Tiger News
Wed, May 21, 2008 - [Outdoor Track & Field]
St. Louis, MO - The Campbellsville University Track team has three athletes competing in the NAIA Naitonal Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week in the metro-St. Louis area.
 
Andre Braima, Miranda Meeks and Detrick Briggs will participate in three seperate events over the three day meet which begins on Thursday at the Ralph Korte Stadium on the SIU-Edwardsville campus about 25 miles from downtown St. Louis. 
 
Campbellsville Sports Information Director Bryan Blair is with the team and will be regularly updating on the event in a blog format.  For the latest update, click on the "Read More" link beside this text.
                     
Saturday, May 24, 2008  10:29 p.m.
The competition is over and we didn't do quite as well as we'd hoped in today's finals.  Detrick Briggs competed in the Triple Jump and failed to make the finals.  In only his freshman season, Briggs qualified earlier this year with a jump of 14.94 meters, which would have won today's event.  However his long jump of the day was only 13.82.
Miranda Meeks finished 14th in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase with a time of 11:38.66.   Meeks stayed in the middle of the pack until about halfway through the event which was run at a new NAIA record pace.
Tomorrow, we'll head out of St. Louis around 8:00 a.m. Campbellsville time.  It's been a good trip and CU was once again well represented by the absolute classiest of  student-athletes in this entire competition.  We continue to have a reputation of teams that travel well and this group of three athletes proved no different.
Each one has had a great season as CU continues to build a track program that is only in its fourth year.
 
Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:59 p.m.

The 3000 Meter Steeplechase preliminaries are over and Campbellsville's Miranda Meeks qualified for the national finals on Saturday by finishing sixth in her heat.  The top six from two heats, along with the next four fastest qualifiers advance to Saturday.  

Basically, the top six in Meek's group stayed bunched up for most of the 3000 Meter race. Only late in the race did the winner, pull ahead of the rest but for the most part the six were within a half second of each other for the entire race.  Every runner in this race tries to save their best for Saturday and the goal is to finish in the top six in your heat so you can advance.  Meeks was able to do that and will now run for a National title. Her time on the night was 11:28.02 which puts her among the top 8.

Andre Braima wasn't as fortunate on the men's side of things. Seeded 13th in his heat, Braima stayed in the middle of the pack for the first 1500 Meters of the event but after that fell way off the pace and finished last in the heat. Give Braima a lot of credit. A nagging injury to his right leg kept him from running two weeks ago at the Indiana University meet and he had qualified to be here in St. Louis after posting a time of 9:25.44 this year.   I think it was obvious that Braima wasn't quite at full strength in what was a very tough field of runners.

Now we'll have a free day tomorrow. I feel pretty confident Detrick Briggs will get in a light workout as he prepares for the Triple Jump finals on Saturday and that Meeks will get a light run in as well at some point. Both have very good chances of placing in the Top 6 of their events on Saturday which would achieve All-American status.

5/22/ 12:12 p.m.
 
Today is one of those days that you spend just waiting.  Miranda Meeks doesn't race in the prelims until 7:30 local time tonight and Andre follows her at either 8 or 8:30, I can't remember which at this moment.  Miranda is seeded 4th in her heat, there are two heats and they will take the top six from each heat and then the four other best times for Saturday afternoon's final.   Andre Braima is seeded fairly deep in the field and he will have to run one of his better career races, but he seems determined and confident to do it.  He and Coach Rowe have spent quite a bit of time discussing race strategy.   Detrick Briggs event, the Triple Jump, is already a final event for Saturday.  He's in the second heat and is one of the last jumpers in that group, so he is going to have an idea when he takes his first of three jumps where he needs to be.
 
After practice yesterday we had a great dinner with a couple of guests.  Dan McGinnis, a rep from Aasics shoes, and Dan Chelstrom, the new cross country/track coach at Brescia joined us for dinner and the conversations that took place between our student-athletes and Coach Rowe, along with those two people were fascinating.  McGinnis ran collegiately at Stanford University and was part of a block of  athletes who helped build Stanford into a NCAA powerhouse.   Chelstrom was a part of the coaching staff that won three NCAA DIII Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.  Needless to say there were all kinds of stories about runners, sprinters, throwers and record times.  In fact, I have to admit, I got way lost in what was a fascinating conversation.
 
Today we wait.  The team is eating a late breakfast and we'll have a small pre-race meal around 3 local time.  Then we'll head to the track where events started this morning at 9 a.m.  and give Miranda and Andre plenty of time to stretch and warm up.   Mark Rowe had Detrick out at the track (keep in mind this is 30 miles away) at 7 a.m. this morning working on his Triple Jump technique. 
 
