Off to Nationals

In spite of the fact that I only made two appearances this Indoor Track Season – once just before the Christmas holiday and a second time at Conference a few weeks ago – I was able to wrangle myself a spot on the team travelling to Nationals in Yankton, South Dakota. Even more remarkable, in my opinion anyway, is that I managed to do this in the 800 meters. Given that I wasn’t really allowed (both because of my injury recovery and lack of fitness) to race in the longer distances at the Conference Meet, I had to make do with 800. This was a distance that I gave up a long time ago: it has probably been four or five years since I tried my hand at it. Yet I did surprisingly well off the back of almost zero training, with my time on the 200-meter track coming out as 2.03 after the conversion. In fact, things went so well that I even ended up running the 1200 leg in the distance medley relay in the same day, which also went pretty well.

Anyway, back to the Nationals, I travelled as the alternate to the 4x800. I was quite fortunate that our lads had qualified in the 4x800 actually, since it is one of the few events where alternates are actually required; you don’t want to go trekking up to South Dakota only to have a runner injure himself and put the whole team out of action. Along with our 4x800 was a bunch of the team who had qualified in individual events. We had two sprinters, Brailyn in the 400 and Kemroy in the 200 and 60. Then there was Austin in the shotput, and finally by roommate Isaiah had qualified in the 1000. All of these guys had done brilliantly to qualify, since the rules had been changed this year because of our ever-present friend COVID-19. Qualifying wasn’t based on standards, but on the top 16 times. Isaiah qualifying was definitely the biggest achievement: he did it at Conference, which was his last chance. He snuck into the top 16 by a few tenths of a second, and won the Conference final in the process – beating a St Mary’s kid by throwing himself across the line. His time made him the fastest freshman in the nation over his distance, which is really incredible.

The Track at Mount Marty College, South Dakota

The aim for everyone at Nationals is to make it into the final and finish in the top eight. If you manage that then you’ll be classed as an ‘All American’ and they’ll give you a commemorative plaque. Our Nationals didn’t start off well – but things only got better and better as the days went on. Our 4x800 was disqualified because apparently our first leg, Mauro, broke too early. Then Isaiah managed to qualify for the final in the 1000 – knocking out that same St Mary’s lad by two hundredths of a second. Our sprinters and thrower also became all Americans in their events. Combined these achievements ranked Bethel in the top twenty colleges nationally, with the highest point score ever posted by the College in its history. A top week by all accounts. It was a real privilege to be able to experience Nationals for the first time – some of athletes there were ridiculously good. The one who stood out to everyone was from Oklahoma City. He dropped a 13.45 in the 5k – lapping the entire field – and then twenty minutes later he ran a 4.04 mile in the DMR. Ridiculousness. I also had the pleasure of meeting Emily’s teammates from Milligan in Tennessee - that College was very well represented and they ranked very highly.

Our 200 guy, Kemroy Cupid, in the final. The had a chat with 
the guy to his right - he's called Ben Jeffries, and he's from Bristol!

I have to really step things up over the next few weeks. I’ve got over this damned injury at last, and now I can look forward to the National cross country that will take place in April. I’ve only got a month to get a modicum of fitness back, so its going to be hard work from here on out. Hopefully I shall return to the top of the WEP Strava league table soon!

Isaiah running in the final. 

Speaking of WEP, I was extremely proud of the performance that our athletes and coaches put in for the EA competition a few weeks ago. This was the capping performance to a year of triumphs that have really put Wirral AC on the map. Where every club in England seems to have suffered as a result of Covid, we seem to be going from strength to strength, which is a testament to everyone that has really bought into the programme. I’ve been a member of the club for something like a decade now, and this is undoubtedly the greatest achievement that we have notched in that time. I would go so far as to say that it’s the best thing that has happened to us in several decades. This programme is leading our great clubs’ revival, after a long period of decline. The talent of WEPs kids is really quite scary at times! I only wish that our late chairman Leo could have been around to see his beloved club return to the glory days that he knew in his youth. Keep up the good work and trust the process (as these Americans are so fond of saying).