wild Wings, lighting set up, Race Walk assassins, and food mascots have dominated the weekend, as well as a very big track meet.
Justin Hoffman is a beast (third in the 400 hurdles, fourth in the 110 hurdles) and Wiseman is a stud (second in the racewalk, thanks to the earlier mentioned assassin). Those were the only guys All-Americans (shout outs to Lydia Wong [who you should email and congratulate on a fantastic career] and Alexa Winik for becoming All-Americans in their own right), but there were many fantastic stories, mostly involving our relay teams.
The guys 4x1, Sammy "All-Starr," Marc "I have two first names" Benjamin, Mark "The Frosh" Farris, and I, made it to finals involving a great string of luck. First off, we also ran great. We ran three school records in three days, not easy to do. But we would have not even made it to finals if it wasn’t for our luck.
After qualifying for semi-finals (skill, not luck), we ran a great race to put us in 10th overall. Nine make it to finals, but we were happy with 10th, seeing as we were seeded 20th coming into the meet and not really expecting to make it to finals. We also would have been 11th, but Shorter, one of the top teams, failed to make a baton exchange, eliminating them from the race.
After a couple of hours believing Sammy and my 4x1 career has been finished, we find out that Oklahoma Baptist, another stud team, got disqualified from the race, sending us on to the finals. All in all, five teams from the 18 that ran in the semi-finals got disqualified. The next day, we ended up in eight, scoring a point for Cedarville for my first NAIA National point ever!
The same night as the 4x1 semi-finals was the preliminary round for the 4 x 400. Unlike the 4x1, where there are three rounds, the 4 x 400 only has two rounds, meaning you have to make top nine to make it to finals. Our record setting 4x4 team of All-Starr, B-Tress, The Hoff, and myself ran in the first of three heats in a great time of 3:13.something.
Since there were two other heats after us, we knew how many teams could beat us before we got bumped out of finals. After the second heat, we knew that only three teams could beat us from the last heat. Watching the race with the most anticipation I have ever felt, we watched as the teams crossed the finished line.
We waited for the results, fearing the worst, and the worst came to happen. The fourth-place team had beaten us and bumped us out of finals. It seemed that we had run our last 4 x 400, the race that defined my collegiate life, in an almost good enough time. It was heartbreaking. We got together, prayed one final time, said our goodbyes, and stared at the track in disbelief.
Then something happened.
Cornerstone got disqualified. I do not know how it happened, or who told us, but somehow we made it to finals since a team above us got DQ’d. After we found this out, our whole team went crazy, at least everyone around me did. I still am in disbelief. We finally made it to finals in the best event in all of sports. We made it.
I wish the ending would have ended a little better. If I had drawn it up, we would have been on the podium as All-Americans, but something just seemed right about ending up last in finals.
As I stated earlier, nothing goes exactly as you plan, and this meet just reinforced that fact. But I believe my story ends that Friday night after the semi-finals. My track career has not been the best, I am not the greatest. I never owned an individual school record, I was never individually an NCCAA All-American, and I never individually ended up making it to NAIA Nationals.
But that never really mattered. It was all about the process. I am a much better athlete and runner now than I was when I came to school. I have a new meaning of hard work and dedication. And I have a new meaning of team.
This team, especially the 4x4, just worked and fought. We were never the most gifted, but we loved each other. Watch us race an open 400, no one could break 49. Put us in a relay with each other? We somehow run 47's. Why? We loved each other, we loved our team, and we wanted to do everything to make sure that the other guy gets one more race, one more record, and one more chance to run.
It was never about beating Bethel, beating Taylor, or even getting the school record. It was about the bird, the X, the glasses. It was about Sammy, Brandon, Kurt, Kelly, Kuhn and Justin. That is why I run.
May 24, 2010
Hello. This week is NAIA Nationals. No excuses, play like a champion.
Nationals is usually the best meet of the season - it is the meet that we train for all year. This year the meet is at Indiana Wesleyan.
Last year, I ran in the same heat as a guy that got a silver medal at the Olympics. He was seeded #1 at the World Championships after day 1. That was awesome.
Last year, I saw a guy run a 10.4 without trying. That is not easy to do. These are the things you expect out of Nationals.
We may not have anyone on our team that will be getting Olympic medals or be teaming with Tyson Gay, but our guys will be able to compete.
This all starts with Justin Hoffman, mostly because he has a chance to be awesome in three events. Watch him in both hurdle races, along with B Tress in the 400 hurdles, and the 4 x 400.
Our race walkers are always solid, so watch Josh Wiseman and his crew in the 5K race walk. The distance team is well represented with T.J. in the 10K, Chris Vaughn in the 3K steeplechase and Evan Thayer will contend in the 1,500 meters. Two relays are participating, our record-setting 4 x 400 and our 4 x 100.
My predictions? Four school records and six All-Americans, although I am not going to spoil the surprise to who they are going to be.
So what has our track team been doing since school is over and we have no responsibilities? Bouncy Ball Hoot, Tennis Ball Golf, cooking delicious meals, and attending raves have all been on the itinerary for some team members. Obviously, because what is track without these things?
May 17, 2010
Hello. Welcome back to my blog. This was a short weekend at Louisville, as only a handful of races were run.
Justin Hoffman got second in the 110 hurdles, only losing to an NCAA Division I athlete. Not bad. Chris "Country" Vaughn ran a 12-second PR to get the B mark in the steeplechase. And our 4 x 400 relay somehow ran a 3:12.47.
Read that last sentence again. Doesn’t seem possible? Yeah, I agree, we still don’t understand how that happened.
For those of you that do not know, that is a school record and puts us in fifth place on the NAIA performance list, barely behind third and fourth. We also won the event, over some quality NAIA and NCAA schools.
We knew we had a good chance at the old school record, 3:15.3, but we also knew we would have had to run really well for this to happen. Relays are a tough event to judge. Usually two relay runners run well. On a good day, three of the four athletes will run well. On a bad day, maybe no one runs well.
All four running well? Happens every once in a while, and you cherish the moment it happens. All four athletes running their absolute best on the same day? Hahaha. Maybe in the movies.
Yet somehow, our relay team had one of those movie-esque performances.
Brandon ran a relay split PR to get us in a great position, Hoffman ran a relay split PR to get us the lead, I ran a relay split PR to get us the lead, and Sammy ran a relay split PR to finish the race. The result? 3:12.47.
