Under the Arch: Day Three

 

Mike Daugherty

 

Nice day for track. Sunny, not too warm, wind blowing so hard they had to move the decathlon pole vault to a different direction behind the grand stand. Good thing the wind slowed down by the time most of the running events started.

Friday morning was all about the men's decathlon. The second day includes 110m hurtles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500m run. Dec (that's the jargon for decathletes) athletes only get 30 minutes between the completion of one event before the next one starts. No time for Starbucks! Lucas Ohmes was awesome today. In fact, he has been awesome the last two days. He set five personal records in his events and tied two more PRs as well. Did I mention he set a new school record at 6941 points on his way to second in the nation? Sorry, should have mentioned that earlier. Lucas is another EOU All American.

One could say (and it was said by the way) that the difference in this meet between being the champion in the decathlon and second place was hitting the 5th hurdle on the opening event today. It was that close. It was exciting to see Lucas trade the lead throughout the event. It was a good thing that our hotel overlooks the TUMS plant in St. Louis. The need was especially apparent for Coach Welch and Coach Kegg. Coach Troutman was much more relaxed since Lucas destroyed the field in the pole vault.

Kasie Gillespie completed the women's heptathlon today. Her events included long jump, javelin, and 800 m run. She came back strong from injuries and gained 8th place nationally. We're pretty proud of her as well.

We had two more athletes compete today. Kirk Miller jumped 6.8 meters for a 14th place finish. He had a monster first jump but was red flagged because his foot went over the toe board. That was the jump that would have been. Marcella Bosch ran her 5000m trail in the twilight. She missed making the finals by about 2.5seconds. But, like the saying goes, every second counts and that is especially true in track.

We had a late dinner last night and I offered a toast to our coaches; Ben Welch, Jack Kegg, Dee Harrison, Tim Troutman, and athletic trainer Jon Hart. We also celebrated Jon's birthday. He got chocolate turtle cake, a candle, and three helium filled balloons. Just what every birthday boy wants. These men have done a great job and I really appreciate all their efforts on behalf of our students.

Finals are tomorrow and we have Katie Clapp and Justin Dean run the marathon at 6am, Stephanie Windle is in the women's steeplechase final, Doug Benson is in the men's 1500 final, and Peter Fry is in the triple jump finals. Lucas has also qualified for the men's pole vault final. If he recovers okay from the decathlon, he will jump.

 

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