[ back ]
Indoor runners on track for outdoor season
(by Steve Novak - January 21, 2010)
Indoor runners on track for outdoor season
By STEVE NOVAK
Anyone who thinks about indoor track most probably has a vision of athletes in shorts and jerseys racing around an oval while shirt-sleeved spectators cheer from the grandstands.
That's only part of it. The other part is that in the days and weeks leading up to a meet, the same athletes are wearing multiple layers of leg wear and sweaters, training by running through snow-strewn streets and sidewalks. It is often done when the thermometer reads in the in the 20-degree or under mark.
Then you have to throw in the fact that in Ohio, high school indoor track is not an official varsity sport. Much like lacrosse, it is not yet recognized by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. This often rules out any financial assistance from a high school which has an indoor track team.
So keep the indoor oval in mind, but remember the running in snow part, along with the lack of official sanctioning as an Ohio varsity sport.
None of these factors deter those who choose the sport. In many ways, running is a highly singular sport. This individuality runs over into the way that the athlete chooses to train. Snow, sleet and ice not only do not stop the U.S. mail, it does not stop determined track runners, either.
Chagrin Falls track coach Dave Kirk and West Geauga track coach Mike Taurasi are veterans of both the indoor and the outdoor seasons. Kirk is one of the district representatives for schools in Northeastern Ohio taking part in the indoor season.
Taurasi said he has found that athletes participate in the indoor season for a number of reasons, but one of the common ones is that athletes want to get in shape, or to stay in shape for the upcoming outdoor track season. Meets for this season begin toward the end of January.
"A lot of it has to do with their strength and conditioning," Taurasi said. "Most of them go (to practice) every night after school. Some of our runners went to the state outdoor meet last year, and they are motivated because they want to go back again."
West Geauga senior Stephanie Brinning is one of the Wolverines' indoor track standouts. She and her teammates usually meet at Chardon High School, and work out with several other area schools. There is some conditioning done in the gym, but there's also a lot of running outside.
"This is my third year in indoor track," she said. "I'd heard a lot about it when I was a freshman, and I wanted to be the best runner that I could be."
Brinning not only became a better runner after her indoor and outdoor track seasons. But by the time she was a sophomore, she set a West Geauga record in the long jump, and she was on the relay team which set a school record in the four-by-200 relay. Her long jump record is 16-11 1/4 inches. The relay team's time was 1:48.12.
Other members of the West Geauga indoor team are Irina Yakubenko, Allison Tyree and Kelly Williams. These runners were the other three members of the four-by-200 relay team that set the school record.
All four Wolverine runners will take part in weekend meets throughout February and March. The meets are held at colleges with indoor tracks, including Kent State University, University of Akron and Oberlin College.
Kelly Williams is a junior on the West Geauga team, specializing in the 400-meter run. She said she recently decided to give up up another winter sport so she could do extra training for track and field.
"I used to do gymnastics this time of year, but I quit gymnastics," Williams said. "I run (indoor track) because I thought I should move on and start practicing to make myself better."
Jeff Klein, one of the track coaches at Gilmour Academy, said that he gets a wide variety of athletes for indoor season, in addition to the ones who specialize just in track or field.
"We get cross-country kids who are looking for a sport in the winter," Klein said. "Also, we have many athletes who are cross-training for the off-season. They are varsity athletes who don't have a sport to play in the winter."
During last year's indoor state final meet at the University of Akron, two Gilmour runners won state championships. Bekka Simko won the 800-meter run in 2:21.07, while Candace Longino-Thomas won the 200-meter dash in 25.11 seconds.
Some of the members of this season's indoor team for Chagrin include shot putter Dan Driscoll and distance runners Evan Breitsch, Nathan Breitsch and Brian Breitsch.
Kirk said one of the first times he really noticed the impact of the indoor season was when the 2005 Chagrin Falls boys team finished sixth in the Division II state outdoor finals. Many of those outdoor runners previously had chosen to run the indoor season, too.
"It really got them off to a good start," he said. "Running indoors gave them a big jump on the outdoor season."
[ back ]
