2/18 update

Braves,

Another indoor season is in the books and we had some amazing things happen on our team. The single biggest difference between this team and the teams in the past in the number of committed athletes we had on the team. The more of you who come out and are determined to get better, the better our team is as a whole. We appreciate each of you and what you have contributed to the team, regardless of how fast you ran, or how far you threw. As I’ve said many times, your contribution is measured in work ethic, commitment, attitude, etc. We are proud of what this team did in those areas.

The Simplot games were a huge success for our team. The past two seasons we did not have anyone make finals so we were forced to come home early on Friday night/Saturday morning. This year we had 3 individuals and 2 relay teams qualify for finals. That is a huge jump from years past and something that the team will hopefully continue to build upon in the years to come. Trisha Thompson, a freshman qualified in the 3200m with a huge 13 second PR on Thursday night, marking the 3^rd fastest time ever run by a Bountiful athlete, indoor or outdoor. She ran so well that she nearly had a PR in the mile in the middle of her 2 mile run. Laurie made it in the 1600m, and then anchored our medley team which qualified for finals the next day. The girls medley of Trisha, Sadie, Olivia, and Laurie (whose average age is 15 – 2 freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior) qualified for finals, which is a pretty awesome accomplishment in such a competitive meet. They were the final team to qualify (12^th), but finished 8^th in finals. That is a feat to be proud of. Jace Jensen qualified in the 400m with the fastest overall time on Friday, then anchored the Medley of Ammon, Ben, Andrew, and Jace and qualified for the final as well. They ran two seconds faster the next day to also finish 8^th overall. Jace was in the fast heat of the 400m running against some of the fastest guys, not just from Utah, but in the country. He cut in at the 150 mark in 4^th place, but surged over the next 50m and squeezed through some narrow spaces, showing vision, speed, and agility in the middle of a 400, to move into first place at the halfway mark. From there he just flew down the straight away and into the turn leaving no opportunity for the competition to make a move on him. He won the race going away with a time of 48.77 – the third fastest time ever run by a Utah athlete on a 200m track. That race, particularly his move to wiggle into the front, was one of the craziest 400s I have ever seen. Check out his Instagram post for the full runnerspace video that really shows the details of the race.

We are thrilled that those three individuals and the relays did so well, but not because they are just good athletes, but because of how hard they work to get there. Racing well is the reward of hard work. If you work hard each day and give your best at every practice then racing in the fun part. I asked in our team meeting how many had a PR this weekend and nearly everyone raised their hand, and everyone raised their hand when I asked if they ran one of their fastest 3 times ever. That is outstanding considering the first day no one was allowed to wear spikes. We had 17 relay teams, and some of our runners had to run all 3 three relays. Abby and Naomi come to mind as two that ran every relay. They are distance runners but were happy to step up and run a 4x200 so others could have another race. There were others who did so as well and we appreciate your willingness to work for your teammates. We also saw some fantastic support from each of you during each other’s races. Watching you cheer for your teammates, no matter what place they were in, makes us want to continue the Simplot trip. Our goal for the trip this year was for each of you to have a positive experience and hopefully make you want to continue to get better as well. When you support, and are supported, it shows us that you are doing just that and makes the trip way more enjoyable, so I thank you for that.

Shoutout to Kamora who fully planned on racing but then at the last minute found herself on crutches unable to walk. She asked if she could still come and support, which she did and she took hundreds of photos for you all as well. And thank you to Shayla for being willing to fill in with less than 24 hours’ notice. We took an awesome group to Simplot and we are proud of this team and this indoor season. I harp on getting better each day, no matter if you are the fastest or the slowest, you just need to get a little better each day. Well, this team did get better each day and now at the end of the season we can look back and say we got a lot better. From those first days in November until now, we are a totally different team, in a good way, and it makes us excited for what is to come outdoors.

