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Post by bogeyman on Nov 15, 2022 11:25:02 GMT -6
T&F signee--Kenan Reil--hurdler, long jumper.
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Post by acutrackfan on Nov 15, 2022 13:30:00 GMT -6
Kenan Reil is a good signee for ACU - a senior at Justin Northwest just outside Fort Worth. At the 5A state meet last year, he qualified in 3 events - the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the LJ (getting 6th, 7th and 9th respectively). He was ranked #119 in the 110H and #120 in the 300H in the U.S. last year and with any improvement at all this year, he should move into the top 100 in the U.S.
The results for the XC team at the South Central XC meet were good - undoubtedly the best race for the men this year and a very solid race for the women. The women overcame a lot of adversity to get 13th this year at the regional meet. They lost 3 of their top 7 runners from last year to graduation (Briahna Gerlach, Sarah Wagler, and Ari Trevino). Then, the lose Grace White to a probable medical retirement and Tessa Holderman (last year's most pleasant surprise). So, they are down to 2 returnees from last year - the great Irene Rono and Prudence Kiyeng and Prudence sustained a training injury back home in Kenya during the summer and never was able to compete above 80-85% of her 2021 level. So, we end up depending on 4 true freshman (Peyton Bornstein, Kate Williams, Bella Evans, and Jenna Keeley), a walkon freshman (Kate Hansen) a walkon redshirt freshman (Renee Elliott), plus a returning walkon sophomore in Katelyn Coldicott). THEN, Jenna Keeley is injured mid-season and misses the first 3 meets. So with Irene and Prudence followed 5 freshmen, ACU gets 13th in the region. These freshmen could be really good by the time they are finished at ACU.
The men also overcame a lot of adversity. They had quite a bit of scholarship money sunk into Kevin Kipkosgei and Denis Lagat and they never ran in a meet this season due to injury (they graduate at midterm, so they also not be around in the spring to run on the track either). Promising sophomore Garrison Shindler ends up a medical redshirt this fall and both Gabe Embree and Cooper Goggans fight with nagging injuries this year - Gabe runs in the conference meet, but was too banged up for the regional meet. The team ends up getting 12th in region due to some of the runners moving WAY up in the standings this year. Levi Chambers was 73rd in 2021 and 28th this year. Maxwel Kiplagat was 91st in 2021 and 71st this year. Neal Helgersen did not make the traveling squad to the regional meet in 2021 and this year, he is 73rd. Chicago St transfer Kevin Castruita ends up in 78th and he was followed by 2 walkon true freshmen (Jacob Russell and Samuel Lanham) and a walkon junior (Gabe Trevino). Levi, Maxwel and Gabe Trevino all run PR's in the 10k and for the other 4, it was their first time to run the 10K in XC competition.
It was a good meet for both the men and women.
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Post by bogeyman on Nov 19, 2022 12:45:39 GMT -6
Rono finishes #110 @ Nationals.
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Post by Cap'n on Nov 20, 2022 16:20:30 GMT -6
This is an amazing outcome for a runner with no team to support her.
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Post by acutrackfan on Nov 21, 2022 12:55:03 GMT -6
Irene is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete -- she literally holds all of the ACU school records in the distance running events. Because of a series of events, she has less support than in years past. Briahna Gerlach graduated. Prudence Kiyeng sustained a training accident in Kenya this past summer, but she gutted it out this season never able to run over about 80-85% of capacity; Grace White had to medically retire from running; and Tessa Holderman had to have a surgery on her ankle and take a medical redshirt. So ACU had Irene, followed by a Prudence running at 80-85% and then followed by 5 freshmen. The freshmen love Irene -- she has poured into them all season. Several of the freshmen have bright futures at ACU.
Technically, due to COVID Irene is a junior in eligibility. BUT, she is a nursing major (which makes her success on the XC course and track even more special) and on track to graduate in May and there is nothing available at ACU that she could pursue academically. I have heard that ACU is pursuing recruiting one of her Kenyan club teammates -- I certainly hope so.
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Post by Outsider on Dec 22, 2022 18:36:25 GMT -6
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Post by acutrackfan on Dec 22, 2022 18:44:11 GMT -6
This is huge!! I have seen this guy run -- he is a huge sprint recruit.
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Post by acutrackfan on Dec 23, 2022 11:13:01 GMT -6
I had some more time to put together a little more about Sean Cooksey. He is the prime target for the ACU men's team in this recruiting cycle and getting him is big. ACU is building a solid group of sprinters to go with Jack Marshall, who is a good sprinter to build around.
