Frozen Puddles, Flying Javelins, and Floating Takeoff Boards: Track Season Is Coming!

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Lacing up for track season brings a flood of memories to anyone who's ever competed, and this star-studded panel takes us straight to the starting blocks. From Olympic trial qualifier Jose Jefferson who triple jumped 51'11" to All-American javelin thrower Lauren Lubarski who broke her university record as a freshman, these track legends deliver a masterclass in what it takes to excel in the sport.

The conversation quickly reveals how track and field creates versatile athletes – Jose competed in five events at one meet, while Lauren transitioned from discus national champion in high school to javelin standout in college. As Coach Andy Upton shares insights from his impressive 27-year coaching career, we discover how knowledge gets passed down through generations, with many former competitors now coaching the next wave of talent.

Nothing bonds track athletes like suffering through brutal weather conditions. Stories of competing in hailstorms, running through snow-covered tracks, and watching high jump bars fall from wind gusts before jumpers even approach bring knowing laughter from everyone involved. Coach Upton's tale of squeegeeing water off floating long jump boards demonstrates the dedication coaches bring to helping athletes succeed regardless of conditions.

When the discussion turns to the most challenging event in track and field, the 800-meter race narrowly edges out the 400-meter hurdles and 10K distance. This friendly debate highlights the respect these athletes have for disciplines outside their specialties – sprinters acknowledging distance runners' endurance while throwers recognize the technical demands of hurdle events.

For current and aspiring track athletes listening, this episode offers more than nostalgic war stories. I

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is your favorite specialguest, host Fitty, and today I
bring you an outstanding episodewith a great panel of guests
literally coming from all overthe country, from all types of
backgrounds.
Today we have the All ThingsTrack and Field Show, and what a
better show to have in themonth of March.
We have track season rightaround the corner for all of us

(00:23):
track fans out there.
A lot of us are going to talkabout our personal experience
today in coaching and being aformer athlete at the high
school and college level.
Before we jump into the show,though, make sure you keep all
the sponsors in the pre-roll andthe post-roll, as all of these
sponsors are small businessowners who are great sponsors of
this show, and we can't haveRide Home Rants without them and

(00:45):
, of course, all you fans.
So, without further ado, we'regoing to jump into the whole
things track and field show.
I have some great guests today.
People have competed at thehigh Division I level, people
who have tried out for theOlympics, record-setting coaches
, champions all around in everysingle event.
We're going to dive right intoit.

(01:06):
So, everyone, thank you so muchfor being here.
We're going to have youintroduce yourself.
Tell us what your favoritesalad dressing is, and then what
city and state are you fromoriginally?
So let's start with Jose.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
My name is Jose Jefferson.
My favorite salad dressing I'ma ranch guy and I hail from
Omaha, nebraska.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Perfect Lauren.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Hi everyone.
I'm Lauren Labarski.
My favorite salad dressingwould be probably a cilantro
lime, and I am from Pittsburgh,pennsylvania.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
Okay, Uh, Chris my name's Christopher Marsco,
Favorite salad dressing Uh, Igot to go with Italian, playing
it safe but consistent.
And uh, I hail from Cortland,Ohio, and uh, Northern Trumbull
County.
Some may know Warren, some mayknow Youngstown and if you don't
know Youngstown, Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Kind of far off.
But I dig it, chris, I dig it,byron.

Speaker 5 (02:09):
Byron Mayers, I'm not going to lie, I'm a weirdo.
I don't eat salad, so I don'thave a favorite salad dressing.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
You don't eat salad at all.

Speaker 5 (02:18):
No, okay, I can't do it Too healthy, too healthy for
me, okay, but I'm, I'm from uh,st claire's, ohio okay, um coach
upton my name is andy upton uh,favorite salad dressing.

Speaker 6 (02:38):
I'll go with blue cheese.
You can put it on Chick-fil-Atoo, byron, and I'm originally
from Hurricane, west Virginia.
Okay, colin.

Speaker 7 (02:52):
I am Colin Pope.
My favorite salad dressingright now is probably French,
and I am from a small town justoutside of Youngstown, ohio.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (03:07):
Aaron, aaron Fry, you're on mute.
Yeah, yeah, sorry guys, my nameis Aaron Fry.
My favorite salad dressing isjust original.
I like ranch.
I like ranch.
It's very original and I'm froma small town 30 minutes east of
Pittsburgh called Vandegrift,pennsylvania.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Okay, and we had our last guest, austin.
Jump on, austin.
We're going to just introduceyourself.
What's your favorite saladdressing and where are you from
originally?

Speaker 9 (03:34):
Hi everyone.
I'm Austin Dudley Favoritesalad dressing ranch.
And then I'm from South City,st Louis, missouri.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Okay, ranch is the big winner.
On the salad dressing, I'mactually an oil and vinegar guy.
You know, being Italian, yougrow up on the oil and vinegar
on the salad on Sundays, so I'mdefinitely an oil and vinegar
guy.
I actually had that tonight.
It was very healthy until I atethe grilled cheese right next
to it.
Not so healthy.
So we're going to dive rightinto the topics here.
So we're going to dive rightinto the topics here.

(04:14):
So we're going to go Jose,lauren Chris Byron, coach Upton,
colin Fry and Austin, and we'regoing to kind of go through
these.
So just on this one, did yourun track in college and, if so,
where did you run and whatevent did you do Jose?

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yes, I went to University of South Dakota and I
was an All-American in the 5500long jump, triple jump, high
jump.
I did the four by one as well.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Okay, lauren.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Hi guys.
So I went to East CarolinaUniversity, which is a Division
I school in North Carolinabecause there's no East Carolina
but I threw the javelin, I highjumped, I did the heptathlon
for a little bit, I threw thediscus, but I was All-American
in the javelin throw, top twoall time at my university in the

(04:56):
high jump.
I threw the discus, oddly, incollege but was also a national
and state champion in highschool.
Um, so, knowing that, I kind ofdropped that event once I got
to college after my first year,it's so wild how it all planned
out, but I would say I identifyas a javelin thrower and a high
jumper at this point okay, uh,marsco I mean, I guess one of

(05:20):
these things is not like theothers.

Speaker 4 (05:22):
I have no collegiate athletic experience other than
getting to coach footballYoungstown State for three years
.
My track career got underway.
We were a good small schoolLakeview High School.
I threw shot, put and discus.
Wasn't good enough to goanywhere, but real solid for the
school and division we were at.

Speaker 5 (05:44):
Okay, byron, yes, I was fortunate enough to get
anywhere, but real solid for theschool and division we were at.
So okay, byron, yes, I wasfortunate enough to get the
opportunity to run at bethanycollege thanks to my man, andy
upton, up there.
Uh, when I was there Ibasically did all the sprints uh
, four by four, four by one,four by two, uh, 200, 100.
And then indoor was all theshort relays, short sprints.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Okay, how about you, coach Upton?

Speaker 6 (06:12):
I actually did not participate in track and field
in college.
I happened to go to a college,west Virginia Tech, that did not
have track and field at thetime and ended up playing
college football there at asmall Division II school in
Montgomery, west Virginia,before I graduated and left West

(06:35):
Virginia Tech and ended upgetting my feet wet at West
Virginia Westland where Istarted my track career as a
young coach many, many, many,many years ago and when he says
many years ago, it just meanslike maybe five, so six.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Okay, we'll go with even six.
So, colin, how about you?