I wish I could describe what happened after the race, but it would be worthless. The emotions that we felt cannot be described in words by an amateur writer like me. I have stated in past blogs that certain events justified my four years of track, this moment blew them all out of the water.
What is next? NAIA Nationals. May 27-29th. The potential? The way this season has been going, there are no limits.
May 10, 2010
Hello. Welcome back to my blog. Christian Nationals were this weekend. It was cold and rainy.....fun stuff.
This weekend produced some great performances from Justin Hoffman (like always), Brandon Tress (Two B Marks), Mark Farris (1 B Mark), Marc Benjamin (Huge PR), Sam LeMaster (Huge PR, second place), and others. Our 4 x 100 got second place and hit an automatic mark in the event. We brought a small team and still finished third overall.
The most important race of the night ended up being the best. The 4 x 400 had the potential to be great, and it was. Taylor, Bethel, and us had high hopes of winning the race. But honestly, Bethel and Taylor had no chance. We dominated.
OK, not really, but we did win by over a second, hit an automatic mark for NAIA and achieved a goal that we set three years ago.
All the talk about how much I hate track, the training, and the pain.....gone. This one race changed everything. It was all worth it.
May 3, 2010
Hello, welcome back to my blog. This was a crazy weekend, with no meet, but the whole graduating thingy and such. So let’s start off with a quick preview of next weekend. Warning, the preview is the only short part of this blog.
This upcoming weekend is the NCCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship. This should be a pretty competitive meet and will give us the opportunity to finally race Taylor. We should have some strong performances, and hopefully some NCCAA National Champions. NCC’s also provide for some memorable moments.
One of my favorite moments in my track careers was winning the NCCAA Team Championship my freshman year. We had to beat Malone by two spots in the 4 x 400, and I was the anchor. I got the baton, ran my heart out, and pulled a Prefontaine as I looked behind me to see that Roberts Wesleyan, not Malone, was behind me. We had won NCC’s!!!!
The team stormed the track, we celebrated, received our medals, the banner, and champion’s t-shirts, and it was a good day. Some of the luster was lost the next day when we found out that there was a scoring error and that instead of winning by one point, we lost by one point. The banner was gone (although I still have my medal and t-shirt), but the memory remains.
Another classic moment happened at last year’s race. Going into the meet, I knew that I had a tough race in the 400, but had high hopes, and we wanted to win the 4 x 400 as well. I ended up running terribly in the 400, didn’t make finals, and we couldn’t overcome Taylor in the 4 x 400.
The other event I was running was the 4 x 100. Our team thought we could do well, but we did not have to high of hopes. The night before, we were discussing how awesome it would be if we could somehow beat Greenville, Bethel, or Taylor to get third and become All-Americans.
I ran the third leg of the relay, and our team was in one of the outer lanes. In the outer lanes, you start ahead on a stagger (because we have to run farther on the curves) so during and after the third leg teams really know where they are in the race. As I was rounding the last curve, I (as well as the rest of our relay team) realized that no one had passed us yet, and we all basically mentally stated the same sentence, "Wait….we’re in first." I passed off the baton to Sammy "STARRs and Stripes Forever" and watched as he held the lead and we won the 4 x 100 NCCAA Championship.
Well, I really didn’t watch, as I kind of sprinted down the track after Sammy (not really protocol) and looked around in disbelief. I finally reached Sammy, who also had the same flabbergasted look on his face, just as Travis Smith and Marc Benjamin had sprinted to the same spot. After awkwardly jumping around and high fiving (we had not practiced our victory celebration), we heard that we had smashed the school record. Not a bad race day.
These are just some of the highlights of NCC’s, and I am hoping that we can add to the list after this weekend.
Well, this was graduation, and I probably should mention something about this momentous occasion. First off, thanks to all my family and friends that came and visited me. Along with my parents and grandparents, Pepe and his fiancé came and visited me from New Hampshire, the Starr family visited from Oregon, California, New Jersey, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, and the Gromans also visited with our favorite tasty treats.
Secondly, Dan Cathy, COO of Chick-fil-A, was our keynote speaker at graduation. To our surprise and delight, he used a running analogy to describe life, and gave everyone batons. We will probably use it at NCC’s.
Graduation is a weird time in anyone’s life. There is a strange combination of hope and relief mixing with sadness and awkwardness. It was fun seeing my friends reach their goal and start the next stage of their lives. At the same time, this is an ending, it is over.
I will miss having all my friends in one location, and I will miss some of my friends that I will not see on a daily basis. Hopefully, some relationships will continue on daily, and I know that I will meet new friends and have new experiences. But I could not have made it through Cedarville without Nathan Reed, Chase Baldwin, Will Thompson, Diana Deakin, Bethany Brewer, Mallory Travis and so many more.
Congratulations for graduating and for being awesome. Obviously, I haven’t even mentioned the 4 x Guys yet, but we’ll wait for another blog for that….and I wish I could mention those that graduated in the past or have yet to graduate, but this blog is long enough and I need to eat lunch.
April 26, 2010
Hello. Welcome back to my web log. This week, you get to read about one of the most unique meets that our team has participated in. Due to the season being finished for most of our team, we had only a few athletes come participate at Miami (Ohio).
Usually at college track meets, there are close to a dozen track teams at the meet, with multiple athletes in multiple events. This leads to multiple heats of every event, and causes the track meet to last into the early hours of the evening.
However, at Miami this weekend, there were only three teams (Miami, Cincinnati, and us) and only one heat per event. This caused for the meet to fly by quickly, especially after they announced the dreaded rolling-schedule (I still cringe when I hear that word).
Despite the lack of the big meet feel, and the return of the stereotypical Miami weather, there were some stellar performances. The most recognizable was Justin Hoffman, winning the 400 meter hurdles, and setting the school record in the event.
Among the other solid performances was the 4 x 100 team of myself, Sammy "shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the STARRs," The Frosh, and Two First Names winning the meet over both Miami and Cincinnati. This was both of the teams "A-teams" and Cincinnati has goals of winning the Big East this upcoming weekend, yet they were no match for the Cedarville Yellow Jackets. Of course, it is pretty easy to beat top notch teams when they drop the baton.
Aside from the meet, this past weekend was highlighted by Elliv (the first time our team has been able to make it in three years) and our end of the year track banquet. The track banquet allows for all of the team to meet together one last time, recall the memories and accomplishments of the year, and a chance for the seniors to pass along traditions and encouragements to the athletes.
