January 19th, 2010
This weekend members of our club team traveled up to flagstaff to compete in the Lumberjack invite. This was a college meet that saw participation from college and professional athletes. Highlighting this meet were athletes from Northern Arizona University, University of Arizona, and University of Las Vegas; it also included an Olympic gold medalist in the Pole Vault, Nick Hysong.
Our athletes competed very well for the first meet of the season nearing or bettering their personal best times from last year. Our youngest athlete to compete was Lauren Hicks who is a high school freshman. She competed in the 60m, 400m, and 4x400m relay. In her first meet as a high school athlete she ran an 8.65 second 60 to qualify for finals, however she didn't run in the finals to ensure fresh legs for her second great performance of the meet. In the 400m she ran a smart race to put her in a position to follow teammate McKaylee Lemon with a strong finish in the final 100m to pass the leader and finished in 2nd in her heat with another personal best of 64.83 seconds. Her final race was in the 4x4 in which our girls team composed of all high school athletes ran against U of A, NAU, and UNLV's number 1 4x4 teams. Each athlete ran great legs finishing in last place. Another athlete competing this who also recorded a personal best in the 60 was Janine Taylor who clocked a 9.40 dropping nearly half a second from her best time last year. In her final season Lindsey Blair ran an impressive 60 also qualifying for finals with a 8.66. Lindsey was also a member of the girls 4x400m relay. Heather Lopez started the day matching her personal best in the 60 with a 9.28. She then went on to achieve a personal best in the long jump with a jump of 4.18m (13' 8 3/4"). Vanessa Thomas a sophomore had a great day and really stepped up to the competition not only making finals in the 60 but making the faster of the 2 heats of the finals, and finished 8th overall with an 8.52. But her day wasn't over as she tied her personal best in the 200 running a 28.40. Vanessa then wrapped up her day by running the anchor leg of the 4x4. The main performance of the meet came from sophomore McKaylee Lemon she started the meet barely missing a personal jump in the high jump with a 1.50m (4' 11"). She finished the competition with a 1.40m (4' 7"). She then added on with another great performance in the 400 going into the final 200 she was in 3rd place but with a strong kick the final 100 meters she ran down the leader to win her heat in 63.71 seconds; .34seconds short of a PR. But her best performance came in the 4x4 where she ran the first leg opening the race with a 61 second split. More than a second off her fastest split ever.
The meet also saw great performances on the guys’ side. Phillip Arthur competed in the 60 and 800. In the 60 He broke the Gilbert Track 60m record with a time of 7.56 seconds. He then ran to a 6th place finish in the 800. Easton Avila competed in both the 60 and 400 running a 7.80 in the 60 and missed a personal best in the 400 by .54 seconds. Raymond Pereyda started out the season with a PR in the 60. He then ran the 200 clocking a time of 24.98 seconds. He then finished the meet as the 3rd leg of the 4x4 team splitting 53 seconds. James Johnson had a tough challenge as he ran the 60m hurdles, as well as the regular 60. James stepped up qualifying for finals for the second year in the 60m hurdles beating his best mark from last year running a 9.58. He also beat his personal best in the 60 reaching a personal best of 7.81 seconds. The final athlete was also the final athlete in the track Chris Brown ran the 60m and the final leg of the 4x4. He ran to a 7.81 in the 60 but outperformed himself in the 4x4 where he was the 3rd athlete to prove that the 400m isn't over at 300m, as he used the last 100 meters to out kick the nearest team to help his relay finish in 3rd place.
With the first meet for a few athletes out of the way we now prepare for the first meet of the USATF club season this weekend at Westwood high school. Let’s continue the great performances we have seen so far!!
September 4th, 2009
Our season begins on October 5th dont miss out send an email to us at gilberttrackclub@gmail.com so you don't miss any of the GTC excitement.
May 21st, 2009
Our summer season is just a week away, we will be starting up on May 26th. We will be having a parent, coaches, and athletes meeting immediately prior to the first practice and will start at 5pm. After which we encourage everyone to stay and watch the practice. All paper work, and fee info will be given out at that time. Paper work will be available at other practice times however certain uniform and equipment orders may not be able to be filled at a later date.
Our schedule for the summer will offer a variety of training times for athletes, and families who have varying schedules. We train at Gilbert High School which is on Elliot between Lindsey and Val Vista. The morning practices will be offered on Monday and Friday at 8am. Afternoon practices will be offered at 5:30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Saturdays we will practice on days we don't have competitions at 10am. Our practices will last approximately 40-90 minutes depending on the workout.
We are also currently planning a number of activities including a team trip to Sun Splash, paintballing, and many other fun activities.