Speaker 7 (06:59):
yeah, so I unfortunately, uh, did not get
the opportunity to throw at thecollegiate level.
I was a shot put and discusthrower for my high school, lovo
High School, just outside ofYoungstown, and, like Fitty said
at the beginning here, I did atone point hold the school's

(07:21):
record for discus, which has nowbeen rebroken again since I've
been graduated.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
So how about you Fry?

Speaker 8 (07:31):
So I ran at Bethany College, was recruited Basically
I was a football playerrecruited.
I talked to Coach Upton and hewas like hey, you want to come
out and jump for me?
I ended up doing track forthree years and was
predominantly a high jumper anda long jumper.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
OK, how about you, Austin?

Speaker 9 (07:55):
Yeah, I ran at Webster University in St Louis
and I did both indoor andoutdoor track.
I did 800 all the way up to 5K.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Okay, and then I of course ran for Coach Upton many,
many years ago, mainly justfive years ago I still think I'm
in my 20s, but no, a long timeago my main things were the
javelin and long jump coming in,and Coach Upton convinced me to
run the 200.
So I did that and did a littlebit of everything else under the
sun, which we'll kind of talkabout here a little later.

(08:32):
So next one we want to kind ofgo into is you know, a lot of us
have some type of background incoaching or being involved
outside of being an athlete intrack.
So that's what we're going tokind of get into.
So you know, so, are youcurrently or have you coached
track and field previously?

Speaker 2 (08:48):
So, jose, I, coached high school track for five years
and I coached college track forsix years and in between that I
had a career coaching football10 years of high school, three
as a head coach, 12 years ofcollege, 14 years indoor
football and I did internshipswith the Packers and the Vikings

(09:11):
and I spent two years in theXFL.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
And Jose, what college did you coach at?

Speaker 2 (09:18):
again, I coached at the University of Wisconsin-La
Crosse and I was there two yearscoaching football and track and
then I coached.
I was the assistant athleticdirector and then director of
jumps for Viterbo university andlacrosse.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Okay, okay, I'm sure, maybe at some point, maybe you
and coach Upton have crossedpast against.
You might have.
Yeah, you might have.
How about you, lauren?
Yeah, you might have.
How about you, lauren, lauren?

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Sorry, I was trying to unmute myself, but yeah, I've
actually helped a lot of localathletes in the area here in
Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, withtheir track and field expertise.
I've gotten an opportunity towork with a lot of athletes that
now are throwing javelin incollege and high jumping One of
my previous athletes.
I actually was coaching her inthe volleyball and she asked me

(10:14):
to give her some private javelinlessons and now she's actually
throwing at Louisville.
But I could say that it's thething that just keeps on giving.
Definitely, if you know how todo something, you can definitely
return the favor and just keeppromoting this sport in
different ways with the youthathletes.
But, um, I could just saypersonally, it's just been such
a great opportunity to be ableto give back, regardless of how
that they even operate or howfar they throw.
But, um, yeah, I've been ableto coach a little bit awesome,

(10:37):
awesome, uh.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
How about you coach marsco?

Speaker 4 (10:41):
hey, so I'm a uh football coach by trade.
Uh, this will be my 11th uhseason on the sidelines coming
up in the fall.
Um, this spring will be myfourth year as a track and field
coach uh, mahoning valley.
I've also spent three years asa junior high basketball coach.
That's a lot less uh publicizedand that's a good thing.

(11:01):
But uh, yeah, and I uh, Ireally get to.
I enjoy track because there's alot, a lot of symmetry with
football and you know a lot ofthe same athletes and you know
enjoying it myself.
It's really, uh, I don't know,like everyone's mentioned so far
, very rewarding to get to see,you know, prs and uh, just kind
of different work.
You get the team aspect, butit's also the individual thing

(11:22):
too, so very unique absolutely,um, how about you, byron?

Speaker 5 (11:27):
yeah, so I'm going into my fourth year coaching.
I did um three years at aschool uh called Buckeye Local
where I did one year as anassistant, then I was two years
as the head boys coach where Iwas helping rebuild the program,
and then um this past year I uhhad another job opportunity,
which I took, and I'm currentlyat uh, st clarenceville high

(11:49):
school, where I am on as aassistant sprint coach okay.

Speaker 6 (11:56):
Well, I guess for the most seasoned guy here, coach
upton don't know if it's a goodthing, bad thing experienced,
yeah, we'll say that.
Um, I am starting my I guess,27th year coaching.
Um 24 of those 20, 23 of thoseI was involved in college

(12:22):
football and track and field atthe same time.
All said and done, I've been, Ithink, 26 years as a track and
field coach, been at W&J for thelast two years.
Before that I was 19 years asthe head coach up at Bethany

(12:42):
College.
That I was 19 years as the headcoach up at Bethany College, um
, and, like I stated earlier, Iwas five years before that at
West Virginia Wesleyan Collegeas well.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Okay, how about you, colin?

Speaker 7 (12:53):
yeah, so no, uh, no official coaching experience for
me.
Um, I suppose the closest Icould say I've gotten is uh
assisting with the junior highuh track and field team, just uh
.
If my memory serves me, we'regoing back in the archives a
little bit, but Colin, you knowwhat you always used to say, how

(13:15):
you worked.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
The track meets for us.

Speaker 7 (13:17):
Back in the day after you graduated that wasn't a
long time ago, though, givingpointers, that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
How about you Fry?

Speaker 8 (13:27):
I have.
So I spent one year coaching atBethany College as a GA and
then I got on at my old highschool, Kiske Area High School,
Ended up coaching football ontrack there for five years
before I moved to Wilmington,Delaware.
I had a couple of coachingopportunities out here but just

(13:48):
because my daughter's so young Ididn't kind of seize those
opportunities.
So eventually, when she getsolder, I'll get back into that
coaching field.

Speaker 9 (13:57):
Okay, how about you Austin?
Yeah, I've helped at some highschools coaching and then I used
to coach at assistant coach atCuyahoga Community College and
then currently right now I justfreelance a little, help some
ultra marathon runners buildsome plans.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Okay, okay, so I coached for a number of years I
coached.
I got to really think now as Iam digging into the archives for
myself five, six, eight so 12years for football, eight for
track and field had a chance tocoach with.
You know my, you know my mentorhere, coach Upton.

