Track Season ends

lil late but here goes. The 2009 track season comes to an end with some good news to report. The season was full of hard work and training and I will give it to the kids who kept up with the work outs everyday. Weather it was repeats on the track or repeats on the Apple hill they did as I asked with very little complaining and in the end it paid off with several PR's and state qualifiers.

I am proud of them and what they had accomplished this year. Throughout the year the track meets had every kind of weather and the Illinois winds. Times just kept improving. It didn't matter if you were a sprinter or a LD (Long Distance)kid. To get them to peak, physically and especially mentally at the right time is the key. The entire week prior to sectionals we worked strictly on mental toughness through visualization drills and strategy drills on the track.

At the sectional track meet there were 91 kids that qualified. No doubt the toughest sectional in the state. Heyworth qualified returning state champ Ben Asmus 400 and 200 and 4x100 relay. Kyle Andrea 100, 4x100 relay along with Ethan Wilson and Leon Peters as a team.

LD kids came away with PR's in every event. The fastest mile in the state as a freshman was 4:41 by Zach Quinn. That time would have qualified in 8 of the other 15 sectionals. Hayden Kingery PR mile 4:50 Matt Berry PR 3200 and Ryan Wilson ran a great race in the 800 and also had a PR. These guys put in the miles and it showed. There will be state qualifiers next year for sure.

At the state meet Ben Asmus repeated as the 400 champ, took 2nd in the 200 and the relay team came in 2nd. There were some state records that fell this year in just about every distance and Illinois has a tremendous amount of talent which everyone will see the next few years.