I simply could not be prouder of our small band of Good Mates that took on the Rest of the Best in New York City this weekend. I’ll put my words into tiny balls of light and hope they warm your heart as mine has been.
Aubrey Baxter made the Big Apple her own. She was named the Women’s MVP of the meet with a whopping 29 points scored. This is a rarity as sprinters almost always end up with the award. She pulled off this remarkable feat like this:
Shot Put, 1st, 15.60m, (10 points)
Hammer Throw, 2nd, 63.08m, (8 points). She missed winning this event by 3 cm (this long…………….), the final throw of the competition knocking her from the top spot.
Discus, 3rd, 45.40m, (6 points)
Javelin, 4th, 35.50m, (5 points)
Virgil Mitchell almost topped that. He ran a remarkable string of races in just a few hours, starting with the 400m Hurdles, 4th, 51.96, (5 points). He followed that up just an hour and 10 minutes later with a 1st in the 110 High Hurdles, 13.97, (10 points). 2 hours later he ran the 400 meter leg of our Distance Medley Relay which finished 3rd, 10:19.28 (6 points). He missed out on being the Male MVP by the slimmest of margins, a mere 1/2 point. As Matt Schneider told me this afternoon, “He’s Legit”.
And Matt Schneider left everything at Icahn Stadium. Yesterday he ran his fastest Steeplechase in 26 months, 9:12.88, and finished 2nd overall. He was the 2-time defending champ and the hat trick just barely got away. He was awarded the 10 points because the winning athlete runs for the Navy and not a USATF Club. The margin of victory was a scant 3 seconds. This morning he returned running the 5000 and gutting out a 15:55 for 14th. He would run the 1200 in this afternoon’s DMR quartet. The Central Park Track Club broke the DMR record of 10:13 set by our mates last year with a very fast 10:01.13, congratulations to them!
Matt Pohren ran a lifetime pr 9:19.55 to finish 3rd in the Steeple. Matt has also finished top 3 in this event for the last 3 consecutive years. Today Matt came back and finished 5th in the 5000 in 15:21. And then ran the Mile leg of the DMR. Gutsy.
Megan Zavorka recorded an eleven second lifetime pr in the Women’s Steeplechase finishing 3rd in a nice 10:45.99. She returned this morning for the Women’s 5000 and finished 7th in 18:04.09.
Andrew Jacob pulled a tough double yesterday running the 800 in 1:56.06, good for 12th, and the 1500 two hours later in 4:13.30, 15th. Today he ran the 800 meter leg of our DMR.
Jared Shuurmans had a nice toss of the Discus to finish 4th in his specialty with 52.98m.
Eric Rasmussen had an off day in the Men’s 10000 finishing 7th in 33:07.22, still worth 2 points. Matt Heesch had a tougher day and was a dnf.
Here’s the deal. Absolutely talented as you can see by the performances above. The men finished 5th against the top clubs in the US. Not by the sheer numbers that so many of the other clubs have the luxury of. By Heart. By Hard Work. By Team Work. 49 points. All 7 of them taking on clubs 10x and more larger.
And the Women. Finishing 7th. 37 points with 2 women competing. Team Nebraska’s best.
This year there were 600 athletes from 73 different USATF clubs from 18 states.
The 2012 USA Club T&F National Championships will be here in Omaha at Burke Stadium July 6th & 7th, 2012. Next year we OWN this event!
Special thanks to our Major Sponsor, The Lincoln Marathon, for making this possible for our talented Nebraska athletes.
About Author