(14:42):
He got a chance to coach acouple people on the call here
and you know my mentor here,coach Upton.
He got a chance to coach acouple people on the call here
and you know coach with somepeople too.
So a lot of awesome experiencesthere.
And fun fact, coach Upton canback me up I was the interim
head coach twice for BethanyCollege, for a total of one hour
on two different occasions.
One hour Best hour, yep, besidesbeing married, that was like

(15:04):
the best hour of my life beingthe head track and field coach
at Bethany College, because noone I didn't have to answer to
anyone.
Everyone had the answer to me.
It was a great, great feeling.
So the next thing I want to gointo in all seriousness is the
greatest track accomplishmentyou have as a coach or an
athlete.
So you can just, you know,really pick one, depending on

(15:25):
you know what it is.
I'll kind of let all of youthink about this.
I'm going to answer this first.
I'm going to say probably thegreatest accomplishment I had in
track and field was when I setthe Bethany record for most
events in one meet under CoachUpton.
At our first ever mini meet in2010, I ran the 100 200 4x1 4x4

(15:47):
through the javelin, the shotput and I long jumped that day
and I PR'd in four of those setseason bests in two of them and
placed in three of them.
So that was probably myproudest accomplishment in uh in
, in one, in one meet.
Even though there's a lot ofproud accomplishments as a coach

(16:08):
, that was probably my proudestaccomplishment as a athlete.
So, jose, we'll start with youand I I hope you say when you
made to the olympic trials.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
But you know, no, that's that really wasn't.
I mean it was.
It was a nice honor to.
I mean mean you earn it.
Nobody gives it to you but, um,you know a lot of that was.
That was amazing.
I I enjoy coaching.
I coached um, a kid at Viterbowho ended up being fifth at

(16:36):
indoor nationals, u S indoornationals, the pro circuit, and
um you know, and he started outas a 21-3 long jumper and when I
got done with him at the end ofhis fourth year he was a 25-2
long jumper.
So that was probably the mostthe best accomplishment as a

(16:57):
coach, as an athlete, theOlympics was.
I mean, the qualifying was fun,but the one I take the most
pride in is that I graduatedhigh school with all of our
freshman and varsity jumprecords high, long and triple.
I qualified for state in allthree and I placed in all three

(17:18):
and I almost won all three butthere really wasn't any jump.
I don't even know if anybodyhas done that now.
I know in the state of Nebraskanobody has to where they have
all their jump records at theirschool before they graduated,
and you know, it's justsomething that I've always held
on to, just to be versatile as ajumper.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Okay, okay, that's awesome.
How about you, lauren?

Speaker 3 (17:44):
So I know you asked for one, but I would like to
describe my high school andcollege because I feel like it's
two different versions of me.
As an athlete, in high school,I won the state and national
championship for the discusthrow and I was not projected to
win in that event at all.
I was actually more projectedto win in the high jump and or

(18:07):
javelin.
So for me to win in anotherevent was really eye-opening for
me and everybody else, whichwas a really cool accomplishment
.
And then, going into college, Iwas a freshman All-American in
the javelin throw, which I brokethe school record my freshman
year at our conference meet andI made it to Eugene, oregon, to
the last round for NCAAs and Iplaced in the top 15 in the

(18:30):
country and I was only a coupleof meters off from the world
standard and USA Olympicstandard that freshman year.
And I went from being literallytrash at the beginning of the
year, where they always breakyou down to build you up, and so
we rebuilt my form.
So you had to get better beforeyou got, you had to get worse

(18:52):
before you got better, and so Ireally didn't have the hope that
it was going to get betterbefore the end of the season,
because it usually is twoseasons for a javelin thrower.
And lo and behold, in Houston,texas, I just threw this bomb of
a throw.
That just qualified me for allthese things.
So, yeah, I'm all-american.
As a freshman broke the schoolrecord which I still have at ECU

(19:15):
, and then, um, I was a nationalchampion in high school on the
discus, which I didn't evencontinue to do really in college
anymore, which is wild.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Awesome, thanks for sharing that and go pirates.
So how about you, marsco?
What's your, what's yourgreatest accomplishment here as
a, as a mighty discus and shotput thrower, or a coach?

Speaker 4 (19:39):
And so probably one of each.
So my is an athlete at Lakelakeview high school, my uh
sophomore, junior and senioryear, uh were the what would
that have been 10th, 11th and12th straight conference and uh
titles.
Um, we also won the county,like four years in a row.
By the time I left, and gettingto contribute on a team where

(20:02):
we were that well-balanced, withsprinters, jumpers, distance me
and my buddy throwing, it wasjust a really well-rounded, fun
group to be around.
We really pushed each other,regardless of what the event was
, and kind of always rememberthat and the good camaraderie.
As a coach though, matt Keeley,who's now an offensive guard at

(20:24):
Youngstown State he had notthrown shot put until the spring
of his junior year and Ifinally talked him into going
out for it and he improved frompicking it up throwing
30-something.
I believe he finished aroundlike 42 or 43 feet, just worked

(20:45):
at it meticulously and you knowwhen you have raw tools and you
pour the effort into it and youget the guidance.
I mean, I don't think I'm elitelevel coaching but I do know a
few things and it was cool to beable to see some of the things
I learned from, uh, my thronecoach dave denman.
Uh, you know, pass it on tosomeone with a lot more
god-given talent than me and youknow, by the time he was a

(21:08):
senior, he was up near 50.
So that was probably my biggestaccomplishment as a coach.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Okay, chris, what year did you graduate from
Lakeview?

Speaker 4 (21:17):
13.
Okay, so Colin probably threwagainst Chris at some point,
probably as well, billy pricefirst meet every year at Fitch,
so that was pretty cool.
I was like being the shadow.
They didn't even really see mestanding at the ring.

Speaker 7 (21:34):
I never felt so small as whenever you have to throw
against Billy Price.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
So there's a reason he also.
That's why he was in the NFL,just throwing that out there.
So, byron, how about you?
About you?
What was that?

Speaker 5 (21:49):
that proudest moment for you in track?
Well, I would say as an athlete, um, probably would be my
senior year making it to, uh,the state meet and the 100.
That was a goal that I hadright after my junior year and
me and my sprint coach, I weworked all off season to get me
there and it was just an amazingexperience.

(22:09):
Also kind of add in to collegewise Coach Huff is probably
going to chuckle about this onebut probably one of my favorite
memories was breaking our fourby two record for indoor at
Baldwin Wallace.
Kind of just add some info.
I was just a pup, in his words.
It was my freshman year and Iwas fortunate enough to run with

(22:32):
some dogs.
There was three dudes on oursquad.
They were elite level runnersand jumpers, and here I am just
a small town kid being able torun with them, and so we was
able to beat that record andpretty cool experience
Coaching-wise, you know.

(22:52):
Kind of having the opportunityto build a program was really
nice.
Probably my two favoritememories one I got to send a
brother-sister duo to state.
One was a senior, the other onewas a, a junior.
They both made it in the 400and then, um, actually seeing um
the sister.

(23:13):
She went and signed to rundivision one at marshall so she
was actually um all in onbasketball and I kind of
persuaded her and and showed herhow fun track is, and now she's
actually a conference championin her freshman year as well.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Very cool Part of the thundering herd.
So, coach Upton, now this isgoing to be really hard for you.
So you got you know three ofyour former athletes on here.
Don't offend any of us.

Speaker 6 (23:46):
I would have to say I mean it is hard.
20-some years of coaching, likeI said, you ask that question.
There's a lot of memories thatstart popping in and there's
probably a tie of about 100 ofthem and I could pick any out of
it.
Just hearing these stories getskind of cool.

