Before and during selected meets this outdoor season, Nevada track and field athletes will blog about their experiences. Below is an entry from Natalia Jarawka:
3/28/10
Greetings track fans,
The first big outdoor weekend finally came as we boarded the plane on Friday afternoon. Friday evening we had pre-meet on the Drake Stadium track, which always help with getting into the mood of competition, being little more focused and motivated, and getting to know the track itself. I love coming to UCLA... the track is great and atmosphere even better, surroundings are amazing, warm weather, palm trees, almost no clothes on, doesn't get more California than that;)
Saturday morning few members of our team left for the track and the rest remained in the hotel because everyone competes at different times. Many of us followed the results life on-line from the hotel which I really like because I can know right away how my teammates did. Solid performances from our jumpers and sprinters were followed by Christy Works in 800, who ran a PR of 2.14.75 and advanced to Sunday finals.
Saturday evening, reserved for the distance carnival, brought many memories for me personally and good feelings. However, this time I was running my favorite steeplechase, leaving the 10km for our newbie. It's early in the season so we are still training hard, but I know I needed a good race for my confidence and my teammate also wanted solid races. I took 4th in the steeplechase with decent time. I was happy about my performance because I felt good and my steeple and water pit technique were much better, but there is always some disappointment when you are 4th... The podium was so close. But as I always tell myself "I will get them next time" ;) Gloria Sosa, our redshirt freshman got her first 3km steeplechase in. The 10km race is always amazing: at night, surrounded by lights and stars, running wild. As our coach often says, "it was a nice day to die." And so did our three girls, Jordan Burke, Nicole Painter and Tara Dines raced 25th laps with their hearts. All tired, but happy we got to the hotel after 11 p.m. and went straight to bed.
I love racing, but I also love days that I don't have to worry about my own race and watch other people, enjoy the meet and "breath track" all day long. Again we began our day with triple jumpers who look very promising, followed by hurdles. Strong performance from our hurdle groups in 100 hurdles by Gina Deckard who was 5th and April Pate who was 9th and 400 hurdles Cristina Hibbert who took 4th shows that our girls are working hard on all of the details that count for a great hurdler.
Next was Christy in the 800 final and you know that you're in shape when you PR two days in a row. Christy did a great job following Coach Elias' tactics and even though starting slower, she finished 5th with a great PR of 2.13.78. While Christy was cooling down Jalessa Jeffery in shot put and Courtney Beasly, La Tijera Avery in high jump were making marks in few last events. La Tiera had a great day and was very close to making some significant PR's. But not worry, it was her first outdoor meet and the result was great. The meet concluded with the 4x400 relay where our girls run season best, showing that later in the season they will be very strong. Right after relays we drove to the LAX airport, and half-asleep, boarded the plane. Some good laughs on the plane and bus finished our trip. I'm looking forward to some good training now and more competition.
Natalia Jarawka
3/27/10
Hey Wolf Pack Track Fans:
I just wanted to share some of the thoughts and feelings of Day 2 of the Cal-Nevada Championships trip. Keep a look out through out the season from comments from different team members. It will be our take on our travel and our competitions.
Here we go,
Pre-Competition...
Wake up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy... Okay maybe not exactly like P-Diddy, but I definitely woke up feeling something special this morning. It is the first day of the Cal-Nevada Championships, and I am no less than pumped to be vaulting today. It is currently 9:00 am on Saturday morning, and I am currently sitting in the breakfast area of our hotel awaiting my departure to Drake Stadium in sunny Los Angeles.
It is now 9:30 am; I just arrived at the track and immediately felt that warm feeling radiate through my body. It is a feeling that is indescribable, but is recognized by all competitors; it is the reason we compete. I will begin warming up for the vault competition soon. This vault competition has the potential to be one of the best collegiate vault competitions in the nation, and I am grateful to be a part of it. To be continued post-competition...
Post-Competition...
Well as expected, the vault competition was a dandy! Two girls jumped over 4.30 meters (14ft, and nationally leading marks). As for me, I recorded a new outdoor personal best and tied my all-time personal best with a vault of 3.70 meters. Casey Gray also vaulted well, clearing a bar of 3.55 meters.
There have been so many other highlights in the track events as well. Gina Deckard and April Pate both qualified in the finals of the 100 meter hurdles, and Cristina Hibbert qualified for the finals in the 400 meter hurdles. Both LaTiejera Avery and Debbie Amoah posted scoring finishes in the long jump.
From a captain's perspective, I could not be more proud of our team at this point in the season. I see the effort being put into every stride, every jump, every throw. You can expect big things from the Pack tomorrow as we finish up the Cal-Nevada Championships as well as in the rest of this outdoor season.
Alicia Echevarria
3/26/10
Hey Wolf Pack fans,
It's finally Friday and we are headed to Los Angeles in order to compete at the Cal-Nevada Championships.
I have been waiting for this day all week. Fortunately, we were leaving to go to LA at 10:30 in the morning which was pretty nice for all of us because we were able to sleep in. So I woke up pretty happy and excited.
Before we loaded the bus I went into sports medicine and got my treatment done so that I would be feeling completely ready to compete tomorrow. La Tijera, who will be competing in the long and the high jump, and I were talking about the competition and about how we feel about our practices and our minds coming into the competition and we both are on the same page and are ready to get out there and compete and I believe that everyone on the team feels the same way.
Everyone was a little exhausted and hungry when we got to the UCLA track, but as soon as we started warming up everyone got focused and had a good pre-meet.
This is my first time competing for the Pack at UCLA and that is pretty exciting. It is an honor for me to compete there as a freshman and I am ready to put out a good performance and to score for the Wolf Pack.
Most of us will be starting to compete tomorrow including me in the long jump. And those who won't be competing until Sunday will be coming to the track in order to cheer our team on. We are ready to "show them what we're made of" like our head coach Shantel Twiggs always says. I hope you guys are following us online so that you know how we did this Saturday and Sunday. Keep supporting us and we will keep up the good work and try to improve with each meet that is coming up this season until we are competing in the WAC Championships at Louisiana Tech.
So, Go Pack!
Debbie Amoah
