Blogs : John Wise

Its time to get this season started

I’m not sure if there is another sport that is like track & field.  We are different, we are odd, we are a team sport, we’re an individual sport, we take 3 weeks off before our competition season starts, we have six different groups working out at the same time in the same place but doing all different things, we have administrators that don’t understand, yadda, yadda, yadda …

But it’s those differences that make our sport so unique and has me very excited at this time of the year EVERY year.

It’s the first real track meet of the year.

Tomorrow morning the Shockers are getting up at the crack of dawn and heading to Kansas University for a 5-way meet with Kansas, Missouri, Tulsa, and UMKC.  All we’ve done this year is had one December intersquad meet and about five months of training.  Everyone is antsy to get started, especially the coaches.

The coaches are hoping that the athletes did what they were supposed to do over the holiday break and are ready to compete.  Heck, our indoor conference meet is only six weeks away.  While the athletes are thinking about what they need to do to get ready for the next race, the coaches are already thinking about how we stack up in the MVC championships.

A college track & field program is like a three-ring circus – at Wichita State it’s a six-ring circus.

We are basically divided up into six groups: distance, throwers, jumpers, pole vaulters, sprinters/hurdlers, and multi events.  All with their own training programs, all motivated to get better every week, all trying to help the team come championship time.

And tomorrow we will see where we are.

We know Northern Iowa is the team to beat on the men’s side in the MVC.  They are preseason #8 in the NCAA and scored 200+ points last spring.  Our women have won eight consecutive MVC championships (CC, indoor, outdoor) but we know that Northern Iowa and others are ready to end the streak.  There are lots of uncertainties.  There are lots of questions.  There are lots of races to come.  It will all be done in an instant.

The next five months are upon us.  Here we go 2008 college track and field!

Untitled Comment

1:08 AM, January 19, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

I enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to reading more. Good luck to you, even though I'm a Saluki track alum! Go MVC (Go Dawgs)! :)