(24:07):
Hearing every single one of yousay something.
It just brings back awesomememories for me and great
moments that have happened and Iwould say grouping all of them
together.
You know, I think it's reallycool and I'm sitting here on a
podcast with three people that Icoached that they've decided to

(24:29):
carry it on to the next leveland continue passing on it.
You know, maybe some Iinstilled in you all that you
want to keep passing on, but youknow it's.
If I had to go a proud moment,you know I would take I mean,
there's so many of them you knowfrom.
You know from conferencechampionships to individual

(24:50):
championships.
You know conferencechampionships as a team, I mean
very proud of those have my lastseason at Bethany to take a

(25:16):
female jab thrower to thenational championship when she
hadn't been there before, andthen to go to W&J the very next
season and take, you know, be apart of two distance runners
going to the cross country NCAAchampionships, carried that
right into indoor where nowwe've got a long jumper as well

(25:37):
as a distance runner, and then,you know, to get to the outdoor
where we, you know, take ahurdler.
You know, to me that was kindof just from a reflection, from
a coaching standpoint, tobasically have all, basically
all event groups kind ofrepresented and you know, I kind
of had my hand and and all thata little bit was, you know,
kind of a very cool coachingmoment.

(25:58):
And when you've been doing thisthat long, um, you appreciate,
every time you make it to thosemeets or every time you win a
conference championship becausethere's a lot of years in
between those when they happenSure, okay, okay, that was it,
that's your coaching out atWisconsin lacrosse and you get
to do that stuff all the time.
Oh man.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Colin, how about you?

Speaker 7 (26:25):
Yeah.
So back back in the day, when,when Johnny was the track and
field coach there for us endedup breaking my school's record
for discus the Western ReserveInvitational that year that
record had been set back in the60s and I believe the year I
broke it was 2013 or 2014,.

(26:47):
So a pretty long-standingrecord, something that I was
pretty proud of.
Back then I got to actuallymeet the coach and the athlete
we're both still around that setthe original record, so that

(27:07):
was really neat getting to talkwith them guys.
Then the one that I like tobring up, uh in close circles
all the time, is the unofficialtwo-time uh iron man four by one
champion.
Uh, johnny knows all about theiron man four by one, so I'll
just leave that one there.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
But that's those are two of my favorite uh memories
absolutely, and I will shout outthat I had the most athletic
throwers ever because the firstyear we ran the iron man relays
at western reserve we wereactually the we were the fastest
fat man four by one in theentire state.
We ran 50.4 seconds.

(27:45):
What are four throwers?
And colin stood at a six footlike five 250 pounds at that
time and a couple other throwerswere pretty large and there was
one smaller guy.
We practiced that for a week.
I actually shattered mysunglasses during the four by
one because I got so mad andslammed them on the ground, but
our boys and girls both won thatthat year and both were ranked

(28:07):
um, like in the in the area, aslike one of the better four by
ones for a smaller school.
That was our throwers.
So very, very proud moment.
Thank you, colin, for remindingme on that.
What about you, aaron Fry?
You were part of some somebad-ass teams at Bethany under
coach Upton.
What's the most proud momentyou have from track and field?

Speaker 8 (28:27):
Man.
It's a very tough, tough, justlike everybody else.
Uh, honestly, um, as a teammate, an individual, um, I almost I
could go on record to saysometimes I felt like I had more
fun doing track than I didfootball, um, and so it was
always cool to see everybodyelse's motivation and what drove

(28:51):
them.
I've seen a lot of goodindividual accomplishments.
I coached Upton Well, I guessthey were my teammates, but he
coached two record-breaking longjumpers who ended up being like
I grew really really close with, so it was cool to kind of jump
alongside of them and kind offix their brains, and what I use

(29:13):
from that drove me to kind of,I guess, be a better coach and
to kind of instill other thingswithin the people that I coached
along the way.
And I think one of my biggestaccomplishments as a high jumper
at Bethany um, both indoor myfirst time ever doing high jump

(29:37):
in a long time Um, I ended upplacing third um in the indoor
meet.
And then my senior year, Iended up placing second.
So I was very proud of that.
But my, my happiest moments, weended up winning the
back-to-back championships inthe indoor and I think that was
really really cool to accomplishsomething that hasn't been done

(29:58):
there in a very, very long time.
So you know I can hold my haton that and say that was the
funnest times I pretty much everhad being up at Bethany and
running track there.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Besides becoming friends with Fitty Folk Hunting.
Yeah, austin, what about youRound us out on this one?

Speaker 9 (30:21):
Let's see so, thinking about it, when I was at
Tri-C it was right around theirfirst year coming back, so the
pandemic had made its waythrough.
So we started the program backup, we coached and we pulled the
team together out of what wecould and they came together and

(30:42):
we all won the indoorconference championship.
So that to me was a very proudmoment, first year there, first
year coming back and seeing themall like weren't seated to win.
So it was kind of nice nice,okay, next one.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Now some of you will have a lot of time to think
about this, others not so much.
But you can't explain why oranything like that.
You just are going to name thehardest event in track and field
in your opinion.
So what is the hardest event intrack and field in your opinion
can be throwing jumping relays,whatever it may be.

(31:22):
But I'll start this out.
I'm going to say it's the 800,jose, I would say the 10k, it's
the 800.
Jose, I would say the 10K Okay.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Lauren, how about you ?
I would say the 800, too.
It takes a special person to dothat.

Speaker 4 (31:44):
Okay, marisco 800's a close second for me.
I'd say 400,.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Though.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
You, though, you gotta have that freaky speed
element Still.

Speaker 5 (31:55):
Okay, byron, I thought this question was gonna
happen and I've been thinkingI'm going with the 800, okay.

Speaker 6 (32:02):
Coach Upton 400 hurdles With 10k right behind it
.
Okay, how about you, colin?
Hurdles with 10k right behindit.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Okay, how about you, colin?

Speaker 7 (32:14):
Yeah, I think I'm going to have to jump on the
bandwagon here and say the 800.

Speaker 8 (32:18):
Okay, fry, I definitely got a bad cold
toughening on this one, 400hurdles or just a different
animal?

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Okay, austin.
Yeah, I'd say 400 hurdles andthe 10k, those two alone are
just okay, okay, I'm surprisednobody said the pole vote, just
because that takes so muchstrength and technique to go
into.
But I would say that the out of10, the 10k, the 400 hurdles and

(32:48):
then the 800, yeah for sure,all right.
So the next one, um, thecraziest weather meet you've
ever been a part of um andthat's probably a lot for
different ones of us becausewe've ran kind of all over the
country.
Um, I will say, when I wascoaching uh, probably one of the
craziest ones I was ever a partof when I was a young assistant

(33:12):
coach and we ran at EastPalestine, ohio, and it
literally monsooned the entiremeet and they're running through
puddles on the ground.
It was very similar, coachUpton, to PACs in 2021, but at
the high school level, whichdidn't have great drainage, and
people were hitting the highjump mat and water was exploding

(33:32):
up in the air.
So, uh, that was probably theworst meet I've ever ever been a
part of, um with PACs in 2021,um being delayed because of the
rain as a very close second.
So, uh, jose, what do you gotfor us?

Speaker 2 (33:46):
1988, nebraska State track meet rain and hail at the
state meet while I was highjumping.
So outside of getting pelted,the high jump pit saturated.
So when you cleared the bar allthe water came on your head.
And then they finally learnedand put all the rest of the
classes indoors at Boys Town.

