WHS men's track and field team defeats Titans

Western's men's track and field team traveled to Lumen Christi last night and beat the Titans, 82.5 to 54.5.

Finishing in first place for Western were senior Mitchel Palmer in the 100m high hurdles and the 300m intermediate hurdles, senior Payton Wheeler in the long jump and 200m dash, senior Max Madden in the shot put, senior Alex Sponsler in the discus, and sophomore Sam Ellis in the 100m dash.

Winning the 4x100m relay was the team of Wheeler, Ellis, junior Derrick Dixon, and sophomore Noah Rainwater. The 4x200m relay was won by Palmer, senior Devin Cole, senior Brendan Maynard, and junior Lavert Franklin. The 4x400m relay was won by Western's Wheeler, senior Will Knickerbocker, junior Jordan Dack, and freshman Chase Veydt.

The Panthers next meet is Thursday at Mason High School.

Snowy weather confirms need to say, "Goodbye Yeti"

It was a cold, snowy morning today as the Western Runners Club prepared to begin its fifth running of the Goodbye Yeti run/walk/stroll.

"The road was a bit sloppy in some spots, but it wasn't too bad," said Mike Butler, who ran the five kilometer race in 18:45.0, was the overall winner in the male division.

Sisters Mackenzie and Sydney Kellar had a good day, as Mackenzie, a Western High School junior, was the overall winner among females, finishing the 5k in 22:08.0. Eight-year-old Syndey was the the first girl to finish the kids half mile. 

Fifth grader Ian Devine won the boys division of the kids half mile and went on to also run the 5k. 

Sharing this year's award for Best Costume were the Ray sisters, whose impressive home-made yeti costumes were were designed for both speed and style. 

Other notable finishers were Pat Holmes and Charles McCord, who were the female and male winners of the 63 to 73 age division.

Complete results can be found here.

"It was actually a good day to run," Western men's track coach Lucas Sponsler said. "The snow was a bit sloppy, but it wasn't too windy."

Sponsler said he was grateful to the many volunteers and sponsors who helped make the event a success. 

A simple approach to nutrition...

As they say, food that obviously comes from a farm is probably better for you than if it came from a factory.

In the spring, the yeti needs to go hibernate

Fifth edition of Goodbye Yeti Run/Walk/Stroll slated for March 16, 2013

The Western Runners Club is excited to announce plans for this year's Goodbye Yeti Run/Walk/Stroll. The event includes a 5k road race and a kids' half mile. Online registration is available at www.runningfoundation.com.

This will be the WRC's fifth running of the event, and can also be found at these fine web sites:

www.runmichigan.org
www.runningintheusa.com
www.trifind.com
http://www.5kracesinmichigan.com/thank-you/
www.coolrunning.com
http://eventadmin.runnersworld.com/raceevent/saveRaceReviewSummary.html
www.active.com

Article: five myths about distance running

By just the name of the site, The Art of Manliness, you should expect the article to have a different take on distance running. It's not news to us that running requires a different kind of toughness than is traditionally acknowledged. Still, it's nice to have some reinforcement of ideas that for us are full of "duh."
Even the comments are completely dumb.

Click here to read "5 myths about distance running."

Pole vaulters: check out this (almost) local learning resource

Landon Athletics, run by Jerry Sessions in Maple Valley, Mich., has been training pole vaulters for a long time. Their program comes highly recommended by WHS Alumnae Danielle Hoffman and Lauren Easton. The link to their web site is listed below.

http://landonathletics.org/

Getting better means training, and competing

 Regardless of the arena, one of the best ways to motivate yourself to work hard is to prepare for competition.

 Training

Train with intent.
No matter what your events, you need to both lift weights and put in winter mileage. Of course distance runners need more miles, while sprinters, jumpers and throwers need to be lifting more weight.
Make sure you are running quality miles. Vary your intensities. For instance, after warming up, do a 30-minute run where you alternate going hard for two minutes and easy for one minute. Then, the next day, go for another 30-minute run, but this time go at a medium pace. Make running part of your daily schedule, so it's not that big of a deal that you run four to six days each week.
Each week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Western's Unified Strength Training program offers athletes of every stripe and shade the opportunity to increase strength and improve agility. The workouts happen in the weight room, which is temporarily in the middle school. They begin fifteen minutes after the end of seventh hour.

Competition

Two types of competitive opportunities exist.
First, the Michigan Indoor Track Series has a full schedule of meets at colleges around the state. Competing in indoor track is a great way to work on technique while checking your progress. But be careful: if you haven't bee practicing, it's easy to get injured. Your purpose is to get ready for the spring season, and an injury now will slow you down then.
The other opportunity to compete comes in the form of power lifting. The Michigan High School Power Lifting Association also offers a winter meet schedule. There are two age divisions and 13 weight classes.



The best way to get in the habit of winning is to develop winning habits. Training and competition are key to this development.

...another opportunity to improve: technique clinics

In addition to training and competition, a great opportunity for your improvement exists in the form of technique clinics.
One of the best clinics in the area is happening on Feb. 9. For its coaches clinic each year, the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association brings to Lansing a lineup of excellent coaches, some of whom are Olympic medalists. After speaking at the clinic on Thursday and Friday, these coaches stick around on Saturday to work with high school and middle school athletes.
Click here to for the link to MITCA's Learn-by-Doing student sessions.