dave devine | recovery lap
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05 . 28 . 09
We look at a lot of meet results here at DyeStat.  We process performances and attend meets and write about them on deadline.  Somewhere around the middle of the week, I'm always looking for a breather, a little break, a short recovery before the next onslaught of invites and mega-meets. Maybe watch a few videos. Surf the web. Find a good story or two. As a runner and a coach, I learned the value of rest between hard efforts. As an editor, I'm planning to bring you along.  Let's go run a lap. Got something for the 'Lap? Send it HERE.

the top shot Oregon State Meet Girls Javelin - Photo by Robert Rosenberg

'that's jason's number' New Jersey two-lap star Jason Walton of Hillsborough would have been the #3 returner in the 800 this season, behind Elijah Greer and Zach Mellon, but as many in the DyeStat community will recall, Jason was killed tragically by a train last summer.  Last August 24th, more than 300 members of the New Jersey running scene gathered to remember Jason and honor his efforts on the track. Now, according to DyeStat Metro's Jim Lambert, this year's record-setting 800 runner and fellow Jersey guy, Robby Andrews, has found another way to honor the memory of Jason and his accomplishments: In one of the classiest moves by a high school track athlete in recent memory, Robby Andrews of Manalapan took the starting line for today’s Central Jersey, Group 4 800 race in Hillsborough with the number 2 on his hip, despite the fact that he was the No. 1 seed. Andrews decided that the No. 1 hip number should not be worn by anyone as a tribute to the memory of  the late Jason Walton of Hillsborough. Walton, who was second and Andrews third behind Monroe Kearns of Jackson in the Central Jersey, Group 4 800 last year, died tragically last summer when he was struck by a train. Walton won the 800 at the Meet of Champions last year as a junior and was one of the top half milers in the nation. "This is where he went (to school) and I’ve been thinking a lot about him lately,’’ said Andrews, who won the race in 1:56.21. "I don’t want people to ever forget him, so that’s why I decided to not wear the number 1. That’s Jason’s number."

alumni association In high school, University of Colorado freshman Emma Coburn might have been best known for pushing Shelby Greany to the wire in the 2008 Nike Outdoor Nationals girls steeplechase.  In that battle over the barriers, it was still either runner’s race to win or to lose approaching the final water jump - but Greany took control with a smooth clearance and won it going away. Greany, who this spring set the US high school record in the 2k steeple as a Suffern NY senior, ran 6:42.86 in victory, and Coburn settled for second in 6:44.42.  Now comes word that Coburn set the American Junior Record in the steeplechase at the Payton Jordan Invite at Stanford, running 10:06.54.  She recently finished 4th at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock and now has her sites set on the NCAA Regionals where she'll try to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville.  Here's a FloTrack interview with DyeStat alum and current Colorado Buff Emma Coburn:

crazy-good cousin combo At the Oregon state meet last weekend I had the pleasure of watching, for the second year in a row, a pair of cousins who will end up re-writing the record books in the high school throws before their prep careers are over.  And not just the Oregon record books--they've already done that-- the national record books.  Both cousins compete in shot, discus and javelin, but Gresham junior Sam Crouser excels in the javelin, while Barlow sophomore Ryan Crouser is stronger in the shot put and discus.  Both compete in the 6A classification in Oregon, and both set Oregon state records last weekend.  Ryan reached 66-01.25 to win the shot (with Sam second) and 183-02 to take the discus (with Sam third). Sam won the javelin with a #5 all-time throw of 231-1, while Ryan was runner-up in a PR 200-08.  Both now charge into the post-season, and both seem poised to push farther up the all-time lists.  Both have fathers who were record-setting throwers in high school and college.  And both are throwers you'll be reading about in the years to come. If you haven't seen the Crousers in action, check out the videos below. Here's Sam hitting 231-1 in the javelin: And here's a great angle on Ryan's 66-01.25 winning shot put:

new running read We're always looking for the next great running novel, right?  News that John L. Parker's legendary Once A Runner was being re-issued (in hard cover!) was greeted with huge enthusiasm among the running crowd, but you can only re-read the scene of Quenton Cassidy's epic repeats so many times.  So here comes a new novel about a high school runner, written by Michigan track scribe and DyeStat contributor Jeff Hollobaugh.  On the question of whether it's a book about running, Jeff says, "Yes and no. It's about a runner in his last semester of high school. But he's no champion. And there are races in it, but they're not exactly triumphant celebrations of the human spirit, a la "Running Brave." Here's the jacket blurb: A victim of the barbarous social scene at Shiawassee High School, Riley Matthew dreams only of a normal home life, a decent mile race, and perhaps a date. Instead, Riley’s final semester is marked by a mom on the brink of a breakdown, a school stunned by the bloodthirsty Kult of Fatality, and a collection of the scariest misfits in the school: mutant halfwit wrestlers, jailbirds, emo porn girls, slashers... not to mention his usual assortment of geekish friends. Can he make it to the finish line in one piece? Jeff's book, Fire, Barbed Wire & Tacks is available at Amazon.com.

gentlemen, start your buses The 4x400 relays are finally winding down.  Your heat of the 300 hurdles, in which you failed to reach the finals, was seven hours ago.  It's been a loooooong day at the track invitational, and you have a three-hour drive ahead of you, with a planned stop for some grease-soaked fast food at some point along the way.  You've got a paper to write for English on a book you have yet to read.  All you want to do is get home. You need one of these guys driving your bus.  (Preferrably not the one who rolls his ride on the fourth lap.)

the turning point At this year's Nike Indoor Nationals, eventual girls pentathlon winner Shakeia Pinnick was pushed to the brink by Michigan standout Ariel Roberts, who was competing in her first serious attempt at the event.  In fact, Roberts was leading Pinnick heading into the final 800 meter run, an event which happens to be one of Pinnick's strong points.  As expected, Pinnick gapped her there for the victory, but Roberts finished only 10 points back.  In a recent ESPN RISE profile, Roberts reveals that it hasn't always been this easy.  There was a moment two years ago when Roberts hit a low point in the sport and realized she needed to turn things around. At the Michgan outdoor state meet her sophomore year, ESPN RISE's Jon Mahoney relates, "Roberts got off to a promising start at the meet by capturing the high jump title with a leap of 5 feet, 7 inches, a mark that tied the Division 1 state meet record. Things went downhill from there, however, starting with the long jump, in which she placed seventh. Any thoughts of redemption in the 300 hurdles were quickly dashed when Roberts tripped over the first hurdle. Though the fall was tough to handle when it happened, it ended up being a blessing in disguise. It instantly awoke a certain determination in Roberts, who realized she needed to make numerous changes on and off the track to reach the level of success she desired. "It was an eye-opener," she says. A year later, Roberts earned her second consecutive state title in the high jump with a state-record leap of 5-9, and she finished second in the long jump. But more important, she added a state crown in the 300 hurdles." Roberts' moment of truth wasn't confined to the track, however.  She made changes in all aspects of her life.  Check out the full story of her turnaround in Mahoney's ESPN RISE piece.