My favorite moment from this year’s banquet was the three seniors on our 4 x 400 team passing on the tradition of mayhem, fun, and camaraderie, the passing of the symbol that has represented our relay for the past three years.
Congratulations to Justin Hoffman, Eli Husfelt, Mark Farris, and Alexa Winik for receiving the coveted 4 x Glasses, I hope you understand the responsibility that comes with them.
April 19, 2010
Welcome back to the blog. It was conference this weekend and my hands are still cold, my legs are still tired, and I have slowly been turning into a troglodyte, but I will try my best to write a good blog for you.
Conference was this week and it allowed for some exceptional performances. TJ "no one can correctly spell his last name so I’m not even going to try," Chris "Country" Vaughn, "Josiah don’t confuse me with Blagg" Bragg, Justin "The Hoff," and Sammy "STARRdom" are just a few people that come to mind.
If you look at these individual’s results, you may not be blown away, but what they did for the "good of the team" should not be overlooked. All of these people ran harder then expected for longer than expected to try to help the team win.
Bragg and TJ ran the 10K, 5K double (which I am assuming is like asking a baseball pitcher to pitch complete games on back-to-back days) to account for more running then the entire sprint group will run in all practices and meets this season. "Country" ran the steeplechase and 5K on the same day (which is like asking a pitcher to pitch a complete game and follow it up with a 3 inning relief appearance that same day).
Sammy ran sprint after sprint after sprint after sprint with no rest in-between. And Hoffman may have had the most insane day of all. In case you are not a runner, we have a certain female athlete that would rather live in the woods for months eating squirrels instead of running one 400, and, yet, the Hoff ran three of them in one day (and one of those had 10 hurdles in the way)!!!
All of these runners attempted to hurt themselves in a way that would probably be considered torture in most countries in an attempt to help our team win conference. Sadly, our team could not overcome the AMC-equivalent New York Yankees (read: Malone University) as we finished in second.
Apart from the troopers mentioned earlier, "Stalker Steve" Port, Caleb Dannimal (by far the best nickname ever given by Jordan Davies) Bucher, and many other athletes did phenomenal to help our team finish second.
This was the last meet for the majority of our team, and I felt like the Cedarville Yellow Jacket’s Men Track and Field team went out in style. Not only did we perform well, but the entire trip was a blissful time as we enjoyed the last time we may see some of these individuals. Inside jokes ran aplenty, most of which I would not even tell you in person (let alone a web site), delicious food was eaten, and we celebrated the successful year that our team deserved.
However, the year is not complete for many of our athletes, as a few of us pursue the end goal of the NAIA National Championship. The training shifts again as we try to rejuvenate for the next six weeks. It will not be an easy chore, but we know it all comes down to a few things.....
4 x School Record. Beat Taylor.
April 12, 2010
Hello. Welcome back to the third-best blog on the Cedarville Athletic web site (well ahead of any of my other track competition I must add).
This week was the meet before conference, so our team had a meet of fun and relaxation. Some of the team, the best of the best, went down to Tennessee to run at the Sea Ray Relays against some of the best competition in the nation. The Hoff, Slayer, and B-Tress all ran well and represented our team well. Seabiscuit and Lydia Wong represented the women’s team just as well.
The rest of the team ran at Miami University in Oxford. After a quick walk around the campus, the sophomore from Centerville, Runner Neil and I discovered that school was not as cool as it sounds, seeing as it’s not the real Miami or the real Oxford.
Nonetheless, our team preformed fairly well beside the fact that we did not score very well as a team. The highlights of the racing were watching Chris "Country" Vaughn set a personal record in the steeplechase and me teaming up with The Frosh, Two First Names, and STARRgate Enterprise to achieve a provisional mark in the 4 x 100.
The next meet for our team is in North Canton at Walsh University. This two-day meet is the start of our championship meets, and for some of the team, the last meet of the year. It will be a fun meet as we have a chance to win the meet and will be running all out to win.
Unlike almost all of our other meets, we will not be running in a few events that we can specialize in and try to reach our goal times. Instead, we will be running in whatever events we feel like we can score points. One downside is that we will be extremely tired and sore at the end of next weekend.
Sorry for the sub-par strings of blogs the last couple of weeks, I keep getting distracted by things such as Brad Pitt movies (the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Spy Game, both really good) and visits from the original track family (the Groman’s and their delicious treats). Next week I will see if I can do something extravagant.
April 5, 2010
[Special Note: Reading my former blogs, I hope that the reader has realized some things. One would be my love for Brad Pitt. Another would be that I enjoy the team aspect of track and field, and perhaps the best squad is the 4 x 400. Since Brandon is the only remaining, original 4x member that has not written a blog.....I decided he should probably guest blog this week.]
Hi! This is Brandon Tress guest-blogging this week. It’s time for a hurdler’s point of view. Shark-Beight and Sammy "Starr-bucks" (I can’t believe I beat Michael to this nickname) had the week off, as they are nursing their feet to be ready for the rest of the season (Goal = 4 x 400 school record) and their "Tour de Europe" this summer.
This past week we ran at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational at the University of Cincinnati. This was a large NCAA Division I & II meet, with 25 teams participating (Xavier, Miami, Wright State, Findlay, Ashland, etc.). As it was Easter weekend, this meet was optional for the team.
It turned out to be a good day for a meet, as the impending doom of a thunderstorm passed by us with only a few sprinkles and high winds on the backstretch. Security was tight as UC was preparing for their next home meet, the Big East Championships. This made access to the track at a premium, as everyone had to have a wristband (and could not cross through the parking garage).
Warm-ups were limited to a turf soccer field across the street- which is not exactly prime conditions for high hurdles. They also went over an hour ahead of schedule, which makes things crazy.
Justin Hoffman had a good week, as he finished second in a hot 110 meter hurdle race, and took the victory in the 400 hurdles despite running with the wrong lead leg most of the race. The last hurdle tried to trip me in that race, but I finished sixth.
Chris "Country" Vaughn placed fourth in the steeplechase, and T.J. Badertscher finished seventh in the 5K. In the javelin, Greg Hannay finished third, and Jordan Molstre finished fifth.
On the women’s side- Tara Leaman had a huge PR in the hammer throw, setting the school record and hitting the automatic mark for NAIA Nationals. Way to go, Tara! Also, Alexa had the chance to race against an Olympic gold medalist - very cool.
Up this week, most of the team will be traveling to Oxford, Ohio for the Miami University Invitational, another NCAA Division I meet. A few of us will be running at the Sea Ray Relays at the University of Tennessee. Let’s go Jackets!