(34:08):
But yeah, hail, that wasdifferent.
Rain was one thing, but thehail was.
It was pea-sized and you can,it was just bouncing off your
head.
But I thought for sure they'dcancel it.
But it was in the 80s where youknow, they thought we were
tougher or not as smart.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
You know what the 80s brought?
A lot of good things.
The Garno, schwarzenegger andand Rocky Balboa, especially
Rocky Ford.
Um, great thing for theeighties, lauren, how about you?
What was that worst weathertrack meet you were a part of?

Speaker 3 (34:43):
I'm going to have to back date to high school track
in Pennsylvania where I grew up.
Um, clearly, our PennsylvaniaSprings are not springing right
away, so you do get like theweird elements of life of snow,
hail, wind, and we were actuallyat our home meet, um, and there
was like 30 to 40 mile per hourwinds and there's a high jumper
.
You don't want to, you don'twant to knock the bar off, but
when the bar keeps falling offbecause of the wind before you

(35:04):
even jump was definitely what wewere dealing with, um, and also
throwing a javelin into theground that was frozen, um which
the weather was just reallycold.
We had snow and wind.
I could just tell you it wasjust not a fun time.
Um, oddly, I my it performedpretty well, um, and I hate the

(35:25):
cold, but, uh, I could tell youthat the wind combination with
also the cold and the snow wasnot a fun track and field event.
Slash meet.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Okay, what about you, marsco?
What would you say?

Speaker 4 (35:40):
We always started the track season like end of March
I think was our first meet andour coach never was the one to
pull out anything.
So I think the meet started anokay temperature.
I was at austintown fitch.
Uh it just they had severalshot, put rings and the for
whatever reason, the one thatthey picked to use that day was,

(36:03):
uh, it ended up being like 30mile an hour, winds in your face
, and then by the time my flightgot up it started to have some
light snow flurries and, uh, theofficial decided he wanted to
enforce every rule so itcouldn't be in your sweat.
So you know, trying to just dosome burpees and other things to
just try to stay warm, hurry up, get out of your sweats, throw,

(36:25):
get back in them to stay warmagain, uh, and just, you know
being tough with we get dealt uphere, so I think that adds a
cool layer of challenge to it.
But yeah, snow and wind in yourface, throwing shots pretty
tough.

Speaker 5 (36:40):
Okay, what about you, byron?
I would say as an athlete,probably even my freshman or
sophomore year in college, itwas one of our first few outdoor
meets and we were going toMount Union, leaving to it.
There's probably at least sixinches of snow from Bethany all
the way up to Alliance Snow onthe ground.

(37:01):
They're trying to clear thetrack for us to start and
probably by 2 o'clock it wassunshine and you would have
thought it was a normal springday, so I thought it was just
kind of neat.
Um, as a coach, um basicallyhad a coach in the morning soon.
It was a late track meet dude.
We probably had 30 mile an hourwin, just nothing but downpour.

(37:23):
And they did not cancel themeet, you just ran your event
and just kept okay uh, how aboutyou, coach upton?

Speaker 1 (37:34):
you got a lot from over the years.
Was it west virginia, wesleyanin the monsoon when only one
person triple jumped?

Speaker 6 (37:39):
was it pac in 2021 I I'll piggyback before I go to
mine.
I'll piggyback on byron's justto have one little thing to
mount union.
When we went to that one, as wepulled in, they were shoveling.
They did not expect that muchsnow and they were shoveling the
discus sector to be clear.

(38:01):
So basically there was probablysix to eight inches of snow
outside of the sector lines andwhere it landed was green.
So if you threw out of thesector you were losing your
discus.
That was the one thing that wasreally wild as I watched that
meet I would say I mean GroveCity 2019 at the Pack

(38:26):
Championships.
It was raining.
It rained so hard the wholewhole meet that I was one of the
coaches, I I had a squeegee,some something, a squeegee, some
sort of a brush and I I was bythe long jump, uh takeoff board
and it was raining so hard.
The board was floating and Ihad to sit there and I was

(38:50):
squeegeeing all the water offthe board literally when they
started their approach so wecould keep as much water off of
it as we could.
If I and another coach weren'tdoing that, then it literally
got like a two-inch puddlebefore they got to the end of
the runway wow, wow.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Okay, colin, how about you?

Speaker 7 (39:12):
Yeah, so the one that comes to my mind, um, and I
don't remember what year it wasat this point, but it was
Mahoning County meet Um, we werethrowing and it was probably 12
degrees outside Um, and we, uh,back then I was a purist and I
only like to throw in the uh,the track tank top and the track

(39:33):
shorts, so that little layer ofprotection on when it's it's
pretty close to uh to you know,below freezing is, is definitely
interesting that was your uh,junior year at canfield.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Um, it was barbarically cold and it was the
day before Easter because youactually gave me your letterman
to wear over my stuff because Iwas so cold.
That's right, because yourfuture mother-in-law brought us
all coffee and donuts because wewere so so cold.
Yeah, I remember that now.
Yeah, so you knew back then shewas a good woman as a

(40:08):
mother-in-law and your wife wasgoing to be great because that
was 12 years ago.
So because that was cold.
But if I'm not mistaken, youwere the runner up in the discus
that year and I believe youtook like eighth in the shot put
, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 7 (40:25):
I think it's because most of the other people were
frozen.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
So whatever gets the job done, mental toughness,
right, mental toughness.
So uh fry.
What about you?
What's?
What's your worst weatherexperience with track?

Speaker 8 (40:37):
yeah, so my worst weather experience with track?
Uh, my senior year of highschool, we used to run at this
meet called the igloo.
It was in el tuna, pennsylvania, and it always was like the
middle of march when, or likethe middle of march or late
march when the spring seasonopened.
So we left, we left there, weleft kiski, like it's probably

(41:01):
like a two hour drive or hourand a half drive by bus, but
we're driving up and it's likejust a whiteout and I'm like
like man, this is going to be ahorrible day for a track meet.
But, believe it or not, I was a300 hurdler and right before my
race, which is towards like theback end of the meet, it ends up
snowing again and I'm like,dude, what the hell man, like

(41:23):
this is ridiculous.
Like at that point you justwant to just like run, get your
clothes back on and find a warmplace.
Um, but yeah, it was that.
That's, that was the worstweather meet that we ever ran in
.
Um, it was just snowing andreally, really like the wind
chill was was horrible the wholetime gotcha austin.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
How about you?

Speaker 9 (41:43):
I'm sure you've had some doozies out in the st louis
area yeah, um, the worst onethat comes to mind is probably
in high school.
I remember it was first meet ofthe season and it was just, I
mean, it was a whiteout,basically.
The wind was just non-stop.
I mean, where we were, thetrack was basically a wind

(42:05):
tunnel too.
So you're getting pelted withsnow trying to run and I hate
distance events because they'relong.
So you're on the track longer,you're warm, but you're just
constantly being pelted andyou're like why god?

