Jimmies track athletes get used to staying inside
Apr. 6—JAMESTOWN — Despite the indoor track season ending on March 4, the weather has made it necessary for the University of Jamestown to start the outdoor season inside.
Despite the weather, the Jimmies throwers have been able to get outside and throw on the Jimmie turf field. The Jimmies runners have still been stuck inside though and junior runner Kadin Neppl said it has put them at a slight disadvantage.
"It's kind of rough considering the track that we're on," Neppl said. "We're only on a 160 (meters) inside and a lot of people get banged up just because the curves are so tight and trying to practice. Our throwers are just going outside now so we'll eventually get there but we don't have the opportunity to compete inside anymore because indoor season's done. So, if we want to go outside, we basically have to go (to) Iowa, Nebraska."
Jimmies assistant coach Kathryn Lemm said the challenge for the throwers being inside is the inability to see the objects fly.
"Part of the fun of throwing is watching your implement sail so when we're throwing inside in a net you don't get to see that so you don't know if your release is good, you don't know where your finish position was," Lemm said. "So coming outside at least helps in that regard. For the shotputters inside you get a big plastic ball and outside you get a smaller metal ball and so the feel of it in your hand and your neck is different."
Junior thrower Anna Brock said she and her teammates shoveled out their practice field on Monday, March 27, and are excited to be able to be outside.
The Jimmies did open the outdoor season in the elements as the men's and women's teams participated in the Wayne State Wildcat Classic on March 24-25, in Wayne, Nebraska. During that event, Brock set a career-high with a hammer throw of 131 feet.
"It was amazing. It was great, it was kind of cold in the morning but everyone put their layers on and we had a great day," Brock said. "I think everyone got sunburnt or wind burnt, everyone performed fantastically ... so it was great. We had 19 PRs (personal records). Everyone had really high energy because we were treating it like practice because we hadn't been able to throw on concrete into dirt at all."
The weather has not only impacted the athletes, it has impacted the coaches including Lemm.
"It happens but this is beyond where it normally is," Lemm said. "I would honestly think other than the year of the flood in whatever, '97 (1997), the first outdoor meet we had that year was on April 16th, 17th ... It's really been hard to practice this year, we've always gone out and shoveled rings and shoveled sectors and started early but it's just so much snow this year."
One of the most obvious challenges that the athletes face outside that they do not inside is the weather and the wind. Despite that, Neppl said he and his teammates are able to fight through it and do their jobs.
"We went to Wayne, Nebraska, and competed, the first day was 50 degrees, so the throwers got nice weather but then the second day when we all got there, it was 35 degrees and windy," Neppl said. "So, it's honestly just the elements that we face. We're all pretty mentally strong where we don't even care about the weather. We just want to get outside."
Neppl said he and his teammates are unable to shovel off the track surrounding the Rollie Greeno Field at Charlotte and Gordon Hansen Stadium because of the fear of damaging the surface.
"I asked the coaches about going down there and shoveling," Neppl said. "We're technically not allowed to push anything off that track because of the warranty so whatever is on that track we have to let it sit there until it melts, because the track surface is still super soft so if we were gonna take something and go down on it, it would just start ripping layers off."
The Jimmies are scheduled to be back in action on Friday, April 7, in the University of South Dakota Early Bird Meet.
