Looking forward to nice weather and maybe a few more school records at Tennessee Relays

By Bill Lawson

Head Coach

We had some pretty unbelievable performances last week at the Northeast Ohio Quad in Akron despite some difficulties with the weather.

The ones that stick out on Friday night, in the last event of the day Matthias Tayala had the No. 4 throw in the nation. Even more impressive was his series. He had one foul and the rest were all 67-meters or better. And in pretty horrible conditions. Those conditions may not impact they way they would to a sprinter, but the wind was howling, the hands and muscles were cold. It doesn’t necessarily have an impact on the ball distance, but it does the body turning in the ring. It was very impressive.

A second huge record was Danniel Thomas in worse conditions on Saturday. She threw a school record 186’6” in the discus, going past a 19-year-old record. According to her throw coach, coach Fanger, she didn’t look that good technically. And yet she still had two great throws over 180. That’s impressive and it puts her top three or four in this region. 

The next standouts were the guys in the 100 meters. All of them had some very impressive performances. Wayne Gordon is now No. 3 all-time on our 100-meter list. It was a little windy, but the bad conditions make up for the extra wind they had. It’s exciting what those guys are doing. 

Roseanne Erickson in the long jump with a 6’0” is another very impressive performance. She probably punched her ticket for the regional meet. It puts her tops on the MAC list. At no time did she ever get on the board. Her furthest jump was behind the board. 

Jesse Oxley had another great performance. Because of the weather conditions, we had to move the pole vault inside and he punched his ticket to the first round down in North Florida. He won the meet and beat the national champion, Shawn Barber from Akron, who had a little bit of an off day. But still, if you compete against the best guy in the country, that’s a good performance. I still think Jesse has even better numbers ahead of him. The 17’.075” by Jesse was a personal record and the third best mark on the All-Time Top Performers List at Kent State.

Mike King had a good day. It was cold on Saturday. You couldn’t even feel your fingers. But he still threw 60’10”. That’s a good throw at this early stage and that is his first opening mark of the year.

There is an adjustment from indoor season to outdoor season, and especially with the weather we’ve been having. For the long jumpers, the high jumpers and pole vaulters, you have to adjust to swirling winds that are behind you and then in front of you or to the side of you. Miles Dunlap won the 400 hurdles this weekend when it was raining so hard that from the other side of the track you couldn’t see him. He ran 52.9, which isn’t his best time, but comparatively it is unbelievable in the elements.

In general, it is good to get outside. When we were in Louisville it was cold, raining and miserable. At least in Akron it was cold but the rain was on and off. 

If you are running in an event like the 800 or 1,500, and the wind is in your face, the wind is at your back, the wind is at your side, the rain coming down, it is good to adjust to the elements. So now we’ve had two really bad weather weekends with the hopes of having an unbelievably great weekend if the weather holds according to the forecast in Tennessee. They are talking about 70s on Friday and 75 on Saturday for the Tennessee Relays. It could really be exciting getting some SEC competition. 

It will be different competition, too, and not just the same competition we are used to seeing.

We are taking a big group. We are taking 60-plus athletes. The travel party is 72 with coaches and trainers. We are looking forward to a big weekend. 

We’ve had a pretty good start to the season even with the bad conditions. And we still have some our big guns who haven’t even opened up.

I think the Tennessee Relays will be a very good meet for the entire program. With the weather, it is going to feel like we are on spring break being down there. Every coach is taking their better kids, and every one of us are hopeful to move forward on the conference list, on the regional list, and who knows, maybe some more school records this weekend.