My wife and parents had the chance to come watch me run this weekend - the 11thyear they’ve faithfully supported me in track. Thanks, Amanda. Thanks, Mom and Dad. 25 days till graduation.
Thanks for letting me guest-blog, Beight. Passing the baton back to you.....
March 29, 2010
Hey. Welcome back. Forget the clever introductory banter.....let us get going.
The meet this past weekend was successful. Not only because both of our teams preformed well, but because we woke up to discover this would be the best meet my class has ever hosted. For the first time in my four years of running track at Cedarville, the weather for a home meet was good.
Albeit, it was not perfect, it was still by far the best weather we have had, and that includes the meets we have hosted in May. So with God smiling on us through sunshine, we knew the meet was, at the least, going to be above average (yeah, weather is that important).
The competition was stellar at this meet, and our team was up to the challenge. The Hoff, Weezy and Sammy"Death" Starr all won their events with impressive times. Greg Hannay and Evan Thayer both finished second in their events.
Some of the other memorable moments came from B-Tress getting back on track in the hurdles (although it is easier when they are set up correctly), Ethan running again, the Frosh finishing third in the 100 and Stalker Steve terrifying Marla.
As for me, I decided to go back to my roots and run an 800 for only the second time since high school. Coming into my freshman year, my only goal for track was to break 2:00 in the 800, and after changing my main event to the 400, I never really had a shot at this goal. I figured this was my last chance.
After a brutal race (who knew two laps around the track was so far?), I finished and awaited my time to be announced. To my surprise, I had broken the 2 minute barrier and could finally check my first goal of my college track career.
Now that you know a little more about me, I should probably introduce myself a little bit better. Welcome to Michael Beight’s favorites.
Favorite Band: Third Eye Blind. Favorite Song: Motorcycle Drive By (Third Eye Blind). Favorite Book: A Voyage for Madmen (Peter Nichols). Favorite Athlete: Chris Kramer (recently passing Drew Brees). FavoriteTrack Athlete: Michael Johnson (Usain Bolt is closing fast). Favorite Name: Darla. Favorite Sports Movie: Hoosiers. Favorite Film Seen this Year: The Breakfast Club. Favorite TV Show: Seinfeld (Scrubs is a close second). Favorite On Going News Story: Abby Sunderland. Favorite Celebrity Crush: Kiera Knightly, Mandy Moore, Natalie Portman (can one actually decide between those three?). Favorite Inside Joke: The X.
I feel better. Next week, we run at Cincinnati, which is one of the best meets of the year. It should be amazing weather, great competition, and we will perhaps even get to see our favorite Olympic gold medalist. Maybe even a special gift to the readers…stay tuned.
Finally, I have to have a special thank you to both sets of my grandparents. The last two weekends, I have been able to see them at our meets, and I have loved it. I am glad I could set PR’s for all of you. My house has thoroughly enjoyed the tasty treats.
March 22, 2010
Well, hello. Welcome back to the blog. Our team just got back from a mini-vacation to Atlanta, Georgia, and not many people are happy to be back in Ohio. The trip was for fun, track, and education.
One thing I learned is that a monadnock is a hill, mountain or mountain of rock resisting erosion rising above the surrounding countryside. My other favorite fact from the weekend was that Runner Neil loves nothing more then the smell of poinsettias in the morning.
Atlanta provided many memories and fun. Both of which start with driving through the night, sleeping in a van or bus, only to be woken up at 6:00 am for the earliest McDonald’s I have ever eaten. We then proceeded to Stone Mountain, a monadnock, where a majority of the team redesigned the theater from an educational tool to a sleeping district.
More Funlanta activities included searching for special bricks in Centennial Parks, investigating the infamous Dooley, posing as The Varsity workers, and creating the new hit mini-series "Stalker Steve!" Sammy "Dancing with the STARRs"and I even found our future professions becoming Chick-Fil-A mascots and mascot herders.
Our team ended up not sleeping at a hotel, like most trips, but instead at Luther Rice Bible College and Seminary. Sleeping bags and sleeping pads were not enough, as most of the team brought air mattresses or made chair beds throughout the chapel.
It was quite a sight to see, and I am glad that college students are innovative enough to create such beds. It was not as luxurious as a giant, cylinder hotel, but it wasn’t too shabby.
The meet itself was fantastic. The bright sun and warm temperatures of Atlanta provided the perfect setting for the meet. Both the women’s team and the men’s did very well, with plenty of races worthy of recognition.
The Wong Relay (the girls 4 x 800, consisting of the three Wong sisters) was one of my favorites, as Sammy and I competed to see who could say Wong the most times during the race (he won).
Justin Hoffman ran extremely well for the guy’s team, leaving everyone on the team with their jaws on the floor as he ran an incredible sub-53 in the 400 meter hurdles. Hoffman, Sammy, A-Tress, and I also hit a provisional qualifying mark in the 4 x 400 as we won the race and beat Taylor’s time from the weekend.
There are many other results that should be mentioned, but I trust that the reader will visit the results page to check out the other performances on the team. Our next meet is here at Cedarville, and the weather doesn’t look to awful, so I recommend coming out to watch us.
March 15, 2010
Well, hello. Welcome back to my blog. The track team had an off weekend, so no meet to report.
The break was nice, allowing some of us to go home, visit with friends, and wonder rather psychoneuroimmunology is really the field that we should pursue after graduation (the answer is probably no).
As most of the readers probably know, indoor season is over, and outdoor starts this weekend. Our team is traveling down to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia for the best weather track meet we will probably experience for the entire year. Last I checked, it was supposed to be 65 and sunny while we run on Saturday.
Going from indoor track and field to outdoors is very similar to going from high school to college. In high school, you think it’s a lot of fun and entertainment, although you never really enjoy it as much as you tell everyone you enjoy it. You have prom (NCCAA’s) and graduation (NAIA’s) where you realize that this is the best.
However, you soon move to college (outdoors). Once you are in college, you realize that high school is really a joke. You realize that teachers and principals were way too tight (like indoor turns) and that what you fell in love with in high school (the races, the friends, the competition) is still there in college, except only better.
Of course, you look back at high school and think how easy it was (not having to deal with Ohio weather), but there is no way you would trade what you have now. Even when we get old, as we are sitting next to our life partner on the porch, in our rocking chair, talking about the good old days, we will not wish we could re-do high school, but rather college, because that is where the memories are truly located.
