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

1/28 update

Braves,

This past weekend was filled with great performances. I haven’t gone through and updated the performance list yet, but looking through the results it looks like nearly everyone had a PR (personal record) or SB (seasonal best) in one or more races, which was incredible. There were a lot of highlights at the meet but I will mention only a few.

There were a lot of races I loved seeing this weekend, but none more than Emma Blodgett in the 400m on Friday, who had a phenomenal race, and then again in the relay on Saturday. She had a 5 second PR and looked like a completely different runner. She showed a lot of heart and determination over the last 100m to finish strong when it would have been easy to coast to the finish. I love seeing hard work pay off. The two-milers on Saturday had huge improvements as well. Laurie and Trish finished with 40 second PRs, Laurie setting a new school record, and placing 5^th and 7^th respectively with at a meet with over 50 schools in attendance. Belle, Mckinley, and Naomi followed that race up with some big PRs as well. Laurie set a new school record in the 800m earlier that day by finishing second over all in 2:20. It was an awesome race where angry-Laurie showed up with an incredible finish. The girls team finished tied for 13^th overall, which is outstanding considering how many teams and athletes were at the meet.

On the boys side, it was the same thing. The 4x800 finished 6^th in a very tough field, and the 4x400 finished 4^th, both of which were new school records. Jace went for the quadfecta of school records, first destroying his own record in the 400m with a time of 49.40, just barely behind the winner who was in a different heat. He came back in the hurdles Saturday set that school record in 9.2, then again in the 800m at 2:00, and lastly in the 4x400m. It was a pretty historical day for Bountiful High.

Whether you were setting new school records like Laurie (800m, 1600m), Dallin (1600m, 4x400), or Jace (400m, 60H, 800m, 4x400), setting a new PR (like nearly everyone), or a SB it is all essentially the same. The trick is to keep getting better. If your PR results in a new school record, then great, and if your PR results in being last at the meet, then great! You still got a PR. We are always happy with a PR, but that doesn’t mean we are satisfied. What we care about, and what each of you should care about, is improving each day at practice, and in each race. While it isn’t practical to set a new PR with every race, the trend of improvement is what we are looking for.

We saw a lot of great team support, and genuine happiness for each other’s success. That is vitally important to the success of the team and we appreciate you being great teammates and athletes who are driven to improve and help others improve on the way.

As a reminder, I need your Simplot parental consent forms returned to me by Wednesday if you are interested in going. We will take as many of you as possible. If the only reason you, or your son or daughter, cannot go is because of the cost, please let me know and we can see what we can do. Parents, if you would like to drive or even stay up, please let me know as soon as you can so we can count how many seats we have going up.

Let me know what questions you have.

Coach Jacobson

1/21 update

Braves,

What an awesome day yesterday up at Weber State. There were some awesome races, new school records and other all-time marks, and 40 kids racing in a relay at the end of a long day. I cannot believe how long that meet went, but I love how positive you all remained as afternoon turned to evening, then night. I’ve never been to an indoor meet that went that long, and I’ve never seen that many relay teams from a single school. We are proud of this group because you aren’t afraid to compete, your patient, supportive, and make it fun for each other. Most schools only have one or two relay teams for a variety of reasons, but mostly because there aren’t enough people willing to run them. That is not a problem we have, and I feel very fortunate to be a part of such a dedicated bunch. In fact, I had to add a relay team during the meet because I had four more people who wanted to run. We appreciate your determination, it will help you to improve week in and week out.

There were a lot of PRs (personal records) yesterday but I also saw a lot of times that were about the same as last week, or even slightly slower. Obviously you always want to improve on your PRs, so it can be discouraging when you don’t see an improvement in the times. However, that is often how this sport works. Often you see similar times for several weeks before suddenly having a big break through and a big PR. So stay patient with yourselves when you don’t see improvements in every race every week, what that means is that you are going to be due for a break through.

