Peaking At the Right Time

This past weekend most of the UWM Men’s and Women’s Track & Field teams went to the Purdue Invite but a few of us got the opportunity to compete at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, CA. Tyler Bucholz competed in the 400m, Kelsey Conrad ran in the 100m and 200m, Abbie Zaspel and Elise Sigg both ran the 10K, John Simons ran the 5K, and I competed in the high jump.

Overall it was a good meet for us. Tyler won the college division of the 400m with a time of 47.09, which is also a new school record. Also, John broke the school record in the 5K with a time of 14:33.85. Kelsey’s 100m time of 12.00 was a season best and landed her a sixth place finish. Abbie and Elise had respectable times of 36:53.70 and 36:07.70 in the 10K. Also I had a decent jump of 2.10m (6’10.75") in the high jump to finish tied for second.

I feel that both our men’s and women’s teams are right where we need to be at this point of the season. Everyone is looking really strong in their events and we are starting to see some big "PRs" out of people. Tyler is running better every week and — mark my words — he’s going to run at least mid-46-seconds in the 400m at the Horizon League Championships. Plus, he has set himself up to go sub-21 seconds in the 200m. I can’t wait to watch it!

Another event to keep your eye on in the upcoming weeks is the long jump. Jerrett Mickens from Valpo just popped a big jump this last weekend of 7.28m (23’10.75") but I know my teammate Jake Whitewater and myself will be on his heels at the Horizon League Championships. Both of us have been over 23’ all year and are ready to get a big one. Don’t be surprised if there are some 24’ jumps at conference meet!

On the girls side the event to watch, in my opinion, is the triple jump. We have two girls that have now jumped over 40’ this year, Beth Zimmerman and Samia Taylor. There are a few girls in the conference on their heels so it’s shaping up to be a great event to watch. This is the time of year where people start getting some big marks and I know our coaches have trained us correctly, so that we’re hitting our "PRs" these next few weeks.

We have one more week until the conference meet, but a few teammates and I will be going to the Drake Relays. This is one of the best meets I have ever competed in and I can’t wait! I’m only high jumping again this weekend but I feel a big jump coming. I’ve been just clipping off bars at 7’2" all season and this is the time of the year to finally get over it. This next week a lot of people are going to be making moves up the ranks within the Horizon League... and nationally. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens this week and how all the teams have set themselves up going into the conference meet.