Tomorrow is an "off day" for CU because none of our athletes compete in events offered tomorrow.  The track is only open from 7 am to 9 am on meet days so I'm sure Mark will get any of them out there that want to run/jump on it.  After that, I think the plan is to take in some of the sights of St. Louis tomorrow, perhaps to the top of the arch (although I'm not sure Andre and Detrick are real sure of doing that) and maybe find some other interesting aspects of St. Louis.
 
The fortunate thing about a trip like this is that you do have a little bit of time to show some historic things, national landmarks, etc. like that to Andre and Detrick, who I both think have never been here before.   Miranda has relatives here so she's fairly familiar with St. Louis. 
 
So tonight, we run.  I'll get results up asap after the race.  Hoping there is internet access at the track.  There hasn't been anyone there the past two days for Media/SID contacts for me to find out.
 
More later.  And, you can always go to the naia website at www.naia.org to follow results as well.
   
5/21/08
11:32 a.m.
 
We're here!  It's been an adventure getting into St. Louis to say the least but we did arrive safe and sound yesterday around 5:00 p.m. Campbellsville time.   It had been a few years since I'd actually visited St. Louis, other than passing thru on the interestate the past three years with men's basketball, and I'd forgotten what a sprawling city this actually is sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River.
 
We're lodged in the Hyatt Regency Riverfront, formerly the Adams Mark.  It's directly across from the St. Louis Arch and my room, along with Miranda's and Andre's room are on the 14th floor with an incredible view of the arch and the river.  Detrick, along with Coach Rowe, are down on the 7th floor (not sure why we didn't all get rooms on the same floor) and their view is not nearly as incredible.  I'll try to get photos up this week.
 
However, the blog will be somewhat intermittent because of very limited internet access so far.  The hotel is charging huge fees to access the internet so there are probably 600 or so student-athletes from across the country carrying laptops around the lobby trying to find "free access", and most have this dazed look on their face as they realize there isn't any free internet in the "official hotel".   It's amazing how the internet, emails, instant messaging and just the overall ease of getting online has become such a woven part of the fabric of this world today.
 
I had planned to pay the fees for internet use at the hotel, however due to the way our rooms were paid for they would not let me so I too found myself among those dazed faces looking for free internet access.  I tried to log on at several different places last night around metro St. Louis but had no luck, so this morning I got up and made the 18 block trek to the Downtown Public Library where I'm now blogging from.   Thank goodness I had my Garmin GPS with enough battery power to direct me here, but I'm not sure what the regular city dwellers thought about me walking around with a GPS in my hand (actually, I don't think they noticed because so far everyone in St. Louis is very hospitable and laid back).
 
We went last night to the track.  Miranda chose to run with Coach Rowe along the Mississippi River bank underneath the arch where there is a large park.  Afterwards, Coach Rowe and I took Detrick and Andre out to the track for them to get an initial feel of the surface.   Miranda will compete in the Women's 3000 M Steeplechase, while Andre competes in the Men's Steeplechase.  Detrick will be in the Triple Jump.  
 
Andre and Miranda will have prelims tomorrow.  Miranda is ranked somewhere around 8th on her time this year while Andre is down around 25th.   I think Miranda should qualify to run on Saturday but Andre will have to run a good race to make the finals.  He certainly has the potential, and his attitude and approach seems right.  He literally glided around the track with ease last night and I thought he looked very strong, but there are athletes everywhere for this event.
 
Detrick ranks 6th coming into the Triple Jump and he's not even close to his potential.  He'll only have finals on Saturday so there are no prelims.
 
A top six finish for any of the three in their events will get them All American status, something Campbellsville hasn't had before in track.
 
I have to say that once again I think CU's administration would be proud of the representation we have here in St. Louis.   These student-athletes are among the most mannered, most well behaved and most focused of any that I've seen here in St. Louis thus far.  They are representing our institution well.
 
Today, while Coach Rowe has meetings all afternoon, I'll run the team out to the track for a brief practice. Meeks will get her first look at the steeplechase while Andre and Detrick will work out for about 35 minutes.  We'll grab some lunch and then head back to downtown St. Louis where we will hook up with Coach Rowe for dinner plans.  Looking like some good pasta tonight, at least that's the last plan I heard.
 
As for the blog, I will post whenever I can find internet.  My new St. Louis Public Library card is good for two weeks!  But figuring out how to get here when the track is so far away may be a problem.  Hopefully today or tomorrow I can find internet access somewhere on the SIU-Edwardsville campus, if not at the track stadium iteself, so that I can update with more regularity.
 
This though, will probably be my only blog of the day since a brief practice this afternoon is all that is on tap.  Unless there is major news or developments, check back tomorrow at some point for results on our preliminary races.
 
You can also go to www.naia.org and follow the action/results from the Track championship.   Just follow the links to the NAIA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships on that page.
NAIAMSCCampbellsville University