This week we will be competing at the Olympic Oval in kearns (google map link can be found on our website). This meet is the biggest one we will see in Utah, so they break it into two days. On Friday they will race the mile, the 400, the 4x800, and all the field events. Saturday will have the other running events. Talk to your coaches about what events you should do. The registration is the same as with BYU/Weber and I have provided the link below. NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 11:59 PM.

We are excited about this meet because it is a great facility and because the racing experience you have had over the past few weeks will start to pay off for you. Once again, we will enter and pay for the relays. Please let us know if you want to do a relay or two (considering the 4x800 and 4x400 are on different days).

Let me know if you have any questions. Expect during this week or next some info concerning the Simplot games. And lastly, we have decided not to do the Boise State meet this season, but are open to it next year.

Schedule and info – https://www.runnercard.com/runner/data/184432/1001584/schedule/UHSTCA%20Invitational%20Championships1.pdf

Registration -  https://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Main?meet=1001584

Coach Jacobson

1/4 update

Braves,

Another week of work is in the books. We have a short week this week with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday and teacher prep day on Tuesday (no school either day). We won’t be practicing on Monday, but we still encourage you to get out and run that day. On Tuesday, while there is no school, for those who are in town, we will be practicing that morning at 8 AM. It will be a bit chilly in the morning, but plan on being outside if it isn’t snowing. As it happens, Makayla’s birthday is Tuesday so it was proposed to have an after practice birthday pot luck party in my classroom that morning. If you can, bring a little something to share with the team and come hang out for a while.

We have been emphasizing improving each day, and that remains fundamental to our teams philosophy. Recently I have been thinking of a few specific things that I can change or improve to be a more effective coach, and help each of you have a positive experience on the team. We encourage each of you to set specific goals of things you can do better to make yourself a better athlete or teammate. They need not be huge earth shattering things, but rather small and simple things. As the great John Wooden taught, success is found in the details; attention to those little things leads to success.

We appreciate each one of you on this team for being determined athletes and for being coachable. It makes our lives as coaches so much easier when the team is dedicated individually and collectively and when you are coachable. We are lucky to be surrounded by some great kids.

This weekend we will be at the Weber State invitational. A map to the facility can be found on our website www.bravestrack.blogspot.com

The meet information can be found here https://weberstatesports.com/documents/2017/12/5/2018_Weber_State_Indoor_Invitational_Information.pdf

Once again, field events will be contested Friday night and the running events will be Saturday. Registration will be done on runnercard, just like for BYU, and the prices will be comparable. Here is the link for registration. https://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Main?meet=1001577 You are allowed to sign up for the meet in person, but the cost is significantly more so we recommend signing up online.

As with BYU, we will pay for and enter the relays. There is a 4x400 and a 4x800 at this meet. If you would like to be entered in a relay please replay letting me know. If you are unsure whether you should do the 4x400 or the 4x800, talk to your event coach. We want everyone in a relay. It is a lot of fun when we field a lot of teams and we are out competing with each other and with other schools.

This meet typically is shorter than the BYU meet but because it starts at 9 rather than 7 it may end about the same time.

If you have any questions, please let me know. See you Tuesday morning.

Coach Jacobson

1/7 update

Braves,

We had a great showing at the meet on Friday and Saturday. We had over 50 athletes compete in over 140 events (that was nearly 100 more than the next most from an individual school) and we had 9 relays to end the meet. These stats tell us a couple of things. First, we have a lot of kids who are willing to and understand the value of hard work. A lot of you did 3 or 4 events, and that is awesome. Race experience is invaluable at this point in the year, especially with how young our team is. Second, our TEAM is doing what it takes to get better. On many teams there are individuals who will work hard but true success won’t happen until the team works hard together. We don’t have 9 relays or 140 events unless the TEAM is committed to working hard as one group. Third, you are making this a positive experience for your teammates. Few things make our lives as coaches better than seeing each of you supporting your teammates while they are competing, and enjoying yourselves during the course of the meet, even when you have 3 hours between races, while still preparing yourselves for your own events. Not every team has that kind of support and positive attitude that I saw from this group on Friday and Saturday. Fourth, we have a team that wants to get better. This isn’t about showcasing how talented we are, but rather taking a step forward each day so that we can reach our full potential at the end of the year. Along the way we know you will have a lot of fun because of the high character individuals that abound on our team.

