2008 Woodie Awards
Muskies make marks
Jake Frias
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Sports
"Bang!...And they're off!" The Muskies track and field team kicked off their season on Feb. 16, when they competed in an invitational at UW-Oshkosh. As a whole, the team placed eighth.
"We looked pretty good out there," said Head Coach David Brooks. "The main thing was just to get the team out there. Other teams in our conference have already participated in four or five meets already this season."
Lakeland has had limited participation in meets due to the lack of accommodating facilities in their favor. Seven different teams want to use the field house for practice on a day-to-day basis. It is hard to get time to even have practice, let alone have a decent practice.
Not being able to high jump during practice, due to lack of space, was a major worry for Brooks. His two returning All-Conference high jumpers, Senior Julius Higgs and Sophomore Luke Herriges, looked to achieve victory without much repetition or practice.
Both jumpers proved why they are All-Conference. Higgs high jumped a distance of 6 foot 4 inches, which earned him a second place finish.
After Herriges' first jump, he limped away with an injury. He was assessed by the on-duty trainer, who said he had a case of patellar tendonitis. Despite his prognosis, Herriges came back to jump 6 feet, earning him a respectable finish.
"Luke really toughed it out," said Brooks. "Luke has a lot of potential, and Higgs has a lot of natural ability. Hopefully, we can get them to nationals this year."
On the running side of the competition, Lakeland did stand out in a couple of races. In the 200 meter dash, Sophomore Isaiah Calhoun placed seventh, finishing in 23.91 seconds. Freshman Ben Lombardi started to spread his wings, as he placed tenth in the 55 meter dash.
"We had many people do just as well as we expected, and others who exceeded expectations," said Brooks.
Considering the success the team had last season, and with the Indoor Conference Track Meet just around the corner, Brooks believes the Muskies will do better than what everyone expects.
"We looked pretty good out there," said Head Coach David Brooks. "The main thing was just to get the team out there. Other teams in our conference have already participated in four or five meets already this season."
Lakeland has had limited participation in meets due to the lack of accommodating facilities in their favor. Seven different teams want to use the field house for practice on a day-to-day basis. It is hard to get time to even have practice, let alone have a decent practice.
Not being able to high jump during practice, due to lack of space, was a major worry for Brooks. His two returning All-Conference high jumpers, Senior Julius Higgs and Sophomore Luke Herriges, looked to achieve victory without much repetition or practice.
Both jumpers proved why they are All-Conference. Higgs high jumped a distance of 6 foot 4 inches, which earned him a second place finish.
After Herriges' first jump, he limped away with an injury. He was assessed by the on-duty trainer, who said he had a case of patellar tendonitis. Despite his prognosis, Herriges came back to jump 6 feet, earning him a respectable finish.
"Luke really toughed it out," said Brooks. "Luke has a lot of potential, and Higgs has a lot of natural ability. Hopefully, we can get them to nationals this year."
On the running side of the competition, Lakeland did stand out in a couple of races. In the 200 meter dash, Sophomore Isaiah Calhoun placed seventh, finishing in 23.91 seconds. Freshman Ben Lombardi started to spread his wings, as he placed tenth in the 55 meter dash.
"We had many people do just as well as we expected, and others who exceeded expectations," said Brooks.
Considering the success the team had last season, and with the Indoor Conference Track Meet just around the corner, Brooks believes the Muskies will do better than what everyone expects.
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