Speaker 1 (42:22):
I can.
I can understand.
I can understand that I willthrow an honorable mention out
there for anybody who's ever ran.
They're listening to theslippery rock university.
I don't care if it was themiddle of July.
That stadium is barbaricallycold and windy and coach Upton
will back me up on that.
No matter when it is, thatstadium is so, so cold and it's
nothing, nothing like waiting atfrom 10 AM after you throw your

(42:47):
javelin, till 6 PM the run, the200 in the 23rd heat of the 200
in the cold.
It's nothing like that.
So, um, next one.
I'm just gonna ask Jose andcoach Upton this, because
they've, um, you know they,they've coached, you know
college track and I just want tokind of get their opinion.
You know, where do you guysguys think is that one stadium

(43:09):
and Jose, we'll start with youor track arena that your
athletes somehow performed likeway better than really any other
?
Any other place Does anywherestand out to you for that?
Drake?

Speaker 2 (43:21):
you know, I mean, when you go to Drake you just
level up, you know, and it'sjust how it is.
I was fortunate enough to runand coach at Drake and it's a
different beast, you know, justbeing there.
I mean, when I was there as ameager freshman they threw me in
the 4x2, which I wasn't asprinter and we were in the

(43:43):
university class and I had torun the final leg against
Michael Johnson, who was atBaylor at the time.
And then you fast forward to myjunior year to where I placed
third in the open triple jumpand I was the only division two
athlete to do that.
So that was special.
But as a coach, my 25 footerwent there and he in the

(44:07):
university of any any place.
I think it was fifth and um,you still feel the same and it's
just a great atmosphere to goto.
I mean, I know they have afootball field there but you
know nobody cares about drakefootball.
So it's just a great atmosphereokay, coach upton, what about
you?

Speaker 1 (44:25):
you know your many travels.
What's that?
One stadium that you seem likethe athletes always did better
than the rest?

Speaker 6 (44:35):
I guess, when I look at it, probably one of the
coolest places.
Talk about instant atmosphere,instant energy.
I'd have to go with an indoorfacility and and I go up to the
armory in new york.
Um, you know just, you knowjust the whole thing being in
new york city.
You know, maybe you're taking asubway over to the, to the

(45:00):
facility, um, you just walk inand just the history of you know
much.
You know, like coach wastalking about, right terry, you
know, when you're talking todrake relays and stuff like that
, I mean you're just talkingabout a lot of the history at
those venues.
Um, and you know, I alwaysthought the armory in New York
was a very cool place to be at.
Um, the kids always seem tolove it and do well there.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Okay, okay.
So this next one is just goingto be for Marsco and Colin here,
and then we're going to haveeverybody else round out this
other question here.
So we're going to start withyou, marsco, on this.
Do you watch the Olympics whentrack is on?

Speaker 4 (45:41):
Yeah, it's probably the most I watch Olympics, to be
honest.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Okay, how about you, colin?

Speaker 7 (45:53):
okay, how about you, colin?

Speaker 1 (45:54):
uh, no, I'd say normally I, I do not, I'm more
of a winter olympics guy, I getreally into the winter, so, okay
, all right, the next one we'regonna have.
Uh, austin and fry um, laurenand and byron, answer this one.
All right, give it to usstraight.
Ice baths.
We're gonna start with you.
Lauren, what's your take on theice bath?
Did you love them, did you hatethem, or was it somewhere in
between?

Speaker 3 (46:14):
I actually love them because my body doesn't like to
recover, so I'd have to forcemyself into recovery mode, and I
actually still do ice bathsvoluntarily now as a 31-year-old
woman.
So, yeah, I'm actually for it,and I also like doing contrast.
I so yeah, I'm actually for it,and I also like doing contrast.
I don't know if any of theother athletes and people in
here would do contrast from hotto cold, hot to cold and finish

(46:35):
up with cold.
That one's a good one too.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Okay, how about you, byron?
Did you love them?
Coach Upton, ice baths.

Speaker 5 (46:45):
I did.
It was something I kind ofstarted in high school anyways.
So I was able to kind ofcontinue that in college and it
was just part of my pre-meetritual, just to get my mind
right.
So I had my playlist going.
I would hop in after.
I would get a couple starts andsit in there for about 10, 12
minutes and, just like Lauren, Istill do ice baths to this day.

(47:08):
I got my cold tub outside andthen um hopping in, and I do
have a sauna as well.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
So I'm with lauren with the hot and cold contrast
must be you, uh, you youngpeople stuff, to do all that
still, because I ain't gettingin the ice bath anymore, so fry,
what about you?
What?

Speaker 2 (47:23):
was, what was the?

Speaker 1 (47:23):
ice baths like at bethany for you.
I loved them.
I mean that was just like byronsaid.
I mean that was the focus fors,like at bethany for you I loved
them.

Speaker 8 (47:29):
I mean, that was just like byron said.
I mean, that was the focus forme.
Um, I always used to do it twodays before, like we really got
into it.
Um, I was just weird, like thatwas real superstitious, so I
was like I need to do it atleast two days before the day
before.
I never felt good the next day,I don't know why.
Um, and then, if I didn't haveaccess to an ice bath, I would

(47:51):
do contrasting showers as wellhot to cold, hot to cold.
Um, but preferably I prefer theice bath because the when I
don't know like the cold watersitting under there for like a
minute sucks.
I just don't know why.
But, um, but yeah, I love theice bath okay, how about you
austin?

Speaker 9 (48:12):
I did them a lot when I was younger.
I don't as much.
I hate the cold, but also Imean there's a lot of you know
going on right now, theories onshould you ice bath, should you
not?
Is the inflammation good foryou know, the stimulus?

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Okay, okay, so I will .
I will say I did like him backin the day because way back in
the day, way, way since I'm likethe third oldest person on this
um, coach upton used to make usdo them and when I didn't like
him as like a freshman, he toldme well, rocky did him.
So I just got in there and puta bunch of ice in and I would
think about, I was like RockyBalboa and I'm like, if Rocky

(48:56):
can do this, anybody can do this.
So that's what, uh, what coachUpton told me.
But also, um, the other reasonI would do them is, way back
then we were doing spring balland football simultaneously,
with no days off, so I reallyneeded those ice baths on Friday
, so it was really the daybefore the meet, out always
doing.
But coach Upton told me, ifRocky could do them, I would do

(49:17):
them.
And Rocky really never did anice bath, but as a naive 20
year old I you know I did it.
So there we go.
One of the last questions I wantto, I want to ask everyone is
levels of championship.
Now, we kind of talked about ita little bit here, but just
kind of kind of reiterate it, um, and definitely brag about
yourself here a little bit.
So, um, what is like thehighest level of championship

(49:40):
that you want?
Did you ever win a teamchampionship, an individual
championship, nationalchampionship?
Um, this is a chance for you tokind of brag about yourself a
little bit.
So, uh, jose, take it away.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Goodness, um, high school state champions.
I was a seven time gold medalchampion as an individual.
We took state two years Um,when I was in high school
college.
Um, I was a I think it was afive time all American Um.
I was a multi-year conferencechampion and we took um

(50:19):
conference, uh, my junior yearindoor and my senior year
outdoor and you know, Inationals I got third um, that's
probably about the the highest.
But a lot of I, I honestly Imean, and not being you know

(50:40):
that guy but won a lot of, won alot of medals, won a lot of
meets, broke a lot of recordsand, quite honestly, I, I
honestly don't remember them toomuch.
I, you know, I, I, I remember Iwent to Sioux city, iowa, and I
broke their long and triple jumprecords as a junior in high
school.
And then I went to Universityof South Dakota, which is like

(51:02):
30 miles up the road, and therewas supposed to be this kid that
was going to break one of myrecords and I didn't even know I
had the record at the time andso he came down there and didn't
do it.
But then I went there and Ibroke their college record in
the triple jump.
So I mean it just was a.
It was a good career and a lotof records and things broken.
So, honestly, the teamchampions were were the best

(51:24):
high school college you know,but a lot of individual records
that my medals are in a shoe boxsomewhere, all American papers
are somewhere.
It's just like I said it was alot of it was a lot and not that
they weren't important.
It's just, like I said, it was alot of it was a lot, and not
that they weren't important.
It's just I'm, I'm.
I'm very much a minimalist andlive in the present, and you're
talking about something that wasover 30 years ago.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
So no, I understand.
I just wanted to have you bragby yourself a little bit there.
Do you have a question, though?
When you qualified for theOlympic trials in a long jump,
what did?

