March 3, 2020
This past weekend, the team traveled to Tiffin, Ohio to compete in the G-MAC Indoor Championship. It seems like this meet gets better every time we go...which is good and bad. It would be nice if the meet wasn't as good so that we could score more points, but it is a good thing that the meet is so competitive because it pushes us to do our best. Tiffin walked away with the win, unsurprisingly. We came in 6th out of 12. Here's some of the Highlights:
Our DMR, made up by
Ben Hulbert,
Andrew Sholl,
Alex Weber, and
Trent Classen, finished 2nd!
Ben Hulbert placed 3rd in the open 400 meters
Andrew Sholl placed 3rd in the 800 meters
Ryan Rager placed 4th in both the 200 meters and 400 meters. But the most impressive thing? He beat the reigning 60 meters and 100 meters NCAA II champion, Jonte Baker, in the 200 meters... albeit the 200 meters isn't Jonte's best event...Ryan still beat him.
Since nobody qualified for nationals, this was our last meet of indoor. Our next meet will be our first outdoor meet of the year and our only home meet of the year. We compete on Saturday, March 28th. This will be my first meet of the year as well as (hopefully) my first time jumping outside at home (the past two years, the vault was moved indoors because of the rain).
As we wrap up indoor, I want to thank the captains for their leadership so far. They have done a great job of leading our team and I hope they continue to do well. The best thing they have done so far, in my opinion, is strongly encourage all of us to go to Bible study on Wednesday nights. I have really enjoyed going to these and I think it is really beneficial for the team to spend time together outside of practice and meets. Keep up the good work captains!
Also, this is the last blog I will write. Picking up the blog writing responsibilities is
Caleb Fauth, a sophomore javelin thrower. I don't know how much he will write about himself (it is weird to write about your accomplishments in the blog), SO, if he does not brag on himself, I will! He is a stud thrower. He has improved a lot this off season and has been working very hard. He hopes to podium at nationals...but I think he can go farther. Keep your eye on him during this outdoor season. (Prediction: He's going to break the javelin school record at our home meet.) And with that, I leave you in the capable hands of Caleb. Come out and support us at our only home meet of the year on March 28th!
Feb. 25, 2020
This past weekend, we hosted the NCCAA Indoor National Championship meet. AND, WE WON! Our first NCCAA Indoor title since 2007! The team competed well and dominated in the name of Jesus! The competition was tough but we pulled out the W...well let’s be honest...our distance carried us. More about that later. Being used to over 1,000 athletes at our two previous home meets, this meet felt much more manageable with nearly half that amount competing.
Just a few Highlights:
Ryan Rager placed 2nd in the 200 meters, 400 meters, 4 x 200 meters, and 4 x 400 meters. That's a massive total of 32 points. Ryan finished the 200 meters with a time of 22.27 (A NEW SCHOOL RECORD!)
We took the top seven places in the mile. Folks, that is every point available in that event except for 1!
We took every place in the 3K but third, all the points but six in that event!
Tyler Reinhard won his first ever heptathlon by 20 points (that translates to a margin of three seconds in the final event, the 1,000 meter run, in other words, the skin of his teeth)! His final score was 4,175.
In summary, distance dominated.
This meet was a great show of what the team is capable of when we try and score a lot of points.
I'm really excited to see how we stack up this coming weekend at the very tough G-MAC Championships. The meet is at Tiffin; they are the reigning champs. Win or lose, we will give thanks and all the glory to God always! Come out and support us if you are in the area!
Feb. 17, 2020
This past week, the team split up and went to two different meets. Two vans trekked up to Grand Valley State University in Michigan on Friday to compete in the Big Meet. The rest of the team traveled to the University of Findlay and competed on Saturday.
The biggest moment of this weekend came when Ryan Rager and Ben Hulbert both broke the school record in the 400 meters (or so it seemed)! Since the track at GVSU is 300 meters (as opposed to 200 meters), the conversion of their times from their 300 meter time to what it would have been on a 200 meter track brought both of their times behind the school record. The current school record of 49.24 was set 45 years ago by Mark Green. This is the oldest record for CU men's indoor track. At the end of the day, the previous record still stands. Both of these guys are really fast and I am looking forward to see what they can accomplish by pushing each other to get better. At the end of the meet, Ryan and Ben worked together along with Caleb Carrico and Andrew Sholl in the 4 x 400 meter relay to post the #2 all-time mark at Cedarville of 3:21.44. Folks...that’s fast.
In the pole vault world....the most exciting thing that happened over the weekend was Tyler Reinhard landing on the crossbar and breaking it in half.....just kidding (but that really did happen).
But actually....the World Record was broken again! By Mondo Duplantis. He set the bar at 6.18 meters (20-3) on Saturday and cleared it by about six inches! Here is a
link to the video!