So, Wednesday night, our team is traveling to Atlanta for "Getting Started Weekend," so if you just so happen to be in the area, make sure you come to the meet and watch 60 giddy college students experience warm weather and fast running for the first time in months. It will look like we are in kindergarten again! (Shoot, there goes my cleverly-crafted analogy.)
March 8, 2010
Hello, welcome back to my blog. Special thanks goes to Sammy "Starrsky and Hutch" for writing the blog last week. I figured my blogs were getting boring, and honestly, I wanted to start break a few days early. I was unaware that he was going to produce a better blog then mine.
This past weekend, part of our team traveled to northeast Tennessee to participate in cave exploring, fine dining, and to create plenty of inside jokes to get us through the rest of the season. In between these fun activities, we decided to run in the NAIA Indoor National Track and Field Championship.
The meet was a success, with three All-Americans for the men (The Hoff, Weezy, and Slayer), three school records (the Hoff, Slayer, and our 4 x 400) and plenty of gutsy performances (such as Country running the 3K despite waking up in the morning bleeding out of the ear). The women’s team was not going to be undone, as Seabiscuit received All-American in the 400 (as well as a school record) and Lydia "She’s been running for a Wong time" won the mile in a dominating wire-to-wire victory.
Sports in general are supposed to teach you something. That is why there is uproar whenever sports are on the cutting blocks for high schools and colleges. Usually, these lessons are tergiversate, things like sportsman and to not give up on goals. But every once and a while, a meet or event happens where you actually learn something about life.
Things never work out perfectly. You plan for perfection, you even expect it, yet it never happens. It’s a sad cycle, because it makes success seem like failure. This weekend, I had two goals for the 4 x 400 - beat Taylor and break the school record by going sub- 3:20. We succeeded, but not perfectly.
We found out we were running one heat before Taylor, so we could run then watch and see if we beat them. The school record before this meet was 3:23.8, so we knew we were going to break the record, but we wanted to smash it. We ran our race, came from behind, and ran a solid race. We knew we had the record, but we waited to see our time. 3:20.29. Great time, a demolishing of the old record, but no breaking of 3:20.
The next heat started, and as the gun went off, we knew we beat Taylor. As the five other competitors sprinted out of the blocks, we see Taylor’s baton flying through the air and their lead-off man trying to chase it down. He finally picked it up, and ran the rest of his leg. But at that point, all hope was lost for them, and it’s hard to run any race like without hope.
Two goals, two successes, and yet two failures. Who knows what Taylor would have done if not for that one mistake? They could have broken 3:20,they could have run 3:23. I am really happy we got the school record, but we were so close to 3:20, I really wish we would have broken it. Nothing ever goes perfectly.
These are just two of the many examples that you could find of this truth throughout the team. Part of running is always wanting to do better, whether its beat one more person or take 0.2 of a second off a time. It’s what motivates you before and during the race, and it’s what makes you do that extra 3+1 after throwing up in a trash can.
Always wanting more can lead to the positives I mentioned above. Sometimes, it can be a hindrance when you miss something spectacular and don’t enjoy the moment. Even with nothing going perfect this weekend, I think the best summary can be found in one phrase Starrsky said while on our cool down run. After talking about how the weather in Tennessee was lame and how our friends were having fun throughout the country, we thought once again about the race we had just run. We thought about the workouts, the meets and the fun we missed out on, only to finish so close to all of our goals, and he summarized the whole experience in four simple words.
"It was worth it."
March 1, 2010
[Special Note: Michael Beight will not be writing the blog this week. It is not because there was no meet this past weekend and he spent every night watching a Brad Pitt movie (although he did watch 12 Monkeys, Interview with a Vampire, A River Runs Through It, The Mexican, and the Brad Pitt produced Time Traveler’s Wife). And it is not because he is too busy trying to decipher whether Taylor Swift believes in fairy tales (Today was a Fairy Tale, Love Story) or not (White Horse).
But rather, he is still in shock and rendered unmovable after Purdue’s Robbie Hummel went out for the season after tearing his ACL (followed by Purdue’s pitiful performance against Michigan State). He fully recognizes that he jinxed Purdue with his "unstoppable" rant a few weeks back and takes full responsibility. As he came close to recovering (that’s a lie, he may not ever recover), Usain Bolt ran a 43.5 (in FEBRUARY!!!), placing Michael back into shock.
In replace of Michael, Sammy "I am not from LancaSTARR" (a stretch, but we’re running out of nicknames people!) will guest blog for the week. Sammy has been mentioned several times in this blog, but if you have missed it, he is a senior 400 meter runner that has been All-American in the open 400 and the 4 x 400 and 4 x 100 relays. He is also the reigning 400 meter, 4 x 100, and 4 x 400 American Mideast Conference champion. Enjoy!]
Hola, and welcome again to Michael Beight’s web log. I would first like to apologize for the disappointment you surely felt as you discovered that I am the fill-in for Shark Beight. But do not fret. He will be returning to you next week.
Now let’s talk track. This is an interesting week for the team. After a successful NCCAA indoor championship meet last week most of our team has left on their spring break. However, for the 20 or so of us that have qualified, the grand finale of the indoor season awaits us. NAIA Nationals. This will be the most competitive and last indoor meet of the season.....and my life. Yikes!
The last few days have been rough and full of jealousy as we have watched most of our friends leave for places where the sun shines and the water is not so hard and slippery. Meanwhile, we were forced to start our spring break with a winter weather advisory. Grrrrr. But come Tuesday these feeling will begin to fade as we depart for Johnson City, Tennessee. We will be spending five nights with some of our closest friends, focused on the sport we all love. It is a time where performances and team bonding is at its best. Many of my favorite memories of my college career have come from meets like this one.
In this meet we tend to focus on just one event in order to do our very best. For this reason, fourth-ranked Justin Hoffman will be leaving our 4 x 4 in hopes of bringing home the gold in the hurdles. Freshman Mark Ferris will be replacing "The Hoff" as the second leg, and we are all excited to see what he can do. Hopefully another school record is in store. On the distance side of things, we have a very strong showing. Evan Thayer is ranked fourth in the1,000 meters, T.J. Badertscher is ranked eighth in the 5K, and the race walking phenomenon Josh Wiseman tops the list for the 3K race walk.
