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Iowa State University Athletics
Men's Track and Field Coaches Talk NCAA Championships
06.04.2006 | Track and Field, Track & Field (M)
June 5, 2006
Four members of the Iowa State men's track and field team are preparing for the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif. Neil Hines and Tony Douglas have been there before. For David Rotich and Chase Madison, it's their first trip to the outdoor national meet. Each one has their own story to tell and Cyclones.com caught up with each athlete's respective coach to see what they are doing to prepare for the pinnacle of the track and field outdoor season.
Despite an injury, sophomore Chase Madison threw 179-2 in the discus at the regional meet to place 10th. The combination of his 10th place finish and mark of 195-6 earlier in the season earned him an at-large berth in the national meet. Throws coach Dan O'Mara says Madison is ready to test himself.
What are the goals that both you and Chase have going into the national competition this weekend?
"Our goal is to get into finals. Finals are the top 12 going into Friday and he competes on Wednesday. There will be no wind out in Sacramento so he's going to have to put his best effort in on the first day to make it to the final 12 for the second round of competition. After we get to finals, it's trying to get in the top eight and be an All American."
How has his back injury affected his performance?
"His back has been tightening up. Dealing with a sore back has made practice tough but he has continued to improve on his technique. He's disappointed because he couldn't train the way he wanted to train or throw the way he wanted to throw. The injury has also caused a lot of strength issues and he hasn't been a 100 percent all season. Training in the weight room has been about 50 percent compared to the 80 or 85 percent it should be and that's been tough on him. Right now, we're not at that peak and we wish we would be but the back injury has caused us some problems. We're just going to work through it and try to get the best thing we can out of him." How does Chase compare to former Cyclone throwers?
"He has the fifth-best throw in our record books and he's thrown further than anyone ever has as a sophomore. He has the capacity mentally to be the national champion but it all depends on if his body can be up to that level. Right now it's not at that level but with in the next year or two it could be. His back and body need to get stronger. Scott Crowell and Zach Schiebout are ahead of Chase in the record books and he's chasing down that top spot. He has a good shot at breaking the 200-foot barrier over the next two years."
*cyclones.com quick fact: Crowell, Schiebout and Madison are all Iowa natives
Senior David Rotich qualified for nationals in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:43.87 and placed third in the region. Distance coach Corey Ihmels says Rotich has been a leader for the Cyclones on and off the track.
This is David's first trip to outdoor nationals. Is that at all daunting?
"He's just got the right mentality. He's never been too intimidated by anything or anyone. He's looking at it as another race and a big opportunity to do what he's capable of doing."
It was said that the Midwest region had one of the toughest mile fields in the country. Does that have an effect on the national race?
"Some people were saying it was kind of a mini nationals. We had the NCAA indoor champion in our region, the defending outdoor national champion and David was runner-up indoors so that definitely could be said. That being said, all of those guys have go to nationals, make it thorough the prelims and get to finals. There's no free ticket to the final and the mile is one event where anything can happen. He's just got to take care of business in the prelim and not look ahead."
What does David mean to this program?
"I'm just very proud of what he's done. He's a great example of a student-athlete. He's a good student, trains hard and he's been a tremendous role model for our young guys. He's done great things on the track for our program and Iowa State but I can't say in words what he's done for our young group. He's really kind of taken them under his wing and shown them what's possible and how to go about doing that. Sometimes you can have a very talented young group but if you don't have somebody like a David Rotich that comes in and is able to show them how it's done, then it can be hard to make it to that next level. I think David has done that for our program and we're going to be talking about that for years. I guarantee there's going to be guys on the team that look back to David as kind of a benchmark of where they understood, `this is what it takes to get it done.' For me that's priceless and something pretty special. We owe David for that."
Despite battling a hip injury, junior Neil Hines will compete in his second consecutive NCAA championships. The Nebraska native finished fourth in the decathlon at the Big 12 conference meet. Men's head coach Steve Lynn says Neil will take things one event a time.
What do you expect from Neil at the NCAA national meet?
"Unfortunately he is nowhere near 100 percent physically. I don't really know what to expect, his hip is still bothering him. One thing about Neil is that there's no question about his toughness. He's not doing anything that's going to permanently injure himself but it is limiting to what he can do and how much he can push things. He really can't perform sprints at full speed right now. To be able to score four to five hundred points more than usual is going to be difficult to do. If he goes out there and meets what he did at the Big 12 meet that would be quite an accomplishment."
How is preparation for the multi-events different from single events?
"The biggest difference is time demands. It's a tough thing and most decathletes take a couple years to get to where they want to be. Most decathletes have something they are good at when they come in. Neil came in good at the pole vault and long jump, but he had to learn most of the other events he had never competed in before. So you have to spend time on every single event and a lot of the time on things you aren't good at. Also hard on your body because you are putting stress on many different parts of your body. In the javelin your really stressing your shoulder, in the high jump there is a lot of pressure on your take off leg. I think the big thing for the multi events is staying healthy."
Has Neil's past experience in the NCAA Championships helped him this year?
"Yes. He knew from the Big 12 meet on he was going. Last year we didn't know he was going until the Tuesday before the meet. The preparation between the Big 12 meet and now has been much more positive. It would be different if he was 100 percent healthy, he would be tying to score 76 or 77 hundred points. Now we are trying to go out and achieve personal best and try to beat as many people as we can."
Senior Tony Douglas prepares to compete in the final meet of his career. The long jumper qualified with a leap of 25-8 3/4 in the regional meet that effort landed him a third-place finish. Jumps and vaults coach Ron McEachran says Tony is ready.
How is Tony's past experience at the national meet going to help him this year?
"Well, he has been there before, we have been at the same facility now for three years. He competed at Nationals last year in his secondary event, the triple jump. He is familiar with the venue so that wont bother him, and he is familiar with the time schedule as well. Also, this season he has competed against the national indoor champion and the national outdoor champion in our conference many times, they don't intimidate him. His experience has been valuable."
What kind of goals are you setting for Tony?
"He is ready to jump further than he ever has. I'd like to see him reach a personal best, and if he can do that, he will do just fine. It is hard to set goals and say that I'd like him to get in the top three or top five at nationals because everyone there is good. The nice thing Tony has going for him is that you only get three jumps and then they take the top twelve. If he can get in the top twelve, there is no more "A" and "B" flight. So, I'd like to see him have his best jump of the year and we will let that take care of itself in terms of placing."
What have the workouts been like this week to prepare for the meet?
"We have actually taken what we did for the conference meet and duplicated it. In both the regional and the conference meets he long jumped and triple jumped. He took 12 jumps, six in the long jump and six in the triple jump, and that really beats you up. So recovery is probably the most important thing for Tony. Workouts have been short, fast, and much to do with recovery from the cumulative effects of the previous meets."
Being a senior, what does Tony bring to the team, and what are you going to miss about him?
"There is so much that I'm going to miss about him. He is a quiet leader. Tony is a hard worker, he comes to practice everyday smiling, he is pleasant to be around. I am obviously going to miss his performance but I've been around him for five years and I have seen him change from a relatively little kid to a 23-year-old man. You sort of become a father figure at times. You start off as a father and you end up as a friend by the time they leave. Besides his leadership, it is his work ethic and personality that I will miss the most."
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