At the end of the meet on Saturday I mentioned the ups and downs of every track meet. There are always going to be good things and bad things, the trick is learning from the mistakes or struggles and getting better from there, while continuing to improve on the good results as well. Whether you had good performances, or poor performances, or a mixture in between, what we do on Monday doesn’t change: we get back to it, and get better. We learn from our good races and we learn from our bad races. We learn from the good marks and the bad ones. We get back on Monday and get to work to keep getting better.

The effort we saw on Saturday was as good as we could have hoped, and we are thrilled about that, but in the long run that won’t mean much if we can’t continue to build of it. Now is not the time to be complacent, just as it is not the time to be discouraged. We are excited to see what this team can accomplish if we can keep improving. We have been impressed with the work ethic thus far this season, but if we still must find ways to improve.

This week we do not have a meet, but we will the following week at Weber State. We will talk some about that this week due to the short week of school next week.

I hope each of you is proud of the effort you put in this weekend, because we certainly were. I didn’t see a single race where someone didn’t give everything they had. Keep that up and keep up the awesome effort you have been giving at practices. We took a lot of pictures at the meet, and if you took any you can add them to the album. Below is a link to the album, via our website, so you can view the photos. I apologize for missing some of you, and for the quality.

http://bravestrack.blogspot.com/p/2018-pictures.html

Coach Jacobson

12/31 update

Braves,

I hope you all have a happy new year and that you are ready to get back at it on Tuesday. Over the break we had some solid practices with those who were able to make it. I can confidently say that everyone who came to those practices got better each day, because of the quality of work they put in. On Friday we did 20 short rest 200s and there was some outstanding consistency and effort. I was impressed by the entire group, both the attitude and the determination to give their best on each rep. I couldn’t help but notice a few of our young runners, Grady, Olivia, and Karalyn, all doing an outstanding job of finishing, then simply getting back on the line. When you have a tough day it is easy to try and make excuses for why it is too difficult, why you’re having a bad day, or why you can’t finish the workout, etc. These athletes (and many others that I haven’t mentioned here) avoided those excuses and simply walked back to the line to get ready to go again and again. In fact, our entire team did just that on Friday, and it was awesome to see. This team keeps showing what it takes to get better every day, and that is the key to our, and any team’s, success.

This week we compete at the BYU invite, which has events on Friday and Saturday. Field events and the 3200m are on Friday, and everything else is on Saturday. I have included the links to go on and register, the meet information, and the map to the meet at the end of this email. In the past, this meet has lasted into the evening hours. At the meet info link you can see at what time each event was competed in years past. This year, I anticipate it ending significantly earlier because they are starting earlier, and the two mile is on Friday. The meet director’s goal is to be done by 4 pm on Saturday, but that may or may not be the case, so I plan on a long day.

Indoor track meets can be long affairs due to the huge popularity around the state, and the limited track space. We encourage you to make the meet fun between your races by supporting your teammates in their races, and bringing things to pass the time like homework or games. These meets are way fun, in my opinion, and I thought that as an athlete years ago, and now as a coach.

Because indoor track is a club sport (outdoor track is a school sport) each individual will have to sign themselves up. Before you sign up, talk to your event coach (either through email or at practice on Tuesday) about what events you should be doing. Coach Caitlin can be reached at cpjacobson19@gmail.com. Registration closes on Thursday, but don’t procrastinate or you may end up like a few kids last year who kept procrastinating then missed it all together.

Lastly, BYU’s indoor track is 321.5m around. At the end of the meet they do a 4x1 lap instead of a 4x400 for simplicity. We hope to have as many of you as possible run the 4x1 lap at the end of the meet. Last year we had 5 Bountiful teams compete, which was the most from any school, and this year we would like even more. The relay at the end is one of the most fun parts of the meet, and it is a fun and great opportunity for sprinters and distance runners to get better and race together.

DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THE RELAY ONLINE. We will sign up the relays and pay for them. EMAIL ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A RELAY. I ask you to email me so I can get a count of how many teams I need to register and pay for. Again, we want to have an awesome group there this next weekend competing and getting better. Last season we had the second biggest team in the state at these indoor meets and I hope that we can continue that tradition of dedication and determination.

If you have any questions about the meet, don’t hesitate to ask.

Coach Jacobson

Registration: https://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Main?meet=1001576

Meet info: http://www.byutrack.com/various/Special/Meet_Info/2017-18/BYUHSIndoor/Coug-HSIN18.htm

Map to the meet: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Smith+Fieldhouse+(SFH)/@40.2473836,-111.6552114,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xe988d551777d2390!8m2!3d40.2473836!4d-111.6552114

12/24 update

Braves,

I hope you have all had a great time during this break. With the extended time off I began reading the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck, who is an important person in educational psychology, particularly over the past few years. There is too much in the book to give a complete rundown here, but in my reading a certain paragraph stood out to me which I felt was applicable to our team.

“Billie Jean King says it’s all about what you want to look back and say. I agree with her. You can look back and say, “I could have been…,” polishing your unused endowments like trophies. Or you can look back and say, “I gave my all for the things I valued.” Think about what you want to look back and say.”

When she says “endowments” she means natural abilities. In other words, we can look back on any facet of our lives and say “I could have been… if only….” (I could have been a brain surgeon if I had wanted to) or we can look back and say “I became a… because I gave my all…” (We became region champions because we gave everything we had day in and day out). This is a simplistic explanation, but the first response is said by those who are afraid to try, for fear of trying and failing. For many of us it is a scary thought to try as hard as we can, and still fail. Instead, it is easier to not try so if we fail we have a built-in excuse (I could have won, but I didn’t try that hard). The second response is said by those who habitually give everything they have, without fear of failure, because they have an understanding that “failure” isn’t what they are, rather, it is something that happens on the path to improvement (e.g., I am a failure vs. I failed this time…). I hope that we can understand that failure is not something we are, but something that happens. May we always give our best effort each day recognizing that success is something found through consistent effort, and not something that is given to us because of our “endowments” (natural abilities).

We are excited for racing season to begin. Our first meet is next weekend (1/5-6). I will give a better explanation on how to sign up in an email later this week. Talk to your event coaches about what events to sign up for.

We will practice this week as a team on Wednesday 12/27, and Friday 12/29 at 8 AM. Your best bet is to enter the building on the third floor back doors by the fieldhouse/tech center. Hope to see all of you there who are in town. If you can’t make it, and on days we aren’t meeting, we strongly encourage you to get out and run so that you don’t take a step back before we get back next week.

Enjoy the remainder of the break!

Coach Jacobson

12/17 update

Braves,

This indoor track season is flying by and we have seen some pretty awesome improvement over the first three weeks of the year. As we approach the winter break it is important not to get complacent or to relax on your commitment. We have less than three weeks before our first meet, and a week and a half of that will be during the break. Let’s keep getting better one day at a time before that first race.

We will practice Monday and Tuesday but will not practice on Wednesday during the early out. During the break 3 times: Thursday 12/21 (this week), Wednesday 12/27, and Friday 12/29 of next week. I understand that you have things going on with family or being out of town so these practices are not mandatory, per se, but we encourage you to come if you are in town. We will be prompt so that you can get to the activities that you have planned during the day. We are deciding between 8 AM or 9 AM, so if you have a preference please let me know at practice today.

While we will only be meeting three times during the break, we encourage you to get out and run and be active so you don’t lose what you have gained over the past month. Spend time with family and friends doing things you enjoy away from school, and make sure to get plenty of sleep.

Again, we are extremely excited about this team and how well you have been working over the first three weeks. We are off to a great start, but as with every team, we certainly have room to improve.  Recommit yourself to give you best each day, starting today.

Coach Jacobson