Cooksey is from Breckenridge and he runs his regional meet on the Elmer Gray track. This past year, he ran a wind-legit 10.50 on the track, before moving to Austin to get 3rd in the 3A 100. That 10.50 put him #136 in the U.S. for high schoolers. He also ran a 10.25 at his area meet -- hand timed and no wind gauge recording, so the ranking services are not including that time, but it is FAST. He ran a wind-legit 10.74 as a HS sophomore, which got him to the state meet that year as well and placed him #383 in the U.S. -- that improvement of .24 in one year in the 100 is good, really good.
After the HS season, Cooksey ran in the Texas Meet of Champions -- running unattached and got 2nd in the 200 and 3rd in the 100. His time of 21.46 in the 200 is really solid for an event that he rarely has run in high school, although he did anchor B'ridge to a 2nd place finish at state in the 4x200 relay. I really think he could be a 10.3/21.0 guy by the end of this 2023 season.
In early January, I will post a preview of this coming season. The 'Cats will have their first indoor meet on January 20 - I look forward to seeing the team in action this season.
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Post by Cap'n on Dec 23, 2022 14:30:04 GMT -6
This is great. Add Banks, Jr to the mix and the sprints/relays could be pretty good next year.
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Post by acutrackfan on Jan 11, 2023 15:05:14 GMT -6
I just confirmed on the U of Jamestown website that Coach Jarvis Jelen will leave ACU to become the T&F/XC coach at Jamestown, which is an NAIA school in North Dakota. Jelen is a South Dakota native and familiar with that T&F in the far north. He will continue to coach at ACU through the indoor season - January and February, with the WAC meet occurring the final weekend in February. ACU will not have the first outdoor meet until the home meet (Kittley Invitational) in mid-March. I don't know who will be coaching the distance runners outdoors -- not sure if there is a short-term replacement who makes sense.
Jelen has done a really good job at ACU. He has shown a knack for developing his runners well -- Irene Rono was good coming out of HS in Kenya, but she has improved exponentially in her time at ACU. In fact, I don't know that I have ever seen the entire distance squad improve so much in one season as I saw last year. I hope that ACU can get a good replacement, but it will be really tough to get one before the outdoor season.
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Post by stickman1 on Jan 12, 2023 8:10:09 GMT -6
Sad to see Jelen go! He has done a great job building the team culturally and physically. He will be missed. Trackfan, I'm curious how you think they will go about finding a new coach and when that may happen. Will they be coachless for the Outdoor season? Will they have an interim coach? The last few hires from AD Lassiter have been high class, hopefully that trend continues for XC!
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Post by acutrackfan on Jan 12, 2023 9:17:22 GMT -6
Stick, as far as Jarvis goes, I agree 100% that he had built a strong distance team on limited resources. ACU has to compete with some really good distance programs -- CBU is giving somewhere around 10 scholarships to distance runners (they don't have anything on the T&F team by distance runners) and UVU -- a program that has come on strong in distance and is skewed toward distance runners, with fewer sprinters/jumpers, giving out 5-6 distance scholarships per gender. ACU gives out around 3 full-equivalents on the women's team and 2 on the men's team.
Stick, as far as your question about replacement -- I do not have any inside info on that, except that Jarvis will have a hand on getting his own replacement, I think that is one reason he agreed to stay for the next 1.5 months. Finding a XC coach between indoor and outdoor seasons is really tough. There are some good interim options in Abilene, if they can find the time. I do hope that ACU can get a solid XC/distance coach, but no doubt the salary could be a sticking point.
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dje
Rookie
Posts: 16
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Post by dje on Jan 12, 2023 14:48:17 GMT -6
Thanks for the update... sad to see Coach Jelen leave. He certainly has a gift for developing quality distance runners. Huge applause for all he's done and developed during his years at ACU. Deeply respect his faith and love for the Lord also.
Trackfan... couple questions...
(1) Do you think this a hire that AD Lassiter will have an interest in and be actively involved in? ... or do you think he will defer and let Coach Cook and Coach Jelen take the lead? This is such a niche coaching position and a close-knit community.
(2) It sounds as if funding -- not just scholarships --has been problematic for XC + TF. How does ACU compare to other similar mid-majors in regards to budget / spending / XCTF priority?
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Post by stickman1 on Feb 16, 2023 14:39:09 GMT -6
The WAC conference championships are about a week away now. I think ACU will be sending some runners to Lubbock this weekend for their last chance to secure their spot for conference or not. I know some results may change this weekend, but as of right now, here are some notable athletes who are ranked well in their events.
WOMEN
Sprints: D'Anna Smith currently sitting at 5th in the 60m, Savannah Walker 6th in the 200m, and Ja'Dasia 8th in the 400m (Sims is also ranked in the high jump.)
Mid D/Distance: Freshmen Riley Pyeatt 11th in the 800m, Irene Rono 3rd in the mile, 6th in the 3k, and 5th in the 5k (She usually does not race the mile at the championship meet); Grace White is also in 8th in the 5k, but many runners have yet to run 5ks so this could change at the meet in Spokane.