I will be surprised if he does not at least clear 20-6 by the end of this season.
This weekend, Cedarville hosts the NCCAA Indoor National Championships. It's a two-day meet -Â Friday/3PM and Saturday/9AM - come out and support us!
Feb. 10, 2020
This past weekend, the team stayed at home and hosted (and won!) our first home meet of the year! First off, thank you to everyone who came out and supported the team! It means a lot to have people come out and support us (especially since we have so few home meets). The highlight of the meet came when Joshua Brown, Ben Hulbert, Caleb Carrico, and Ryan Rager won the 4 x 200 meter relay and set a new school record of 1:30.43!! The previous record was set in 2016 at the NCCAA Championship.
After the meet on Friday, the team cleaned up, went home, and rested up to work the high school meet all day Saturday. Everyone did their part and the meet went well (at least as far as I could tell). I ran the boys pole vault and let me tell you: it is not as easy as it looks and I definitely have a greater appreciation for the officials who have run and who will run the meets I compete in. Also, in the pole vault world, it was a special day. Mondo Duplantis broke the pole vault world record by jumping 6.17 meters or 20-2.75. Here is a
link to a video of his WR jump!
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To put into perspective how amazing this is: Mondo is six months younger than I am at 20 years old. My PR is 17-7 and that was enough to win NCAA DII Nationals. Mondo jumped two and a half feet higher than that to set the new world record. You may know of Sergey Bubka. He was just 20 years old when he broke his first world record in the pole vault. He then went on to break his own world record 35 times in the next ten years. Mondo has a bright future ahead of him so keep an eye out for more world records in the near future.
This week, the team will split up and attend two different meets: one at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan on Friday and one at the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio on Saturday. Come out and support the team if you are nearby!
Feb. 3, 2020
This past weekend, the team traveled to Ohio Northern and placed second as a team. There was a lot of tough competition but we managed a few event winners:
Matt Julian won the pole vault with a jump of 15'5" (a season and collegiate best!)
Benjamin Tarwater won the triple jump with a mark of 41'6"
Joel Gatchell,
Ryan Rager,
Andrew Sholl, and
Ben Hulbert won the 4 x 400 meters in 3:26.05 to finish off the day!
Shout out to
Madeline Barnes from the women's team on winning the pole vault with a jump of 12'1"! Madeline didn't have the greatest start to the season so it was awesome to see her clear a high bar this past weekend.
Sadly, I did not have the chance to clear a bar this weekend. I warmed up, thinking I was going to compete. On my last warm up jump, I felt my hamstring grab and had to call it quits. Disappointed that I couldn't compete, I sat on the bench as the women's pole vault started. Sitting there, the adrenaline wore off and I started to feel the pain – I knew that I had re-injured my hamstring. For the majority of the last three and a half months, I have not been able to practice or compete. This would have been the first meet that I competed in for the indoor season.
As most athletes know, being injured is frustrating. I am not sure how long I will be out for after this most recent injury, but I am trusting God that he has a plan for me. Whether I am able to compete during the indoor season or not, God is still sovereign and in control. It is hard to be content while injured but I am not devastated or left with an empty feeling now that I am unable to pole vault. I have to keep remembering that my identity is in Christ and not in my ability to pole vault. As I recover, I will strive to give glory to God in ways other than pole vaulting.
This weekend, we are at home! The team competes on Friday beginning at 3:30 p.m. and then we host our big high school meet on Saturday. Come out and support us at one of our few home meets of the season!
Jan. 28, 2020
This past week the team traveled just north of Columbus to Otterbein University. This meet had a variety of competition ranging from NCAA DIII schools like Baldwin Wallace to DI Ohio State (ever heard of them?). Speaking of Ohio State, one of their female pole vaulters (I am not sure what her name is) had a very serious injury early on in the meet. She ran down the runway, planted the pole and jumped off the ground. However, for whatever reason, she did not travel far enough into the pit and landed just shy of the big flat portion of the mat. She landed on the angled portion of the mat that sits between the metal box and the big part of the mat. After sliding down the angled section, her foot hit the box at a weird angle and dislocated her ankle. The bone actually punctured her skin. Lying in the box, she seemed calm despite the circumstances. When the paramedics arrived, they bandaged her up and strapped her into a stretcher. As she was wheeled out of the building, everyone stood and clapped for her. I am not sure how she fared after that but I am sure that she will need prayer as she recovers from this terrible injury. After she was taken away, the women's pole vault resumed. Imagine pole vaulting right after that happened, knowing that you were about to attempt the exact same thing that had just caused that girl a huge amount of pain. And that's actually exactly what our very own Madeline Barnes did! (Lucky her!)
