Tyson Invitational

Alarm clocks went off at 4:00 a.m. Thursday morning to start one of the most interesting weekends we have had yet. 6 of us qualified for the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This is a premier Division I track meet on one of the best tracks in the world. We saw some of the top performances in the world this weekend. Arkansas got 24 inches of snow in one day, and the airport was closed the previous day we traveled.  When we boarded our first flight in Omaha, our flight from Minneapolis to Arkansas was still on as scheduled. When we landed in Minneapolis, we found out they had canceled our flight to Fayetteville. After a frantic hour of coach on the phone with the travel agent, we were headed to Detroit in hopes that the Arkansas airport would be open in a couple hours. 7 hours after our scheduled arrival, we landed in Arkansas to find out we were missing Kathie-Lee's bag. Kathie-Lee hopped in the van, and I said, "Where'd they send your bag?" She said, "China". We all laughed, thinking there was no way they sent her bag to China. Come to find out, a red UNO track bag landed in Shanghai, China. We went to dinner Thursday night. I had packed all of my food because of my food allergies, but decided to get some fish at the restaurant, thinking if I told them to not put anything on it, I would be fine. A small piece of fish altered the way the rest of my weekend would go.

Competition started on Friday. I was the first event with the 400. Because of my reaction to whatever the fish had touched, I lost a lot of fluids the morning of my race and was feeling a little weak. I ran 57.31. I felt pretty relaxed in the race, but I just didn't have the strength. I broke out in hives after my race, and I also got them Saturday morning. Coach was pleased with my performance because of the circumstances. Maja ran a 7.67 in the 60, and Anja ran 2:10 in the 800. We were all tired and exhausted from the 15 hours of traveling the day before.

Heather, Maja, and Nkeiruka performed well on Saturday. Heather had a season best throw in the shot put (47'.75"). Nkeiruka had a stellar jump in the triple jump. She went 45'1.75" to break the Division II Triple Jump Record, which also places her 19th in the world so for this season. Maja was the solo runner on the track where she ran her season best time in the 200 (24.45). Great second day for the team.

It's a short training week for the team this week. We head down to Lincoln on Friday where we will run the 4x400 relay for the first time this year, hoping to get a good qualifying time for the national meet.