On the girls side Alexa "Seabiscuit" Winik will be focusing solely on the 400 meters, even though she has qualified for pretty much every sprint event that exists. She is currently ranked third, but with the way Canadian sports have been going lately, I think she has a shot at winning it all. Other competitors to watch are fourth-ranked Lydia Wong in the mile, Chelsea Gruet in the hurdles, and Tara Leaman in the weight throw.
Our team looks very strong and I am juiced to see what we can do this weekend. I cannot say I will not be a little jealous when I get a picture message of a sunset over the Pacific Ocean later this week, but there is nothing for which I would miss this experience. Months and months of training have come down to this moment. It is going to be awesome!
Before I go let me quickly address the question that is certainly on all of your minds, "What is it like living with the famous Michael Beight?" Well, let me tell you, it is quite the experience. I always have someone to fill me in on the latest sports news or the status of the latest female teen celebrity. We enjoy avoiding Chuck’s to attempt to make delicious meals, eating pear yogurt and discussing possible adventures and the uncertainty of our futures. Most recently, we have been working on our teamwork by playing FIFA’10. It is pretty much a completely positive experience, except when I come home to another awful Brad Pitt move, like "Interview with a Vampire." At least I learned that, "If a vampire sucks your blood and asks you if you want to live forever, say, ‘Heck no!!!’"
Now I will leave you with something funny. The current Cedarville Athletic web site poll asks what spring sport will have the most successful season. Baseball is in the lead. Haha.
Please get on and vote for track.
Adios
Feb. 22, 2010
Well, hello there. Welcome back to my web log. With the Olympics always being on at the house, I have been feeling a strange push to feel national pride. So in honor of local pride, I am listening to Indianapolis’ own "Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s" for this blog post. A very underrated band for certain.
This past weekend we competed in the National Christian College Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Championships. This was fun as it was the first championship event of the season.
For the seniors on the team, this occasion was made more joyous from the fact that it will be our last time to ever race on a 200 meter indoor track. NAIA Nationals is on an oversized track, about 287 meters, so the days of tight turns, hard surfaces, and two lap 400's are over for Brandon, Sammy, and I.
As a team, we finished in second place, only a mere six points behind Indiana Wesleyan. This was the best we have done at this meet since my freshman year, and it was exciting to check the team scores every so often to see if we could pull it out in the end.
One of my favorite parts of the meets was when some Bethel 4 x 4 guys came up to my 4 x 4 team and pleaded, "Please don’t let IWU win the meet." We tried our best, but sadly, they were just a little bit better than us.
Plenty of individual performances led to our second-place finish, as well as terrific relays. The top three from each even became NCCAA All-Americans, and our team had eight All-Americans along with three National Champions.
The Hoff came back from a disappointing finish in the 55 hurdles (I think I just heard A-Tress coughing false start) to win the 400. T.J. Badertscher ran an amazing race to win the 5K. And our 4 x 4 held off rival Bethel in a very exciting and physical race.
In case anyone has never seen an indoor track meet, it is a very physical and contact sport, especially during relays, 400s, and the starts for all races 800 meters and above. What you have is multiple athletes running as fast as they can for the exact same spot on the track. Elbows, bodies, and 1/4 inch track spikes (sorry Cedarville, I don’t mean to be recalcitrant, but nobody wears 1/8's) all converge to a huge mess that can lead to bruises and bloody cuts.
I had to fight with Robby Burns of Bethel during the 4 x 4, and "celebrity gossip Starr Magazine" had to get through a four-person pile up in the open 400. These occasions are fun for the crowd and the athletes, although they do lead to slower times.
Most of our team is off for almost a month before the outdoor season starts, but a handful of us have a week off before we head down to NAIA Nationals in Johnson City, Tennessee. We love passing up Florida beaches as much as the rest of world, but sadly we have to leave lovely Cedarville, Ohio for the mountains of Tennessee.
Special Tristan Durden Project coverage! After a few weeks off, Nathan and I watched "Thelma and Louise" and "Inglorious Bastards" this past weekend. Both were great movies and, obviously, Brad Pitt was amazing in both (despite limited appearances). I would like to add that "Inglorious Bastards" is a must see for anyone that believes revenge should be done by anyone other than God. It really makes you think.
Feb. 15, 2010
Well, hello. Welcome back to my blog. After a busy Valentine’s Day (or as Powers would say, "Single Awareness Day") this is going to be one of the shorter blogs of the year.
Our team awoke early on Saturday morning, got on a charter bus, and traveled out of Ohio for the first time this year. After three hours of driving, we pulled into Indiana Wesleyan without losing sight of cornfields the entire trip.
Honestly, IWU is probably my least favorite place to have track meets. They always have fast tracks and good competition, but something about IWU really bothers me. It’s possibly the inadequate amount of bathrooms located at the track.
Although, waiting in line for 40 minutes (that’s a joke, you can usually get through in 25 minutes) does lead to entertaining conversations with other competitors about how there should never be as many shot put rings as bathroom stalls. My dislike for IWU could be because I have never run well at either the outdoor or indoor tracks. I ran so poorly this weekend that I actually lied to my roommates and stated that I ended up scratching both of my events.
Aside from me, the rest of the team did pretty well this past weekend. Many PR’s (personal records) were set, and even a couple of school records. Sammy "Starr Wars" accomplished his own trilogy (wow, I should be ashamed of myself) by setting a school record for the third consecutive meet.
After breaking the 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 records the last couple of weeks, Sammy broke the Frosh’s week old school record in the 200 meters. Evan Thayer had a dominating race where he embarrassed everyone else on the track as he set the school record in the 1,000 meters.
For the first time this year, we ran against Taylor University. Sadly, they ran a fast 4 x 400, whereas we decided not to attempt one. Our 4 x 400 was able to talk to each one of their members; talking about this season, how we both love running against each other, and how we both love beating Jordan Heim and Bethel University.
One of the highlights of the week was Sammy, A-Tress, and me staying at the track after the rest of our team had gone to the bus so that we could cheer on Taylor’s quest for an automatic mark for nationals. Sadly, they missed it by about a second, meaning they only have one more attempt to qualify for nationals so that we can run against them. I hope they make it.....I would really love to beat them.
Our bus ride home had the usual ruckus and fun that always makes track interesting. I learned numerous lessons, from figuring out how to get the most value from Wendy’s to how hard to smack the faulty bus televisions.
Now we prepare for our first championship meet. The NCCAA Indoor Nationals will be held at Cedarville this Saturday morning. It’s been the goal of my 4 x 400 relay team to win NCC’s and to beat Bethel, and we finally get our chance. Not going to lie, I’m stoked.
