IU Relays Preview

Kristen Mathews, a senior high jumper for the RedHawks, offers a preview of this weekend's Indiana Relays...


Miami’s Women’s Track and Field Team cannot wait for the MAC Championships...This year, we are going to MAC's to "Create The Order”...We want rings, and we are going after them.

On the way to MAC's...we have things to do. This week, we're off to the Indiana Relays, where we'll show the progress that we have made in our training.


In the sprints, we have the super-fast Lindsey Forconi, Diona Graves and Margarita Pogorelov entered in the 60m and 200m Dashes. “We're getting into competitions now, so, practice has changed...we're trying to sustain our fitness- not build on it" says sophomore Lindsey "Linda" Forconi. "I like it, because it makes me feel fresher...like I'm more able to run fast. I'm excited, because so far the training feels successful and I want to see how well everyone does this weekend!"


In the other sprints/hurdles events, MU will have Rachael Clay, Maria Holztrager, Tasha Profit, and Ruthie Rasch banking around the rest of the field in the 400m Dash, while freshman Layne Baggett and junior Alex DeWitz will be hurdling over the competition in the 60m Hurdles. The RedHawks will also look to keep their 4x400m Relay unbeaten streak intact, as they face their toughest competition to date.


In the jumps, Adrienne Cristofoli, Nicki Mitchell, and Magda Wikar will be long jumping, while Hope Alexander and Krista Stillson will be triple jumping. All will be jumping far. Across the infield, Alyssa Janezic, Kristen Mathews and Nicki Mitchell will be jumping high. "Our jumpers are making progress every week," says Kristen Mathews. "Every time we miss it’s just something little, so when it all comes together, like it is starting to, we are going to have some very nice looking jumps over some very high bars.”


And, last but not least, Vaulters Brittney Bernardoni, Sarah Kinnaman, Amanda Rhoades, and Hannah Tabler will be vaulting so high they could stop and change the lightbulbs in IU’s oddly lit facility. "Everyone is making huge improvements in practice and it will show in the meets when it matters most,” said senior Brittney Bernardoni.


CTO: 28 days.

Kristen

Competing with Passion

"Nothing great has even been accomplished without passion."
-German Author

Our ladies showed much greater passion this weekend, as we competed at the Indiana University Gladstein Invitational. Highlights included:


Day 1
Senior Captain Nicki Mitchell nearly recorded an NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark in the Pentathlon. Her score was less than 90 points shy of her personal-best. Look for Nicki to hit the provisional mark very soon.

Our "field" group was led by Hope Alexander, who improved her season's best Triple Jump by nearly .5 meters. Hope is quickly re-becoming one of the MAC's best triple jumpers.


Day 2
Our 4x400m relay team ran nearly 5.5 seconds faster than a week ago, to post a time of 3:51.01...Rachel Clay led the way with another solid anchor leg (55.4 seconds). Clay was also part of a 200m contingent (Pogorelov, Graves, Clay) who showed marked improvement, as we posted 3 of the top times at the meet.

In the field, senior captain Brittney Bernardoni led the way, as she recorded a new seasonal-best in the Pole Vault (3.72m). Brittney will soon be clearing really high bars.


Kristen Mathews, a senior high jumper, will be posting a preview of the Indiana Relays on Thursday...


Coach
CTO

Better Things To Come...

The season began in earnest on Saturday, as we competed at the BGSU Women's Team Challenge.

Highlights included Rachael Clay's anchor leg of the 4x400m Relay and Magda Wikar's effort in the Long Jump. Rachael ran a poised, passionate 56.3 split to keep us undefeated in the 4x400m Relay on the year. Magda rebounded from a poor preliminary round and recorded two solid jumps in the Finals to place third.

Overall, our month-long layoff was apparent, as the girls seemed flat- just as I expected. That will change, however, over the next few weeks. We'll now begin to adjust our training to allow for optimal performances at the end of February...


CTO

It's Time...

It's time for our Indoor Season to begin in earnest, as we head to the BGSU Women's Challenge tomorrow. Several MAC schools will be there, including Ball State, Bowling Green State, Central Michigan and Toledo.

The girls have had a very solid week of practice this week, as we transition into the 2nd semester. It'll be exciting to see how we perform tomorrow. And, even more exciting, performances should get better and better throughout the remainder of the season!

CTO in 41 days!


Coach