Tyler WOWs at World Youth Championships

On July 9th in Lille, France, Tyler was competing at the World Youth Track and Field Championships over 10,000m's. He was coming off of a very strong performance at the USA Championships where he PR'd by 10 seconds in a solo performance. Today he was gunning for his TEAMmate, Trevor's, American record of 41:50.

Tyler started off very smart in around 27th place out of 32 walkers. As the race progressed he slowly worked his way up and then found himself in the top 10. He continued to fight as more competitors faded off of the fast pace. Tyler went through 5,000m's in a fast 20:55 which is the fastest first 5km's for Tyler. He continued to fight and he was able to negative split his second 5,000m's in a time of 20:28 to finish in a blistering time of 41:23.14, good enough for 5th place and to break Trevor's US record.

To put Tyler's amazing performance into perspective, his time would have won EVERY other previous World Youth Championship and broke the previous meet record by 12 seconds. Unfortunately, his year was the best ever and he was left without a medal. Nevertheless, we are thrilled with his performance and couldnt have asked for anything better. Tyler finished with a minute and 21 second PR, WOW!!! Just amazing!

Next up for the TEAM is Trevor and Tyler competing at the Pan Am Junior Championships in Miramar, Florida on July 24th.

Stay tuned!

TEAM

Seniors Smash PRs at USA Championships

On June 27th in Eugene, Oregon, six TEAM members competed in the 20km racewalk at the USA Track and Field Championships.

First up we had the men and in this race we had Coach Tim, Trevor and Chris. Trevor had decided to forgo his last Junior Nationals race to race for a spot on the World Championship team instead. Trevors plan was to go for the World Championship 'B' standard of 1:24:00 and hope that he would be able to win in the process. Trevor started off with John Nunn and Patrcik Stroupe and after a few kilometers went off by himself and the only thing that slowed him down were a few red cards. Because of those red cards, Trevor had to be very cautious and didnt push all the way to make sure that he didnt get disqualified. Trevor still managed to win the race in a time of 1:23:25.10 which was under the 'B' standard for the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in August. On the way to his title he managed to break Junior records every 5km's along the way, breaking the 5km, 10km, 15km and 20km Junior Road Records, wow!!!

Coach Tim raced steady keeping his place right from the gun. In typical Coach Tim style these days, he was more concerned about how his athletes were doing than racing himself. Since he couldnt challenge for 3rd and 5th was distant from him, he kept his 4th place from the beginning to the end and finished in a time of 1:31:28.32. Chris started off very well and looked strong but with a few kilometers to go you could see that Chris was having some problems, similar to the health problems he had been having the few months leading up to the race. He ended up being disqualified because he was wavering and as soon as he was shown the red paddle, he collapsed. Luckily after some help from some paramedics, Chris was fine.



Only 3 minutes later the women's race was off. We had Maria as defending champion, Lauren and Katie for the TEAM. Maria's plan was to go with Teresa Vail and fight till the end for the spot on the World Championship team. Maria did just that as the pair went out in a blazing pace clipping off kilometers in the 4:30's for the first 5km's. The pace started to slow and both women started to fade but it became a race of who would fade the least. Fortunately, Maria won that battle and smashed her PR and won another National title in a time of 1:34:51.47 and earned her spot on the World Championship team.

Fighting for another medal was Lauren as she finished 3rd last year. She started off the race very smart hanging with a few girls before she decided to pick up the pace after a few kilometers. Lauren walked the rest of the race alone, pushing the whole way and the hard work paid off finishing in a huge PR of 1:37:40.86, an Olympic 'B' standard and another 3rd place finish! Finishing up for the TEAM was Katie and she didnt disappoint. Katie has come a long way in a year and she walked practically the whole race alone and she looked strong. She finished in 5th with a huge PR of 1:41:10.49, 10 minutes faster than last year!



The TEAM finished a very successful weekend earning 7 medals between the USA and Canadian National Championships! Congratulations everyone! Up next for the TEAM is Tyler competing at the World Youth Championships in Lille, France.

Stay tuned!

TEAM

Rachel Wins 5th Canadian Title

On June 26th in Calgary, Alberta Canada, both Bruno and Rachel were set to try and defend their Canadian titles. They were placed with some pretty difficult hurdles as the race was at 3700 feet of altitude and the course was very uphill, definitely not built for fast times. Still, they were up for the challenge.