Speaker 2 (51:58):
you have to jump.
I actually qualified in thetriple jump.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Oh, the triple jump.
What did you actually have totriple to qualify?

Speaker 2 (52:06):
51-11.
Okay, and that was back in 1992and I was on a provision B and
it was not a great thing backthen because when you qualified
they took you to the Universityof Indianapolis in Indiana and
there's nobody there becauseyou're in prelims.

(52:28):
They take one of those littleelectrical flags and they put it
in the sand at 50, I think itwas 53 and a half feet and you
get three shots and they don'teven measure it if you don't get
close and then they wrap yourbus ticket in your sandwich and
say thank you.
Okay, it's so impersonal, Imean because it's not like it
was.
It is today when you qualify, Imean you're at Oregon and it's

(52:51):
a big deal.
Back then, you know, I meanthat's long before social media
and huddle and youtube and allthe rest of that stuff, and it
was very impersonal.
Not that I didn't enjoy it, um,but it it wasn't like I wish it
would.
I wish I'd have done that nowwith social media and everything
, because now you know you blowit up, but you know that's
that's why it's.
It's very humbling when youjust see the flag out there,

(53:16):
sure, okay, well, thanks forsharing that.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
So, lauren, you mentioned it.
You know state champion,national champion, national
qualifier.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
Here's your chance to reiterate it all again and brag
about yourself a little bit um,it's kind of weird because,
like, I also feel like that's awhole nother time in my life
that I feel like it didn'treally happen.
But obviously we did it andwe're on this call for a reason.
Um, but yeah, just kind ofbacktracking, like you know, I
was a state champion, I was a umstate individual champion in

(53:47):
the high jump, state individualchampion in the discus, um, and
then I was a national championin the heist in, champion in the
javelin throw.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
I just think we lost Lauren there, so we'll go back
to her.
Marsco, you kind of mentionedit, though.
What championships did you guyswin as an athlete or a coach?

Speaker 4 (54:13):
I was in a unique spot because I was good enough
to advance and be top two in theevents that I was in, but I
didn't score the big points.
I scored the one, two, threepoints, but when you get to
those bigger meets, that ends upbeing the difference.
So I always feel like I playedmy role, just wasn't on as uh

(54:37):
significant a level, but uh, youknow, it was very important.
In my high school we uh I waspart of the 10th, 11th and 12th
straight conference title.
Um we were uh four in a row uhcounty uh champions while I was
in high school, um two districttitles and then then came in
second in regionals junior year.

(54:59):
So a lot of team success.
It was really cool.
I feel like I rode thecoattails of a lot of more
premier athletes, but it's cool.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Okay, Chris, just out of curiosity.
What was your best?
Do you remember your bestdiscus throw.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
I want to say it was only like 145, 147.
It wasn't anything.
I looked like a T-Rex or analligator.
If I didn't have my form and myspeed, I'd be toast.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Okay, okay.
So, Lauren, sorry we lost youthere, but you got to the
javelin.
You want to finish up fromthere for us?

Speaker 3 (55:36):
Yeah, sorry I had technical difficulties but yeah,
I was All-American in theJavelin in college, made it to
NCAAs my first year broke schoolrecords but I was training.
Actually after I got done withmy collegiate eligibility, I was
training for the Olympic trialsand worlds and I actually was

(56:00):
able to re-break my personalrecord but roundabout national
and state champion in the highschool, also won a state
championship with our team,which that was a really cool
experience.
They always backtrack our highschool team that year as the
dream team which they still talkabout it to this day.
So I was a part of the dreamteam.

(56:21):
But yeah, just a little bit ofeverything Discus, javelin, high
jump, some nationalchampionships, some state
championships and also someall-American status.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Awesome, awesome.
And I will say one thing, and Ithink Colin will remember this,
to back me up on this I, uh, Ithink we had a lot of great
accomplishments as a throwinggroup when I was coaching colin
multiple county champions,multiple um people that went on
to to districts and regionalsand things of that nature, um,
every single year.
But there was always one teamthat was right across the border

(56:55):
and that was the hickoryhornets uh, where lauren went,
they gave us a run for our moneyin, uh, in throwing, especially
in indoors, at uh, ysu andcolin.
I'm sure you remember thatbecause it was always like why
are they so good, why are theyso better than us?

Speaker 7 (57:08):
constantly, and we are good always, always better
and never could quite understandwe were the dream team.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
What can I say?

Speaker 1 (57:18):
So always gave us some problems.
But, Byron, what about thechampionships or?
You know, individuals oranything like that for you?

Speaker 5 (57:26):
You know I mean when I was in high school I didn't
have too many individualchampions.
My senior year I was able tobreak our 100-meter record.
I was a county first placewinner and then I placed at the
Whip You'll Meet, qualified forstates, just missed the state

(57:47):
finals in the 100-meter.
Went to Bethany.
Freshman year was fortunate tobe a part of our indoor
conference championship team.
My four years for indoor Iplaced in the 60 in the 200 um.
Outdoor didn't have the best ofluck.
I got bit by the injury bug alot.

(58:08):
So outside of that um, you know, biggest accomplishment was
being part of that indoorconference championship team.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
My freshman year okay , now coach up.
I know you had a lot of, a lotof championships, a lot of great
things over time and you know,in all seriousness, if people
don't know, coach upton's um Ibelieve the longest tenured, uh,
track coach in pac history.
Uh, for consecutive years as a,as a head coach, um, you know,
I believe I'll let you bragabout yourself, but 10

(58:39):
conference MVPs, multiplechampions, multiple national
championship qualifiers but it'skind of just throwing that out
there and let you brag aboutyourself here.