Field events: There is Payton Kirk sitting at 7th in the PV as well as 4th in the Long Jump, and Ella Antilla is leading the WAC in the triple jump. For the throws, we have Zoe Burelson 5th in the shot.
Overall, ACU is looking to be pretty well-rounded on the women's side. Although we lack some depth in some of these events. The 4x4 the DMR, and the Pentathlon will look to score some big points as well. This is a good group!
MEN
Sprints: Jack Marshall is sitting 3rd (60m) and 1st (200m), along with him in the 200 is Addison Franklin at 10th place. In the 400m we have newcomer Matthew Mills sitting at 12th with a lifetime pb in that event. In the 60 hurdles there is the strong duo of Jamal and Jeremy sitting at 2nd and 5th, respectively.
Mid D/Distance: Cooper Goggans is sitting on the outside looking in ranked 13th in the 800m. The mile looks weak for ACU with the rankings. But some of the guys will scratch to do the longer/shorter events, so this could change drastically. Levi Chambers is ranked 16th in the 3k and 8th in the 5k.
Field: True freshmen Jacob Thomas is 11th in the PV. Jamal, Will Harris, and Donovan litter the long jump pit with rankings of 9th, 10th, and 15th, respectively.
Throws: Tyler Richardson is leading the Wac in the Shot with Athan close behind at 3rd. Athan is 2nd in the Weight and Richardson is 6th as well.
Overall the men look solid as well. They have a little more depth than the woman. The throws will be strong with Richardson and Athan and Jamal should be looking to score in many events for the men's squad. Jack will also bring in lots of points in the shorter sprints. On the distance side it looks a little scarce. Goggans has a shot to score points in the 800, which he did last outdoor season. Chambers also has a chance to sneak into the 5k or 3k, snagging a point or two.
I am looking forward to seeing how it all plays out next week!
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Post by acutrackfan on Feb 22, 2023 9:58:01 GMT -6
I had a goal of having a track preview posted last, then I moved it to this month, and I started putting together one to merge with the conference preview -- I even started writing it and realized it would take me hours to do and I simply do not have hours to give right now. So, Here is an indoor conference preview. I will plan on doing the preview next month -- before the outdoor season gets started in the middle of March.
WOMEN - the women lost a staggering amount of firepower. There are some good young athletes, but some of them are being redshirted (in T&F, the best thing to do with any thrower, jumper and multi is to redshirt them, if that is possible). The team had a devastating injury when Amy Ambelang hit the inside curb at Tech during the 4x4 relay 2 weeks ago and blew out her Achilles and the team simply doesn't have enough depth to easily fill her loss. I think a walkon will be filling her spot on the 4x4 this coming weekend. I also don't know how the team losing Jarvis Jelen, the distance coach, will impact their performance this weekend. He will leave next week to take a HC job in the Dakotas, where he is from originally. The distance runners may respond with an all-out, amazing performance this weekend and I hope that is the case.
On the women's side, NM State, GCU and SFA look to be in the top tier of teams. NM State in particular had a great recruiting class. GCU got a kid who is transferring from UT-Tyler that ACU really coveted -- I will tell you more about that saga in my preview. The second tier of teams in the conference is filled with UVU, Sam Houston, and Southern Utah. UVU really benefits from the fact that CBU does not compete indoors (most west coast schools do not compete indoors since there is not a single indoor competitive facility in all of California OR Oregon -- the only west coast facility is in Seattle). ACU is in that 3rd tier with UTA and just a bit ahead of Tarleton. If everything went perfectly for ACU, I could see us moving up to 7th and a slight chance to move up to 6th -- probably no higher. I really don't see us slipping any lower than 8th. There are 12 teams that will compete on the women's side. The meet will be Spokane -- the only other track facility in a Pacific state. That will mean a long trip.
MEN - the men are in better shape. The primary loss from last year is JJ Ply (who is the first All-American in this current D-1 era). Plus, the 2 primary pole vaulters left the team early in the season - both had placed at conference in the past. The men's team is seasoned. But, they are also redshirting a LOT of freshmen who will help a lot eventually, but not this year. Also, a few key injuries hasn't helped things as well. Just like with the women, it will be interesting to see how the distance runners react to Coach Jelen leaving.
Right now, the top tier of the conference is GCA and UVU. SUU and SFA are a tier below them. And ACU is right at the top of that next tier of teams, trailed by UTA and Tarleton. There are only 10 teams that field an indoor men's team -- NM State is one of the scofflaws who do not. If everything goes perfectly for ACU, they could climb as high as 3rd. A bad meet and the team could fall as low as 7th. The middle ground -- 5th place -- is probably the most likely.
We will see.
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