Club Track and Field Nationals

This weekend the LRC Racing team took part in the 12th annual USATF Club Track and Field National Championships at Omaha Burke Stadium. This meet played host to the best athletes on clubs from all over the United States and even included athletes who just completed participating in the USATF Olympic Trials as well as several athletes who will compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London this summer.

On Friday, LRC got off to a fast start in the field events with help from Derek Frese, Elliott Bulling, Kevin Janata and Jay Wall. Frese received points in the Hammer Throw by throwing 53.96 meters which was good enough for him to place 5th overall. Pole Vaulter Jay Wall vaulted 15’5 ¾ on his way to a 2nd place finish. Bulling competed in Shot Put where he placed 4th with a throw of 14.59 meters. Kevin Janata became the USATF Club National Runner-Up when he jumped 13.43 meters in the Triple Jump.

On the Track, LRC Racing had runners competing in four different events on day one and came away with points in all four of those events. Erica Hamik and Zach Harsin both placed 4th in the women’s and men’s 800m run respectively. Hamik set the pace in the women’s race and finished with a time of 2:15.08. Harsin, a Nebraska Wesleyan Alumni, finished with a time of 1:57.2 in the men’s race.  

LRC continued receiving help in the field events on Saturday when Derek Frese placed 3rd with a throw of 48.52m and Elliott Bulling placed 4th with a throw of 46.00m in the Discus. In the running events on day two, LRC veteran, Neil Wolford, competed in the 5000m run where he placed 4th with a time of 15:23.0

To finish off the meet LRC Racing had a women’s and a men’s Distance Medley Relay. For the women, Erica Hamik ran the 1200m leg in 3:38.9 and handed off the baton to Nora Youngs in 1st place. Youngs then ran a solid 1:08.2 for the 400 leg. Next Amber Brandenburger took the baton for a half-mile, which she ran in 2:31.4 and Frankie Petersen anchored the relay on the 1600m leg where she split a 5:29.4. The team placed 3rd overall with a time of 12:47.9. On the men’s side LRC Racing had its third National runner up with a relay made up of Eric Noel, Quinn Lewandowski, Zach Harsin, and Logan Watley. Noel got the relay off to a quick start with a 3:15.4 in the 1200m leg. Then Lewandowski ran a blistering 53.0-second split for 400m. Next up was Zach Harsin who ran the fastest 800m split in the field when he ran a 1:58.6. Logan Watley kept the relay in 2nd place with his 4:29.8 mile leg. The relay ran a total team time of 10:36.8.

As a team, the LRC Racing men placed 4th out of 17 teams while the women placed 7th out of 9 teams. In the combined team standings, LRC Racing finished 5th out of 16 teams.

Other LRC Racing Members who competed: Nebraska Wesleyan Alumni, Cole Marolf, placed 8th in the Steeplechase with a time of 10:24.29. Eric Noel ran the 10,000m run in 35:06.79 which was good enough to place him 8th. Another Nebraska Wesleyan Alumni, Michael Rathje, competed in the 5000m run where he placed 9th with a time of 15:57.77. Amber Brandenburger placed 10th in the 5000m run with a time of 19:17.65.

Results from this weekend’s meet can be found on: http://www.usatf.org/events/2012/USATFClubTFChampionships/schedule.asp