2024 USATF Illinois Masters & Open Indoor Championships - 11Feb'24

Our youth members weren’t the only ones in action this weekend. Both Jennifer and I made our way down to Illinois to take part in the USATF Illinois Masters & Open Championships. Jennifer had a great meet with 2 PRs (weight & super weight) and nearly made it 3 for 3 (only 5cm off her PR in shot). My performance was a bit ho-hum. A little better in shot and a little worse in weight than I did 4 weeks earlier. Hopefully I’ll have myself better ready to hit some big marks in late March at the USATF Masters Indoor National Championships.

Jennifer Heston – 8.08m (26’ 6.25”) – 1st Place 50-54yr shot put 

                       – 10.66m (34’ 11.75”) – 1st Place 50-54yr weight – PR

                       – 7.35m (24’ 1.5”) – 1st Place 50-54yr super weight – PR

Coach Toby      – 12.08m (39’ 7.75”) – 1st Place 55-59yr shot put

                       – 13.63m (44’ 8.75”) – 1st Place 55-59yr weight

Complete results can be found at https://results.shazamracing.com/meets/30261/events/1087364/results.

Results from the LAB MITS Meet: 10Feb’24

It was a busy day of coaching today. I started out at the LAB and then slipped over to EMU to watch Maggie and Zoe throw shot at the AAU 14U Indoor National meet and finally back to the LAB for the rest of the throws. We had 7 throwers in action at the LAB including a few more of my Six Mile TC athletes that hadn’t thrown in a meet yet.

I was very happy with their performances. We had 7 PRs out of 13 events! Addison, Lilly and Ryan all had double PRs (shot and discus). Addison broke the 100ft and 30ft barriers for the first time. Her mark in discus should qualify her for the MITS State meet in a few weeks! Lilly added 8ft to her discus PR and Ian added over a 7ft to his discus PR. Donovan had a very consistent series in discus with all 4 throws just under the big PR throw from last week. Robbie had some bombs in warm-ups at discus but was unable to find the same form during the competition. While it was disappointing that he won’t qualify for the MITS State meet (he’s capable of winning it), it was a good learning experience for me to see him in a meet vs practice setting. I have some things we can work on to help him carry those loose warm-up throws into the competition. Maggie was able to make it back from EMU in time to throw discus in the hopes of qualifying for the MITS State meet as a 7th grader. She had her 4th meet in a row over 90ft but couldn’t find the big one to punch her ticket. Some recent technical changes show signs of a breakthrough and I look forward to seeing her drop some bombs this summer on the AAU/USATF circuit.

Addison Schwarzenberg – 30’ 11” – 21st place shot – PR

                                    – 105’ 5” – 9th place discus – PR

Lily Martin                 – 27’ 1.75” – 31st place shot – PR

                                    – 94’ 2” – 21st place discus – PR

Maggie Kandt             – 94’ 0” – 22nd place discus (high school division)

Robbie Schuckel         – 41’ 7.5” – 12th place shot

                                    – 128’ 6” – 9th place discus

Donovan Brogdon     – 35’ 11.5” – 28th place shot

                                   – 114’ 6” – 21st place discus

Ian Gonzalez              – 31’ 6” – 38th place shot

                                   – 110’ 1” – 25th place discus – PR

Ryan Schuckel           – 30’ 4.5” – 43rd place shot – PR

                                   – 96’ 3” – 32nd place discus – PR

Complete results can be found at https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/522170/results.

Results from the AAU 14-U Indoor National Championships: 10-11Feb’24

I stepped away from the LAB MITS meet long enough to catch Maggie and Zoe competing at EMU in the AAU 14U Indoor National Championships. They easily outpaced the rest of the field for a 1-2 finish! Maggie had an off day but still won the 13yr old shot-put event. Zoe had a strong performance and continued to move out the mark, setting a new PR for the 2nd week in a row.

Maggie Kandt           – 37’ 11.5” (13yr shot, 1st)

Zoe Ghanbari           – 35’ 9.5” (13yr shot, 2nd) - PR

Complete results can be found at https://live.dlprotiming.org/meets/30271/events/1087728/results.