Up first were the Seniors and Rachel was looking to add a 5th title to her collection. Rachel had no competition right from the gun as she lead from start to finish and won in a time of 1:37:46 to win by a staggering 15 minutes. Rachel was happy with the race and her effort.

Next up was Bruno and he was also the returning champion but knew that this year would be a bit more challenging than last year. He was up for the challenge but unfortunately he came down with a cold the day before the race and it took over his body and he just couldnt put together a good performance. He still managed to finish 2nd in just over 52 minutes. He still, however, managed to secure a spot on the Canadian team which will compete in Boston, MA in August at the USA vs. Canada Dual meet.

Stay tuned!

TEAM

Juniors Impress at USA Championships

On June 26th in Eugene, Oregon, we had three Junior TEAM members competing in the Junior 10,000m USA Championships. All were hoping for some PRs and hoping that those PRs would bring them a medal too.

First up were the boys and our lone competitor was Tyler. With Trevor deciding to concentrate on the Senior 20km race, Tyler was his own competition. Being leaps ahead of the other competitors, Tyler's goal was to stay clean with the judges and get a good tune up race in before the World Youth Championships a few weeks later.

Tyler took command of the race right from the gun and never looked back. Tyler was feeling so good that in the second half he was started to pick up the pace but Coach Tim told him to slow it down and save it for World Youths. Tyler made sure to go fast enough to break the meet record and he did just that. He won in a time of 42:44.03 and stamped his ticket to World Youths and the Pan Am Junior Championships both in July.




Next were the girls where we had returning champion, Nicolette, and Molly. Both walked really strong races and managed to walk PRs to place 3rd and 5th respectively. Nicolette walked a time of 53:34.08 and Molly smashed her PR from Albany in a time of 55:44.37, just fantastic! Both have now qualified to represent the USA at the USA vs. Canada Dual Meet that will be held in Boston, MA in August.





The Juniors set up Nationals for the TEAM very well for Seniors the day after with 2 medals already and hopefully more to come.

Stay tuned!

TEAM

Molly Represents at USA 10km Champs

On June 4th in Albany, New York, Molly was the sole representative for the TEAM at the USA 10km Racewalk Championships. Molly was coming off some really good training and had a really good 5km time trial on her home course and smashed her PR. That time trial gave her a lot of confidence for this race and she knew that she was ready for a good race.

Molly raced really smart and managed to walk 57:21 to finish as the first Junior and 5th overall woman. This was another great confidence booster leading into Nationals in 3 weeks where she hopes to improve on her PR even more. We are confident in Molly and know that she will do great!

Up next for the TEAM is the USA National Championships and the Canadian Championships on the weekend of June 26-27th.

Stay tuned!

TEAM

Chris and Katie Do it AGAIN!

On May 27th in Marion, Indiana, three TEAM members were ready to go after more medals in the NAIA Outdoor Championships over 5,000m's. Coming off of very strong indoor seasons where all three of them medalled, Katie, Janelle and Chris were excited to see how they could do.

First up was the women's race. Both girls were going into the race with very different stories. Katie was in the best shape of her life and was coming off of a strong 20km PR a few months earlier and Janelle unfortunately had to get knee surgery following a tear in her meniscus after the indoor season.

Katie started off the race with the leaders and was going strong until the last few laps when the other two girls had an extra gear and Katie simply couldnt respond. Katie finished in a very impressive 3rd place in a big PR, walking 23:51.83. Katie may have come 3rd but she was the 1st American as 1st place was from Canada and 2nd place was from Hong Kong. Janelle unfortunately was having a lot of pain during the race and was forced to drop out.
Chris came into this race with a lot of unknowns. His training had been up and down since the Indoor Championships. He had a good performance over 20km's in March and from then on it was very inconsistent. Luckily the day of the race was an up day and did he ever surprise a lot of people. Chris had the same race plan as he did indoors. He focused on his own race and slowly kept moving his way up. He kept getting faster and passing everyone infront of him. He managed to catch everyone except for Canadian Evan Dunfee who broke the meet record. Chris finished in 2nd place in a huge PR of 20:42.02.

All three of our NAIA TEAM members had very impressive seasons and we look forward to more in the rest of the season.

Stay tuned!

TEAM