06state

THURSDAY

TSSAA State Prelims (running events only)
At MTSU (Murfreesboro)
Warm, very windy conditions (in the face of sprinters)

4x1
Franklin 42.8 (43.02 FAT) qualified for finals ... heat winner
Hewitt 11.24
Redbone 10.39
Haynes 10.95
Campbell 10.28

4x2
Franklin 1:28.1* (1:28.33* FAT) qualified for finals
Hewitt 21.56*
Redbone 23.50
Haynes 21.46
Campbell 21.61

4x4
Franklin 3:25.5 (3:25.74 FAT) qualified for finals
Hewitt 49.0
Haynes 51.6
Miller 54.3
Redbone 50.5

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Full results and tomorrow's lane assignments at
http://tssaa.org/2005Champions/StateTrack/AAABPrelims.htm http://tssaa.org/2005Champions/StateTrack/AAABFQualifiers.htm

Our 4x1 won their heat without great handoffs.

Our 4x2 ran their best ever.
1:28.33 looks lots better than our previous best, 1:29.51.
John Hewitt, with the wind, blazed a 21.6 opening leg ... his best 200 ever.
It was amazing that we ran our best time of the year in lane seven.
Of course, Antioch may have been even more impressive running 1:27.53 in lane eight (8-lane track).

Our 4x4 survived without anyone running a PR. Todd Campbell may be inserted tomorrow.

Health issues ... Todd Campbell was diagnosed Monday with gastrocsoleus tendonitis.
This is what caused his failure out of the blocks in the region final.
Todd has had therapy all week and ran through the pain today.
He looked bad in the 4x1 but much better in the 4x2. He will get treatment tomorrow morning.

Redbone Siske has a swollen foot, cause unknown.
It nagged him early and hurt him late.
After the 4x4 he could not walk on it.
State meets are always dramatic!
Hopefully anti-inflamatories, ice, and general toughness will allow him to run tomorrow.

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Thomas Sensing will have four throws in the Shot and four in the Discus tomorrow.
He throws at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. Running events begin at 5:00 PM.

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It was fun to see our baseball team winning their game next door as we were qualifying all three relays.
Go Rebels. http://tssaa.org/2005Champions/StateBaseball/ClassAAA/State.htm

FRIDAY

TSSAA State Finals
Friday, May 26 MTSU, Murfreesboro

* indicates Personal Record
FAT = Fully Automated Timing (typically .24 slower than hand held)

Shot Put Thomas Sensing 54-9* ... 3rd Place

Discus Thomas Sensing 163-6* ... 2nd Place

4x1 Franklin 43.5 (43.73 FAT) ... 7th Place
John Hewitt 11.19
Redbone Siske 11.69
Johnathon Haynes 10.22
Todd Campbell 10.40

4x2
Franklin Disqualified (out of zone)
John Hewitt 22.20
Trey Miller 22.89 Johnathon
Haynes 22.37
Todd Campbell 31.99

4x4
Franklin 3:23.1* (3.23.34* FAT) ... 5th Place
John Hewitt 49.4
Johnathon Haynes 50.1*
Trey Miller 54.3*
Todd Campbell 49.3*

Official results can be found at http://tssaa.org/2005Champions/StateTrack/BoysResults.htm

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What a finish for Thomas Sensing!
He threw over 54 feet in the Shot Put for only the second time ever ...
and he did set a new personal record on his last attempt as a high school athlete.
Thomas was the leader in the Discus going into the final round.
What a season it's been for Thomas.
His improvement from last season was incredible ...
Shot Put 47-5 ... 54-9 .... same improvement for next year? ... 62-1?
Discus 138-2 ... 163-6 ... same improvement for next year? ... 188-10?
Thomas Sensing, a senior, had a storybook ending to a great high school track career.
How I wish our relay teams would have had the same type of ending.

As I mentioned in my email after the preliminaries Thursday night ...
"Redbone Siske has a swollen foot, cause unknown. It nagged him early and hurt him late. After the 4x4 he could not walk on it."
What I didn't mention was "stress fracture".
We thought that Redbone could make it, but we were wrong.
His 11.69 split dropped us from 2nd place to a distant 8th.
He did all he could be it wasn't to be. His season was over.
Just as significant, Redbone was a key runner in both the upcoming 4x2 and 4x4.

In addition, Todd Campbell, receiving therapy for gastrocsoleus tendonitis, was far from 100%.

We substituted sophomore Trey Miller (200 PR of 24.2) into the 4x2.
Trey ran a an outstanding 22.89, putting us at 45.09 at the 400 split (45.06 on Thursday).
All seemed to be going great for us when we hit the 600 split at 1:07.4 ... on pace to run 1:28 and place 4th.
However, Todd Campbell got distracted by his competitive nature and left early.
We ran out of the zone, getting disqualified. No points, no medals. Antioch ran a state record 1:26.08.