Feb. 8, 2010
Well, hello. Welcome back to my blog. I will be listening to Eminem as I write this blog, so I have no clue where we will end up on this adventure. But, it’s has been a crazy week, so let’s get this started.
We did it. I had to fight off a strong urge of attempted dramatics that would have been putting that previous sentence as the only three words in my blog. While it may have been highly disappointing for my readers (that’s a lie, you would have been happy), it would have perfectly demonstrated the emotion and relief that occurred this past weekend.
In case you have not been reading my previous posts, the "we did it"refers to us getting the 4 x 400 school record. After 3+ years of attempts, Brandon "A-Tress," Sammy "BattleSTARR Galactica"and I were joined by "the Hoff" (Justin Hoffman) to finally break the school record and hit a qualifying mark for NAIA Nationals.
Brandon got the relay off to a good start with positioning us near the back (just kidding B, we love ya), but Hoff was able to get us back in the race with an exceptional run that put us back with the lead pack. Handing off to me, we were with three other teams, yet were on the outside of the track, somewhere you do not want to be at anytime during a race. Luckily, our handoff was near perfect, and I was able to make it through the curb in first and on the inside. I was able to sustain the lead as I handed off to BattleSTARR.
I have the greatest of faith in Sammy, so I knew that we were finishing in first. The question was whether or not the record board would have to be updated at the end of the day. After pulling away to an easy victory in the heat (we finished fourth overall, only a half second behind 3rd place and a t-shirt prize), we all waited anxiously for the time to be displayed on the scoreboard.
3:23.87! School record! NAIA provisional mark!
Hugs, high-fives and sighs of relief followed for the next several moments. I have had many memorable moments while running track at Cedarville - winning the NCCAA Outdoor Championship by beating Malone in the 4 x 4 my freshman year (only to have the championship rightfully taken from us a day later), winning the NCCAA Outdoor4 x 1, watching Travis Smith win conference in the triple jump (and Coach Scott’s celebratory cartwheel) and qualifying for NAIA Outdoor with my 4 best friends in the 4 x 4 my sophomore year.
Those moments I will always cherish and never forget; however, none compare to the relief and satisfaction that came from finally meeting one of my goals from early in my track career.
Obviously, this is a very narcistic blog post, and I am sorry for that, but there were other impressive performances for this weekend. Hoffman won the hurdles race over some quality opponents, Mark Farris broke the school record in the 200 (very impressive for the Frosh), Chris "Country" Vaughn hit a NAIA provisional mark in the 3K and T.J. Badertscher hit an automatic qualifying mark in the 5K.
Apart from running, this trip was just as fun as any other trip. Driving through the blizzard so that we could run, we had plenty of time to learn relationship histories from multiple athletes and to point out that Stephen Port looks eerily similar to Mr. Tumnus from "The Chronicles of Narnia."
The trip back led to learning the quality of corn pudding and discussing the value of Oxford commas (I tried not to use any this entire blog). It was also the first time we were able to reconnect with past competitors and discuss past races and even talk smack for the future (we better see you at nationals Notre Dame).
Finishing my egocentric blog post, I should probably state how this was the best athletic week of my life. Purdue basketball finally winning at Indiana, setting a school record and Drew Brees receiving Super Bowl MVP helped make this weekend quite exciting. If I only had my Canadian Corn Pops.
Feb. 1, 2010
Well, hello. Welcome back to my latest web log. No meet from this past weekend, so hopefully I can make up something interesting for this week.
First off, while everyone else took the week off, one of our athletes did not. Josh Wiseman had the opportunity to race walk at Madison Square Garden, at the Millrose Games (possibly the biggest indoor race in the world), where some of the best athletes participate. Wiseman got fourth, which is a pretty big deal. If you haven’t done so yet, I would find a way to contact him and congratulate him.
This week off helped us get rested and prepared for our first big meet of the season. This upcoming weekend, we have two meets that our team will be participating. One meet is on Friday, the other on Saturday.
The Friday meet is the one that a majority of our team will be attending. The Saturday meet is the D2 Challenge, and probably the most competitive meet we will have until NAIA Nationals. For the D2 Challenge, runners have to hit a qualifying mark to be able to race, throw, or jump. This leads to only the elite athletes in the area being able to compete for that day.
This meet will mark a transformation in our short season. Gone are the care-free meet track days, where our primary goal is to get stronger, faster, and to have fun. Now is when we get serious and down to business.
This means something different to everyone, but to my 4 x 400 team, it means some basic big race necessities will be done. Our legs will be shaven for maximum efficiency and intimidation factors. We will bust out our special white "4 x Glasses" that also help spread fear into our competitors.
Victory celebrations will be designed before we even start warming up for the race, even if we haven’t used any of the celebrations we created in four years. Most importantly, we limit our races and focus on the one thing that has been escaping us for years.....the 4 x 400 school record.
Getting ready for this upcoming weekend also reminded me of something I occasionally forget about track. Reading Alexa’s blog from last week reminded me of this, and I was constantly reminded of it throughout the week. This simple fact that should never escape me, yet almost always does, is this.....
I hate track.
I hate the pain. I hate throwing up after 3+1 workouts. I hate having to get enough sleep so that I can recover for the next workout. I hate losing weekends to long track meets. I hate running as hard as I can, only to look up at the scoreboard to see I ran a whole second slower then my goal. I hate that, after training as hard as we could for the past three years, my 4 x 4 team still does not have either the indoor or outdoor school record. I hate that Taylor and Bethel always beat us in big races. I hate the pain that all of this causes.
If you’re looking forward to a redemptive ending to this online vent, I don’t know if I could honestly provide one. I just know one thing. It does not matter.
Running is something more than an activity or something fun. It is life. And there is nowhere I would rather be this Friday night than at Findlay running with my 4 x 4 Team for the record. Whether we get it or not.
Jan. 25, 2010
Well, hello. Welcome back to the third installment of my blog. Hopefully, this should be the most exciting after our adventurous weekend.
We traveled to Marietta College, which is somewhere in Ohio. Even after the trip, I still have no clue where this school is located. Rumors are that it is close to West Virginia, so if you wish to pursue the task of discovering the location, I would start in that corner of Ohio.
Waking up at 6:40 in the morning, leaving around 7:30, and driving till 10, left plenty of time for us to sleep on the charter bus. Although we found out that our favorite charter bus company had been replaced with another, we were still able to sleep comfortably for the entire trip.