January 24th, 2009
The results are in and as predicted 13 of 15 athletes had personal bests to open up the first meet of the season, and first official meet for the Gilbert Track Club. To start the day we had a great performance from athlete of the meet Nathan Reich as he out kicked his opponent in the last 200 meters of the 800 to finish first and finish with a personal best 2 minutes and 19.28 seconds. He later ran came back in the 400 to finish 6th. Then next event on the track was the 100m dash where all but 3 Gilbert Track Club athletes competed. The youngest athlete to compete was Connor Phipps. As one of many athletes in their first competitive race, he had a great performance and raced to a 16.59 seconds, a time good enough to finish 16th out of 38 athletes; he also competed in the 200 and finished in a time of 38.46 seconds. The next male athlete to compete in the 100 was Jake Kelsey, who also did an excellent job running a 17.52 100, and a 39.58 in the 200. Two male athletes competed at the high school age groups both athletes ran in the 100m, 200m, and 400m races. This was the second meet this season for both athletes, since they traveled up to NAU last weekend to compete in the Lumberjack Invite. James Johnson finished 2nd in the 100, a few steps ahead of Evan Mahrer and ran a time of 12.07 seconds. It was a run away win for Evan in the 400 as he lead the race from start to finish finishing an impressive race with a time of 56.47, James finished not far behind running down another clubs athlete and out leaning him to take 2nd in his heat and 3rd overall. They then finished the day with another race that saw Evan as the near victor in yet another close race that saw them separated by .05seconds, and 2 more top 6 finishes. Evan ran 25.75, and James ran a 25.80. Switching over to girls side results were equally as impressive as the first girls race saw Kennedi Sheppard running away to win her heat and a 4th place finish with a time of 14.69 seconds in the 100. Kennedi also raced in the 200 meters to finish 15th out of 41 athletes with a 34.03. Also competing in the same heats was Joycelyne VanDonier who even despite a small set back in the 100 rebounded to finish 3rd in her heat in the 100 and finished 14th of 36. She also competed in the same heat as Kennedi in the 200 and finished an equally impressive 18th of 41 with a time of 34.55. Finishing out the midget girls performances was Serena Bryant who showed a lot of determination in both the 100, and 200 to finish with a 19.12, and 43.78. At the high school age group top all around finish was turned in by Samantha Garcia who raced to a 1st place finish in the 100 with a 13.67, and a 2nd place finish in the 200 with a 28.21. Tiffany Coon also had an impressive day finishing in a tie for 5th in the 100, a 7th place finish in the 200 and a 6th place finish in the 400 with an impressive 67.34 seconds. Megan Buchholz also competed in all 3 sprint events finishing a strong 7th in the 100 at 13.55, 31.44 in the 200, and a 75.59 in the 400. Caylee Miritello made a performance come back running a 31.86 in the 200, and a 5th place 74.15 second finish in the 400. Cassie Yetzer ran an impressive first ever 400m race in her first ever track meet to finish in a time of 79.43 seconds. Rounding off the list of completed results was Janine Taylor who ran the 100 and 200 finishing each race in a respectable 16.27, and 35.10. Heather Lopez also competed running a 15.08 in the 100 meters, but due to timing errors did not reciceve electronic times but did however stop the coach’s watches at 30.84 in the 200 and 71.62 in the 400.
January 19th, 2009
The Gilbert Track Club has officially kicked off its first competitive season this weekend as some of the high school club athletes traveled up to NAU to compete in the Lumberjack Invitational. This meet was a college meet not a high school meet, and consisted of athletes from some of the top collegiate programs in the nation including, UCLA, UNLV, Hawaii, and local colleges UofA and NAU. Despite this fact our athletes performed exceptionally well on the women's side great performances came from Heather Lopez, and Freshman Tiffany Coon. Heather finished 21st in the 60m dash, and 31st in the 200m dash. Tiffany performed extremely well finishing 20th in the 60m, and taking second in her heat and finishing 27th overall in the 200. On the boys side competitors included Sophomores James Johnson and Evan Mahrer, and Senior Raymond Pereyda. Out of 43 athletes Evan Mahrer raced to a 3 way tie with fellow athlete James Johnson to finish 36th in the 60m; Evan also finished 30th in the 200m. James Johnson stepped up to race college athletes in 60m Hurdles as he had to navigate barriers 3 inches higher than those found at the high school level. Despite this fact James qualified for finals and hurdled his way to a top 8 finish. Rounding out the high school athletes competing in this meet was Raymond Pereyda he started out the day with a 33rd place finish in the 60m. He then turned around and competed in the 800m and ran a 2:08 good enough for a 5th place finished. Finishing off the athletes with Gilbert Track Club ties competing in this meet include Coach Patrick Scott, who qualified for finals in the 60m and finished 13th overall, he also won his heat and finished 7th overall in the 200m. With this being the first indoor meet for all athletes involved and with it being contested at altitude it was full of great performances. The season continues this Saturday at Arcadia High School with the first full team competition.