The Trackless Track Team and Julian Smith

VULB#62 · May 22, 2012, 07:39:25 PM

Just wanted to point people to the VU release on Valpo 100m-200m sophomore sprinter Julian Smith who is at the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Fla. regionals this week. I also remember a recent hammer thrower (name escapes me) who also was a national level competitor. Some would say: "See, we can do it without track and field facilities." But I say, if we had even mid-level competitive T&F facilities, how many more kids could we attract to VU and with good coaching send to NCAA competitions?

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mtrack/news/2011-12/11822/valpos-smith-to-compete-at-ncaa-east-regional/

C-V: I qualified and medaled at the NCAA college finals in the javelin (same year Steve Cook won a national championship in the same meet). We had only a cinder track around Brown Field - but we had a track to practice on near our locker room in the Hilltop gym - it made such a difference. The ICC Championship and NCAA competition experiences were incredible.

Part of the reason I am on this board in the first place is the positive vibes I still remember from those days. In my four years: Gene Bartow's BB squad made VU history, our FB team (for which I started until injured and then coached) competed regularly and well against the likes of Ball State and Indiana State, Baseball went to NCAA post seasons and the CC and Track teams won countless meets as did the T&F team along with an ICC T&F championship (beating out the aforementioned BSU and ISU).

I mention my C-V only because I want you guys and gals to know what it was like back then, and that I long for VU to be in a similar position going forward in the current HL/D-I environment.

Be that as it may....... What Julian has done this year needs to be underscored.

Good luck and God's speed Julian!

valporun · May 22, 2012, 10:13:31 PM

Steve Bartholemew was the recent thrower who was of national caliber. He's currently a strength and conditioning coach for VU. I would have posted this myself, but I was busy with some baseball work for the team I work for in the summer, as our home schedule starts this Friday. Good luck to Julian! This is a great distinction for a young sprinter.

78crusader · May 22, 2012, 10:20:16 PM

Has anyone on this board asked Mark L recently what the deal is with the track? I suspect his answer would be something along the lines of "As soon as a donor steps forward it will get done," but I'd be interested in what he has to say.

valpotx · May 23, 2012, 03:12:39 AM

Laura Rolf was also a very competitive long distance runner for us recently I believe

vu72 · May 23, 2012, 08:59:54 AM

Quote from: valpotx on May 23, 2012, 03:12:39 AM
Laura Rolf was also a very competitive long distance runner for us recently I believe

She was an All-American. And tx, are you having sleep issues? Posting at 3 am??

LaPorteAveApostle · May 23, 2012, 11:00:50 AM

Quote from: vu72 on May 23, 2012, 08:59:54 AMShe was an All-American. And tx, are you having sleep issues? Posting at 3 am??

He's just trying to catch up since you beat him to 900 posts (and congrats!) : )

valpotx · May 23, 2012, 12:32:33 PM

I always have sleep issues lol. It is rare for me to get more than 5 hours of sleep each weekday

valporun · May 23, 2012, 10:25:17 PM

Laura Rolf was a good distance runner, but then it seemed, at least to me, that she lost interest or something unknown happened? I was just responding to the initial post about the recent thrower.

valporun · May 25, 2012, 09:37:56 AM

Julian Smith competed yesterday in the 100m dash at the NCAA East Regional. He was 45th out of 48, but as a sophomore from a school without a track competing against a lot of the big boys from Auburn, Florida, LSU, and the schools that don't have too many weather conditions to hinder their training on an everyday basis. I think a 10.96 against these guys is a good showing for a young kid who has no track to train on regularly. Good luck to him this summer, if he does any of the USATF circuit track meets, and going into next season.

VULB#62 · May 25, 2012, 09:41:58 AM

Hey Valporun, good thoughts on Julian. I noticed that UWM does quite well in T&F in the HL, but I couldn't find any track listed under facilities. Can you shed some light?

vu72 · May 25, 2012, 10:23:47 AM

Quote from: valporun on May 23, 2012, 10:25:17 PM
Laura Rolf was a good distance runner, but then it seemed, at least to me, that she lost interest or something unknown happened? I was just responding to the initial post about the recent thrower.

I just checked the record book and I guess I'm not sure what you were thinking about her losing interest. Her senior year was 2009 and she was the Horizon League champ in both 2007 and 2008(cross country), was Athlete of the Year in both years and was NCAA All Region in all four of her years at Valpo. She holds the Valpo record in the 5K at 16:40 and the 6K at 20:45. She was also a two time individual champ in track in 2009. I think what you may be thinking of was that perhaps she spent a semester overseas, as het running covers 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

As for UWM's domination in Track and Field '62, I think it is more just a numbers game. We have some Conference Champs but you need a bunch of athletes to compete well in every event and we don't have the depth of an Milwaukee. This might be the answer: Milwaukee has 30,000 students. Valpo has less.