Outdoor track will meet 1 week from today, Monday the 26^th after school for our team meeting and sign up. Practices will begin on Tuesday. Our team is looking very solid on both the boys and girls side, with our girls trying to continue their success in cross country, winning the region title, and our boys looking to win region for the 4^th straight year – something they have never done. Depending on who else comes out for the team, our prospects for state are look to be higher than in years past as well. We hope that each of you who was a part of this indoor team comes out for outdoor as well. I know many of you had schedule conflicts or for whatever reason weren’t able to do all of indoor. If that applies to you I want you to know we still want you to join us for outdoor and hopefully your able to be with us each day.

Lastly, there were a few items left in vehicles after Simplot, so if you are missing something, please let me know.

Thanks for a great season Braves! On to the next one.

Coach Jacobson

2/11 update

Braves,

Another great week of work lead to some great performances Friday night at the Olympic Oval. There were tons of PRs and SBs in each event and Jace Jensen’s 49.04 in the 400m meter set a new meet record, meaning it was the fastest time ever run at this meet since it began 10 or so years ago. That is a huge accomplishment. More important that the record though is the fact that he, along with the majority of our team, has been working hard each day and continues to improve. We commend each of you for that, because it can be difficult to sustain for a long season, but this group keeps working hard and getting better.

On that note, there are many of you on our team who haven’t been able to stick with it this season. Many of you, for one reason or another, weren’t able to come to practices or meets consistently. I don’t write this to condemn you, rather to encourage you to join back up with us during the outdoor season. The first meeting for outdoor will be on Monday, February 26^th. The first meet is about 3 weeks after that. If you know people who did indoor, but not the whole time, invite them to join back up with us for outdoor. And, of course, invite your friends and peers to do outdoor track even if they didn’t do indoor.

We are taking 38 athletes to the Simplot Games this weekend. I won’t explain many of the details here but will email that group directly. If you aren’t going to Simplot we encourage you to still come to practice this week and work with the team to get better. Next week will be an off week after returning from Simplot.

Those of you going to Simplot, make sure you are at practice every day this week. We have a lot of practice to do with handoffs, which we will do every day, and to tune up before the meet.

Thank you for all of your hard work and your support of your teammates. We have some big things coming for our team this spring in outdoor track if we can continue to improve.

I’ll leave you with a paraphrased quote that Jared Ward shared from his sports psychologist at the pro-runners panel on Thursday night: fear and anxiety live in the future; regret and remorse live in the past; and none of those emotions help us in the present. Be sure to focus on the things you can control in the present rather than being weighed down by emotions that live elsewhere.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Coach Jacobson

2/4 update

Braves,

With no meet this week we were able to get in some great workouts and improve as a team. I was able to see some exceptional effort and workouts in all three of our areas: field events, distance, and sprint/hurdles. We feel great about this team and what you have made of this indoor season, and yet, after seeing some of the things you all did this week, I walked away feeling even more positive about what this team can accomplish than I did to begin the week. What that says to me is that you are continuing to work to get better each day. Let’s keep getting a little better each day, and by the end of the year we will have gotten a lot better.

This week we have a meet on Friday afternoon at the Olympic oval. This meet only has the 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. Talk to your event coach about what you should do. Registration is done at the meet, and is $5 to enter, and you can do as many events as you want.

We may have room for a couple more people to go to Simplot, so if you have procrastinated, I need your signed form at practice tomorrow. I will send an email out tomorrow to athletes and parents of athletes who are invited to attend with us. That email will include more information about the meet, and a meeting we will need to have with all athletes attending. That meeting will be held on this Tuesday 2/6 after practice, around 4:30 or 5. More on that tomorrow.

For those not going to Simplot, this is the last meet of the indoor season. Let’s make sure to get out and support each other and have our best races of the season thus far. There are only two weeks left of the indoor season, which is exciting for what is ahead, but I am always sad to see indoor end.

Lastly, I apologize for the hoodies still not being here. They have been on back order, and I honestly do not know when they will be here. Who knew that they would be the most popular item in America, apparently. Unfortunately this is something that occurs when you have a big team. In the future I will do what I can to avoid complications such as this one so that you can get the things you pay for in a timely manner.

Coach Jacobson