Tyler Ginger of Stanford Olympia updates you on what has happened in the past few weeks.

Well here it is, my second blog of many. A lot has happened these past few weeks including our first high school meet. I guarantee I will be leaving out so many things, but hopefully I hit all the main points while still providing some decent reading material. This blog will mainly consist of my meet overview of the Normal West Invite. Mainly because I haven’t had many notable workouts or any other big events, I promise not all of my blogs will be like this one.

Out of the 4 years I have been in track, this year is by far the earliest we have had a meet. As a result, it is also the earliest we have started preparing. Sometime in January my teammates and I got together to start running in order to get into shape earlier, even though I was still missing most of their workouts in order to vault with my club. But now I’m officially reunited with my teammates, and practicing full time with them again. However, all of those other friends who were staying with me happened to be distance runners. Therefore, aside from the warm-up run, I constantly found myself doing my own thing, usually consisting of build-ups, hurdle drills, speed ladders, and starts. Every once in awhile I would join the distance crew for a workout depending on what they were running.

After a few weeks of doing stairs and sprinting through our hallways, all I was looking forward to was our first meet; which was the Normal West Invite on the 23^rd. As a team we only took 6, including myself, since we were the only kids who had been preparing prior. Since it was early, and we hadn’t done much I wasn’t expecting any crazy performances from any us. I figured this was a meet just an early meet to see where everyone was at. But overall we had some pretty steller performances from my teammates and even myself.

Checking into pole vault, I found out that there were 33 kids entered into the event (which for any field event is a ridiculous amount, and it should have been split into 2 flights). The entry heights ranged everywhere from 8 to 15 feet. So, I decided to not warm-up for the start of the event. Why wait in a line of 33 people to maybe get 2 warm-up jumps in, and then have to sit for a few hours? I decided it wasn’t worth it, and instead waited to begin warming up for the 60m hurdles. The 60m hurdles was stacked with great hurdlers, and I was just happy to get to race against them this early, and see where I was compared to them. Stepping into the blocks for pre-lims was one of the most intense things I’ve done in my recent memory. I was incredibly nervous sitting in the blocks. But, once the race started all my thoughts were gone. I don’t remember my time, but it was solid for a first race, and I made it to finals. During finals I was a lot less nervous, and I came out with a 6^th place, with an all time PR. Overall, my hurdle form was pretty sloppy, but I was happy, having practiced them for only a week.

Originally I was also going to run the 60m dash and the 1600m relay, but due to some changes, we decided it wasn’t for the best. So instead I dropped those races and picked up the 200m. This marks a first for me, I have never run an open 200m. Even last year, I only ran the 4x200m a handful of times, so this was sort of a weird race for me. I really didn’t know what to expect coming in. Like the 60m hurdles before, I was pretty nervous getting into the blocks. But once again, as soon as the gun went off, that instinct kicks in, you forget everything and just go. Going into the second curve I thought it was going to be a tight race, but made up the stagger fairly quickly, and came into the last 50m with some room behind me. With no one to chase it made it a bit more difficult to push through the finish, but I won my heat with a 24.41.

After 5 hours from when pole vault started, I was finally on the runway to warm-up, just as the second to last heat of the 4x400 was on the track. I then waited for a few more minutes until the bar was put up to my starting height of 14 feet. My vault at 14 wasn’t the best looking, but I had an easy clearance. At this point in the meet, I am the only one left competing, in anything... From here I already had the win, so I decided to throw the bar up to 14’9”. With no one left I really just thought of the last few jumps as a practice, and I hoped accomplish something. My sole focus was on my takeoff, which is by far the worst part of my vault. On my first attempt, I told myself I was just going to fix it (which honestly wasn’t likely since that’s all I’ve tried do since sophomore year, with no luck…), but I was confident that it was going to be the one. I have no idea if it was some stroke of luck or sheer determination, but my takeoff was probably the best I’ve had in my entire life. It was so good, that it felt weird, due to the fact I’m used to having an awful takeoff. The last two weren’t the best attempts, probably because I was still a little jacked from my first jump, but my takeoffs on these jumps were also solid. Although my height wasn’t the best I’ve made, something really clicked with my takeoff. Even during my last practice after the meet, I was able to get that same takeoff on nearly every jump. That one single jump has fixed a lot of technical problems in my vault. All I can say is that this year is going to be a good one…

As for my teammates, they all tore it up this past weekend, putting up some pretty solid times. Ryan Weseloh ran a solid 1600m, running faster than he predicted, and Ryan Van Dyke also ran a solid 1600m, beating his previous indoor best. I would like to give a shout out to Chase Thurman for his 800m run. He came out with a 27s for his first 200m and we all thought he was going to hit the wall, HARD. But, he pushed through and ended up beating everyone in his heat by 65+ meters, running a 2:03, all while in a cast… That race is on my top 10 favorite races of all time. I have so much respect for all of these guys, they go hard every day, and it’s really starting to show. This year our distance crew is going to be crazy good.  

Words cannot express how it feels to be back with these guys. I absolutely love my club team, but there is just something about the high school season that puts me in a great mood. Maybe it’s the team, or maybe the extra load of events aside from vaulting. Either way I’m excited to see how this year is going to play out, not only for myself, but for also my teammates. Huge heights, distances, and times are going to come out of Olympia this year!

“You can’t run fast, by running slow” – Todd Wigginton

On a side note, I have officially committed, will be attending the Air Force Academy next year to vault as a Falcon. And as always, if you have any questions or requests please feel free to E-mail me:

[email protected]

Thanks for reading,

Tyler