The meet was not the most competitive in some events, but it was a quality meet for our young runners as well as gaining confidence for some of the returnees. Our team won the meet by a rather large amount, including eight victories.
The most impressive victory coming from the incredibly talented 4 x 200 team, smashing the school record by almost 2 seconds. The team consisted of Marc "two first names" Benjamin, Mark "the Frosh" Farris, Sammy "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little" Starr, and Michael Beight (erade) (Yeah, I referred to myself in third person, but I had to keep the nickname theme going).
For those who don’t know the benefits of getting the school record, there are three aspects. First, your name goes on the school record board in the field house. Secondly, your name goes on the website in two separate locations. Finally, you get your picture taken by, our boy, Franzy, which will be given to you with a plaque and frame at the end of the season. Not a bad tradeoff for less than 23 seconds of running.
The seniors on the team (A-Tress, Twinkle Twinkle, and me) have plenty of traditions that we try throughout the season. One of these is to use our last cool down of the day to explore the campus while at other colleges. At Marietta, we found this activity to be rewarding.
Quickly into our run, we found the campus to be beautiful with a prestigious appearance. More importantly, they had a dinosaur-painted building. Needless to say.....this was awesome. If there happen to be any Cedarville business owners reading my blog, I challenge you to do better.
The ride back to Cedarville was also an exciting endeavor. Before we got to our usual tasks of making fun of Carolyn Cann and proving to Alexa Winik that my blog is much more popular than hers, we decided to watch the movie "August Rush."
Even with the argument from some freshman guys that this was more of a female-oriented movie, everyone on the bus was enjoying the movie. However, as we were getting to the climatic and emotional reuniting of the lost son, mother, and lover, the TVs in the bus decided to make our moment dramatic as well. The TVs went blank and yelps were heard from across the bus (well, probably just Twinkle Twinkle’s and my seat) as the ending of the movie was passing.
Luckily, I was able to retrieve the disk and give it to Carolyn as everyone gathered around as we watched it on her laptop. These are the exciting moments that make running repeat 300's worth it in the end.
In non-track news, the Tristan Durden made progress this week with us watching Brad Pitt in "Across the Tracks," an exciting movie about Brad Pitt attempting to receive a track scholarship.
Finally, go Drew Brees, make Purdue proud!
Jan. 18, 2010
Well, hello. Welcome back to my blog. I am sure most of you were at the track meet, but in case you were not (how dare you), let me give a quick recap.
Our team won five events, as well as the meet in general. Josh Wiseman won the always exciting race walk, Ethan Blagg won the 600, Evan Thayer the 800, and I won the 400 for my first collegiate victory! I also joined Sammy "Shooting" Starr, the Hoff (Justin Hoffman), and the sophomore from Centerville (Eli Husfelt) to win the 4x400. All the event winners received "Event Champion" t-shirts, so the thrill of victory doubled when we collected our shirts at the end of the day.
Winning is fun, but the more important task at this time of the season is hitting qualifying marks for the bigger meets at the end of the year. At the meet, Wiseman, the Hoff, and two other race walkers (Grant Bacon and Paul Ikeda) qualified for the NAIA Nationals which takes place in Tennessee during spring break. That means they are the first to pass up the sun of Florida to run inside in northern Tennessee. Lucky kids.
I promised you readers that I would keep you up-to-date with my goals, so I should probably give you the rundown. The Tristan Durden Project (the name of my project to watch every Brad Pitt movie) is going well. Two of the twenty-six movies have been vanquished this week, and plenty of the other movies are on hold at the library and Netflix for our future viewing pleasure. Hopefully, we will have three more done this week.
The other goal of beating Taylor University took a major hit this week. Being out of the loop, I was unaware that Taylor had left the NCCAA, making possible that we will never run against them this year. Luckily, Bethel (Ind.) College should have solid 4 x 400, so our cries of "Beat Taylor" will be replaced by "Beat Bethel!"
On a serious note, I would like to pass along a prayer request. The only youth pastor I have ever had passed away Monday morning after a simple game of basketball. Kurt Glancy was one of the major influences in my life and I can honestly say that I would not be as good of a person if he wasn’t in my life. Please pray for his family, his wife and two young sons that he loved, as well as our church, friends, and family. RIP Kurt.....I’ll miss you.
Jan. 11, 2010
Well, hello. This is my web log, or "blog." Mostly, this will be a chance to explain what happened over the past weekend, or to complain of my collegiate choice to run excruciating 400's instead of....well...anything else.
We start our indoor track season this upcoming Friday, January 15th, here at Cedarville University coming off the cold and snowy winter break. It’s pretty safe to say that all of our coaches and athletes are excited to see the new freshmen for the first time and to see the progress of the returning athletes. The excitement will soon turn towards the outdoor season after months of pounding on the hard indoor surface and sliding off the sharp turns, but, as for now, our team is still eager and naive.
One of the reasons for our excitement is the talent returning, especially in the sprints and distance. We have seven NCCAA Indoor All-Americans returning, as well as NAIA National Champion Josh Wiseman. We also have seven NCCAA Outdoor All-Americans (four of which were both), including NAIA All-American Justin"The Hoff" Hoffman and excluding NAIA All-American Josh Wiseman.
Three of the four members of the NCCAA Champion 4 x 100 and NCCAA All-America 4 x 400 relay teams return as well as half of the 4 x 800 team. As a team, we won the American Mideast Conference title last year for the first time since 2001, and had five individual champions and won all three relays at the meet.
But enough about the team, this is my blog, and I am probably the reason you are even reading. This season, I have two things in mind. First off, is to meet my goal of watching every Brad Pitt movie before I graduate. It’s going to be difficult, but very doable.
Secondly, our 4 x 4 team has some very high expectations. Three of us (Sammy "GangStarr", Brandon"A-Tress", and me) have run this relay for the past three years with increasing success, escalating inside jokes, and multiple secret hand signals. However, we still have failed to win the NCCAA championship, and still have failed to beat our arch-rivals, Taylor University. I will keep you updated throughout the year on how both of these important quests are going.
If you happen to get bored this Friday night while at Cedarville, feel free to stop by and cheer on our team. We are all very likeable and social individuals, and will be more than willing to discuss why anyone would come watch college students run around in circles.
Ta ta for now!
Michael Beight is a senior sport management major from Hillsboro, Ind. He is a three-time NCCAA All-American in the relays and a two-time AMC champion.