Aside from the eventful women's pole vault, the rest of the meet went well as:
Ryan Rager won the 200 meters in 22.59 and placed second in the 400 meters.
Ben Hulbert won the 400 meters in 49.54 which is only a few tenths away from the indoor 400 meter school record!
Alumnus
Ethan Gatchell ran unattached and won both the 800 meters and the mile.
Trent Classen placed second in the mile with 4:25.
Andrew Reinhard won the high jump with a jump of 6'2.75" (he was very close to jumping 6'4" but clipped the bar with his heels after clearing the bar with the rest of his body).
Ben Tarwater won the triple jump...he was the only competitor (a win is a win and we'll take it).
This week, the team travels to Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio on Saturday, February 1.
After sitting out at our past three meets due to hamstring problems, I hope to compete this week! As I get ready to compete again, I am constantly reminding myself that God is the only reason I am able to compete; therefore, I should give all the glory to Him. As we saw earlier with the injury to the girl from Ohio State, NEWSFLASH, pole vaulting is dangerous. Every jump that I take could be my last. As we saw with Kobe Bryant and his daughter and the seven others in the helicopter, any day could be my last. With the opportunity I have been given to pole vault, I must use my time wisely by competing and training to the best of my ability and by giving all the glory to God. God has protected me from serious injury during my whole career and for that I am very thankful. As I enter this season, I am trusting God because I know: whatever happens, he has a plan and is in control.
Come back next week to hear how our meet went!
Jan. 20, 2020
This past week, the team traveled to Youngstown State to face a lot of NCAA DI and DII track programs. Overall, our first meet after the break went really well! We pulled out of Cedarville at 6:30 a.m. and didn't arrive back on campus until 2:15 a.m.! It was a very long day to say the least.
In that almost 20 hour span, we had stellar performances by:
Isaiah Kelly (15:24) and Trevor Cross (15:27) taking 1st and 2nd in the 5000 meters! (Both Freshmen!)
Ben Hulbert winning the 500 meters in 64.42 for a new school record! (Guess what... also a FRESHMAN!)
The previous 500 meter record was set by Cliff Reynolds in 2000 at Ohio Northern almost 20 years ago!
I'll be honest, a 20 hour day at a track meet is grueling. When some of us compete in just a few events, we only spend about two of those hours warming up, competing, and cooling down. With all of that down time, we have to find ways to entertain ourselves aside from doing homework or just watching Netflix. At this meet, some people decided to stack our foam rollers, place a water bottle at the top, and kick it off...and keep raising the height of the stack of foam rollers. It eventually got a little too high...and Alayna Ackley...well...you see what happened:
Aside from that, the team had a good meet and we are looking forward to this coming weekend at the Otterbein Invitational in Westerville, Ohio!
See you next week!
Jan. 17, 2020
Welcome to the Cedarville Indoor Men's Track & Field team blog! I'm Tommy Ansiel and I am a junior Pole Vaulter on the team. I am majoring in Finance with minors in Economics and Spanish.
I'll be honest...the team looks a little different this year compared to last year. I remember the first day of practice in the fall: I only knew about half the people...It seemed like we had about 40 freshmen...and Turner. Turner was on the CU baseball team last year, but then realized that Track is the best so he switched sports. When he showed up to practice, since he was a new face for most of us, people kept thinking he was a freshman. PSA: Turner White is not a freshman...and is a good long jumper.
The rest of the team isn't too bad either...
Keep an eye out for freshmen: Ben Hulbert in the 400 meters and 800 meters, Matt Julian in the best event around (pole vault duh), Stephen Mattingly in the 800 meters and High Jump (weird flex but ok), Jayce Meredith in the 200 meters and 400 meters (watch out Rager...), Ben Tarwater in the lonely Triple Jump (he is our only triple jumper on the team!), Trey Gruet and Joseph Heise in the hurdles, Noah DePasacreta in the Heptathlon, and Remington Musick in the best event: Pole Vault
Coming back in 2020 we have: Ryan Rager, the sprinting legend (and indoor 200 meter record holder!), Andrew Sholl (the distance king), Alex Weber (your best friend you didn't know you had aka Chrome Dome), and Trent Classen (the distance runner who thought hurdles were cool but the 400 meter hurdles wasn't painful enough so he tried steeple and went to Nebraska but then transferred to CU and went to Outdoor nationals twice)!
This week, for our second meet of the season, we are traveling to Youngstown State on Friday, January 17! It should be a tough meet with a lot of NCAA DI schools in attendance.
Come back next week and hear all about it, here on the CU Men's Track Blog!
Tommy Ansiel is a junior pole vaulter from Warrenville, Illinois. He is in his third year with the Yellow Jackets and is a Dean's List student majoring in finance.
