2008 Woodie Awards
Break gives women extra opportunity
By: Tim Ottusch
Issue date: 1/7/08 Section: Sports
Winter break didn't stop the women's track team from continuing its progress as the bulk of the season approaches.
Over the break, runners were given programs based on what they need to do to get better.
"Each event group had different workouts and different things that they were supposed to try to do," said coach Karen Lutzke. "Basically our goal over break for all of our athletes was to try to maintain their fitness, especially if they couldn't get in an indoor facility to work out."
The runners had a few weeks off, leaving after finals were over and returning to practice Jan. 2.
Overall, Lutzke said she is happy with how the runners took care of themselves over break.
"We had a lot of athletes who did a lot of things over break and you could tell," she said.
The team returned to campus Jan. 2, which gives it more than a week of practice time to prepare for Friday's non-scoring Chippewa Open at the Jack Skoog Track. The amount of time back in the indoor facilities should give the runners time to get ready, even if they were held to limited practice time over break.
However, Lutzke said the team didn't solely focus on the upcoming meet in practice.
"We needed to find out where the athletes were as far as their training and see who worked out over break and who didn't," she said.
One of the most important things for a team that is inactive, competition-wise, over break is keeping track of how everyone's fitness is.
"We tried to get a hold of everyone and have different seniors, captains (and) coaches call the athletes to make sure that they were doing what they needed to be doing over break," Lutzke said. "That's a big part of making sure people are held accountable of what their doing over break is just staying in touch."
The opportunity CMU had before break to compete in the non-scoring Michigan State Invite gauged each runners progress, said senior Jenaie Edwards.
"It helped me a great deal," Edwards said. "It let me know around the times that I need to run for the first meet - it lets me know what I'm capable of running."
The team's first scored will be the Akron Quadrangular on Jan. 18 in Akron, Ohio.
sports@cm-life.com
Over the break, runners were given programs based on what they need to do to get better.
"Each event group had different workouts and different things that they were supposed to try to do," said coach Karen Lutzke. "Basically our goal over break for all of our athletes was to try to maintain their fitness, especially if they couldn't get in an indoor facility to work out."
The runners had a few weeks off, leaving after finals were over and returning to practice Jan. 2.
Overall, Lutzke said she is happy with how the runners took care of themselves over break.
"We had a lot of athletes who did a lot of things over break and you could tell," she said.
The team returned to campus Jan. 2, which gives it more than a week of practice time to prepare for Friday's non-scoring Chippewa Open at the Jack Skoog Track. The amount of time back in the indoor facilities should give the runners time to get ready, even if they were held to limited practice time over break.
However, Lutzke said the team didn't solely focus on the upcoming meet in practice.
"We needed to find out where the athletes were as far as their training and see who worked out over break and who didn't," she said.
One of the most important things for a team that is inactive, competition-wise, over break is keeping track of how everyone's fitness is.
"We tried to get a hold of everyone and have different seniors, captains (and) coaches call the athletes to make sure that they were doing what they needed to be doing over break," Lutzke said. "That's a big part of making sure people are held accountable of what their doing over break is just staying in touch."
The opportunity CMU had before break to compete in the non-scoring Michigan State Invite gauged each runners progress, said senior Jenaie Edwards.
"It helped me a great deal," Edwards said. "It let me know around the times that I need to run for the first meet - it lets me know what I'm capable of running."
The team's first scored will be the Akron Quadrangular on Jan. 18 in Akron, Ohio.
sports@cm-life.com