Speaker 6 (58:49):
Well, it's kind of hard to follow.
You know a couple other peoplein here.
We have a couple tremendousathletes on this.
You know, on this call, forsure Very impressed by hearing
all of that.
You know, I mean I got to gowith Byron.
You know the team championship.
It's an awesome, awesomefeeling, you know, to put that

(59:13):
work in with a bunch of you knowa bunch of people from a lot of
different areas, differentevents, and you know so, winning
those team championships atBethany was, um, that that was
an awesome, awesome feeling.
Um, I did have.
I did have one athlete one timewhere I mean I had a few kids
who went to the nationalchampionships that uh four was

(59:35):
my magic number.
I, you know I, uh four was mymagic number.
You know I think fourth was thehighest.
You know that I've had anathlete finish, but I did have a
triple jumper.
Now you know we're talking atriple jump.
Um, the irony of it, I had atriple jump jumper enter the
national championships, rankednumber one in the country at

(59:55):
wisconsin lacrosse.
Um, he was around a 51 footjumper himself and uh things
just didn't go our way that thatday at lacrosse and, uh, he
ended up finishing, I think, uh,10th.
I think he just missed finals,but that was the closest I got
to sniffing a nationalchampionship as a coach.

Speaker 7 (01:00:16):
Okay, colin, how about you?
Yeah, so, johnny, you mightremember some of this better
than me, but I know I had acouple, won a couple of
invitationals runner-up at thecounty meet.
I think back then we misseddistrict qualifier by a couple
feet.
So not really too much to tomention there, but, um, being

(01:00:42):
able to to have that record, uh,high school record for for a
couple years, that that was amajor accomplishment and uh
definitely could say I had a lotof fun during during all of it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
so yeah, so I believe you won two um invitationals
your senior year, pie valley andgrand valley.
Uh, with the discus you set thegrand valley meet record.
In the discus you were aone-time county runner-up,
one-time county champion, andyou took fifth at districts and

(01:01:19):
miss regionals by one spot, um,because the guy behind you beat
you on that.
So, um, fry, what about you?
What is, uh, what are thosechampionships um, that you know
aaron fry was a part of um, thatI got mentioned previously.

Speaker 8 (01:01:36):
Like my favorite memories were the back-to-back
championships indoor.
The first year, which I thinkwas Byron's freshman year, we
just dominated the meet.
I think we won the meet by like80 points or something like
that, and so we kind of I don'tknow, you know, it was just cool

(01:01:57):
to just give coach Upton thelittle water bath with the water
bottles and go ahead and, andyou know, the one of the best
parts about that is like, youknow, it's a, it's a fun bus
ride home and a lot of thethings that you can remember.
But the second year was justmuch tougher.
So the first year I just got toadd this in so I think we

(01:02:22):
entered like eight high jumpersand I think seven of us placed.
So we pretty much swept a lotof the points in one event which
I think ended up propelling usin the direction we needed to go
, ended up propelling us in thedirection we needed to go.
So it was almost like a littleloophole.
And then the second year youkind of seen a lot more teams

(01:02:43):
kind of model that they wantedto kind of sweep and enter a lot
of kids in some events wherethey felt like they could have
stole some points.
But that meet actually came downto the relay race and, like
Byron said, we had a bunch ofdogs, um, in that race and it
happened to be the our 400 meterrecord holder, um, who brought

(01:03:08):
it home for us.
And right then and there weneeded that he crossed the
finish line and you know, it wasjust another one of those good
moments where we got to takepictures at the podium.
You know, I have a back to backchant give coach Upton a little
water bath and coach Gwynn andthen, you know, try to get into

(01:03:29):
the indoor season.
And I think we placed secondthat year.
I think we were runner ups atour home field year, I think we
were runner-ups at our homefield.
Outdoor is much different thanindoor, but those two
championships, right, there weredefinitely the best memories
that we had.
For my individual success inthose meets.
I placed third in both of thosemeets.
I just felt like I felt so goodjust being a contributor and

(01:03:54):
being able to put some points onthe board for the team.

Speaker 9 (01:04:05):
Okay, thanks for sharing that.
How about, about you, austin,round us out on this?
Um, no, no, real like nationalcontentions for me.
Um, I was played with injury alot and even if I wasn't I mean
division three distance runnersare some beast runners.
I mean even our region, likefor cross country.
We're like, okay, we've gotwashu, we've got at the time

(01:04:26):
every wisconsin school, andyou're like we're not making it
out, but kind of like we're justgonna do our best in pr,
hopefully.
So that's how okay goes.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Okay.
Well, thanks for sharing thatand thank you all of you for
coming on and doing the AllThings Track episode.
But before we go, before we go,everybody that's been on the
show has been a part of the FastFitty Five.
Now you're a part of Fitty'sGreat Eight and each one of you
is going to get a question andyou are going to just give an

(01:05:00):
answer.
So we got 8 questions from allover the map.
I already wrote them out foreverybody and here we go, if
everybody's ready, alright,marsco, who wins in a fight?
50 Emperor Penguins or me, youand Drew, me and Drew 50 Emperor
Penguins I don't.
And Drew Me, you and Drew For50 Emperor Penguins?
I don't know.
That's a lot of four-footpenguins coming at us.

Speaker 4 (01:05:22):
You're under eight and Drew, I think he could do
some damage.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
Okay, coach Upton 3, am you going to the Waffle House
or Denny's?

Speaker 6 (01:05:33):
Waffle House.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Colin.
Okay, Colin, so most of ourguests and listeners may never
get a chance to experience this,but what's the biggest dive bar
you've ever been in?
George's.
Shout out Georgia City Lightsright there.
All right, Lauren.
What's the most overratedphysical characteristic people

(01:05:59):
fall for?
On someone?

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
Overrated character.
This is a very broad question.
I would say.
Probably if they're rich, theythink that they're rich and they
have all the answers toeverything and it's not the
answer to pretty much goodpeople.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
So I would say that Okay, jose, ketchup or mustard,
what is better, it doesn'tmatter what it's on.
Ketchup, really Alright Fry.
What's the wildest or funniestor most memorable road trip

(01:06:38):
you've ever been on?

Speaker 8 (01:06:42):
Coach, coach, coach up to go like this one.
This is actually is very truetoo.
So we had ECAC meet going up toMassachusetts and I drank so
much water I think we stoppedevery 15 minutes.
He was like you, alright, man,I'm like I'm good, I'm good, I'm

(01:07:08):
just trying to stay hydrated.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Apparently, you were over hydrated for that one.
Yeah, I was.

Speaker 8 (01:07:16):
It was nerves too, man that's funny, byron, for you
.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
Yoga overrated or underrated?

Speaker 5 (01:07:26):
overrated.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Byron might catch some heat on that one.
Alright, and Austin, you'rerounding us out on this one word
to describe a.
Well is well, you rounding usout on this.
One word to describe a whale iswell well, well, okay, so, uh,
this is a little bit of funthere on the you know 50s grade,
eight questions around out theshow.

(01:07:50):
But thank you to all of theguests.
Thank you, Uh, coach, Upton,Jose, Colin Byron, Austin, Chris
, Aaron and Lauren for coming onthis week's episode of the Ride
Home Rants talking all thingstrack and field, reliving some
of our glory days and sharingsome of our insight about track
for all of you listeners outthere, as you gear up for track
season and you are seeing thestudents out in the community,

(01:08:12):
whether it's high school,college, middle school, whatever
it is, make sure you supportthem.
It means a lot when people cometo the meets and, you know, see
them.
And I know it meant a lot to uswhen people would come see us
at those meets.
So, as always, if you'd like toshow, be a friend and tell a
friend, and if you didn't likeit, tell them anyways, because I
bet they like it just becauseyou didn't.
This is Fitty signing off andwe