The 4x4 was going to be Hewitt, Haynes, Campbell, and Siske.
Campbell had not attempted a 400 all year, but being a 10.8 and 21.8 sprinter gave us hope that he could run better than 54.4 (Trey Miller).
Without Siske, we put Campbell at anchor. I told him that he had one opportunity to redeem himself.
We responded with a PR 3:23.1. Todd Campbell responded with an amazing 49.3 split.
With Redbone and his customary 50.5 split (in place of Trey Miller, 54.3), we would have run 3:19.3.

Team finish ... 12th in State.

How high could we have finished?   We had enough to win the state championship this year.
What should have happened did not.

Sports can be a learning lab for life.
I believe we should wake up every day with high hopes and high expectations.
We must then give everything we have to make those hopes and expectations a reality.
At the end of the day, and this is the hard part, ... we must accept the results.

The Franklin Rebels deserved better results.

My thanks to John Hewitt, our team MVP. John is the most serious and intense athlete I've ever coached.
His FAT times of 11.11, 22.00, and 47.99 as a junior were not surpassed in his senior year.
John's focus was not his individual times but the success of our team ... and our relay teams.
It was fitting that in his last action as a Franklin Rebel, he handed-off to teammate Johnathon Haynes.
I will never think of Hewitt without thinking about Haynes and never think of Haynes without thinking about Hewitt.
They are inseparable. Good luck to John at UT next season.

My thanks to Johnathon Haynes, the winner of my "Coach's Award" for being the heart of our team.
Johnathon, besides being permanently attached to John Hewitt, was also permanently attached to Track & Field.
I don't think Johnathon's thoughts were ever too far from the track. For Johnathon Haynes, his career ends the way it should.
He took the baton from John Hewitt and ran his best split ever (50.1*) in his favorite race.

My thanks to Todd Campbell who ended his junior season with an anchor leg in the 4x4 that I will never forget.

My thanks to Thomas Sensing for his character, his smile, his confidence, and of course, his amazing throws in the shot and disc.

My thanks to Deontrey Redbone Siske (junior) for becoming an elite track athlete without any prior experience in the sport.

My thanks to sophomore Trey Miller for filling-in admirably in our relays.

My thanks to Brett Henry for serving as a relay alternate at the state meet and a reliable performer all year (in his first track season).

It was a great year and a difficult year.
We had terrific moments and those that we would rather forget.
I accept the results and would do it all over again.

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The Franklin Rebels have an opportunity to reload next year.
With lots of hard work ... how good could the Rebel's be in 2007?

100
Campbell 10.6
Hardison 10.6

200
Campbell 21.4
Shelton 22.9

400
Siske 49.5
Shelton 51.5

800
P. Henry 2:05
Miller-McLemore 2:05

1600
Hawn 4:29
Brown 4:46
Wills 4:49

3200
Brown 10:15
Hampton 10:59

110 HH
Hewitt 16.5
Holler 17.2

300 Int
Hewitt 41.9
Holler 45.0

4x1
Franklin 42.0
Hardison
Siske
Dixon
Campbell

4x2
Franklin 1:30.5
Shelton
B. Henry
Miller
Anderson

4x4
Franklin 3:19.0
Shelton 51.5
Siske 48.5
Miller 51.0
Campbell 48.0

4x8
Franklin 8:16
Hawn 2:01
B. Henry 2:05
P. Henry 2:05
Miller-McLemore 2:05

LJ
Hardison 23-8
Smallwood 20-6

TJ
Hardison 46-0
Miller-McLemore 42-0
P. Henry 41-0

HJ
|Starnes 6-0
Smallwood 5-10

Shot
Edrinken 43-0
Cathey 40-0

Discus
Cathey 145-0
Nathan 125-0

Not to mention our incoming freshmen and the other young kids from this year's team ...

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After the State Meet Friday night, me and my three sons drove to Illinois for the IHSA State Finals beginning at 11:00 AM Saturday morning.
We had competed against Cahokia at the Collinsville Invitational. Cahokia dominated the large-school division (AA).

Amazingly, Kali Jackson, who had triple jumped 53-7 at the Collinsville Invite, failed to make the finals due to three scratches on Friday.
Before the Friday disaster, Jackson boasted that he could jump 45-0 "standing still".
http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2006/05/26/sports/sports%20011.txt

Congrats to my former track stars now head coaches ...
Chad Lakatos (Herrin) ... team won 3rd Place Trophy!
Clint Simpson (Harrisburg) ... team placed 8th in State.
Patton Segraves (Belleville West) ... 4x1 team placed 5th in AA with two freshmen ... 42.42 FAT.

Illinois results at http://www.ihsa.org/activity/trb/tourney/results.htm

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Speed Camp begins tomorrow (Memorial Day) at 8:30 AM