Hello USA's and Worlds πΊπΈxπ
A lot of track is coming our way
Kansas Athletes @ the 2022 USA Outdoor ChampionshipsπΊπΈ
Spanning from next Thursday (June 23) to next Sunday (June 27), athletes from across the country will gather in Eugene, OR (again), battling it out for three spots on Team USA. Those who qualify will compete again less than a month later at the same stadium, this time against the best athletes in the world, at the 2022 World Championships. To my knowledge, there are ten Kansas athletes/alumni that will be hoping to keep their season alive. Keep in mind, I could have very well missed some, so donβt hesitate to let me know.
Starting with the women, because chivalry is far from dead, Courtney Frerichs, former UMKC athlete and NCAA national champion at the University of New Mexico will look to make yet another national team in the womenβs 3000m steeplechase. Frerichs remains the school record holder in the indoor Mile, 3000m, 5000m, along with the outdoor 1500m, 5000m and 2k and 3k steeplechase. Wow. Not too shabby for the Olympic silver medalist and American record holder. Along with Frerichs is current Jayhawk, Rylee Anderson. Anderson is fresh off of a second-team All-American finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last week and will look to improve even more than she already has. As of now, Anderson sits in 9th out of the current accepted entries. Janee Kassanavoid, former Kansas State Wildcat and NJCAA national champion at JCCC, will be competing in the hammer throw, looking to punch her ticket back to Eugene. Last summer at the USA Olympic Trials, Kassanavoid took 4th, missing out on an Olympic trip by just .05 meters. This year, she has thrown nearly five meters farther than she did at the trials, sitting comfortably in second among the entries.
For the men, there are seven athletes with Kansas ties, including five current students that will be in competition next week. Starting with the students, teammates and recent national champions LJ Kiner and Louis Rollins of Pittsburg State will be competing in the triple jump and the 110mH. Both men helped lead the Gorillas to their first ever outdoor team title, with Kiner finishing runner-up in the triple jump and Rollins taking gold in the 110mH. The two sit 9th and 13th in their respective events heading into the championships. Wichita State legend Michael Bryan will be throwing the hammer, his trademark event. Last week, Bryan finished 5th at the NCAA championships, ending his Shocker career with a PR throw of 234β 9β. Zach Bradford, a Jayhawk and 2019 World Championship qualifier, will compete in the pole vault, heading into the meet with a season PR of 18β 10.25β. The final collegian is Butler Community Collegeβs very own Caleb Jackson. The North Carolina A&T commit seven time All-American will run the 100m dash, sporting a 2022 best of 10.03W. The first of the two professionals representing the state is NCAA Champion, Olympian, and World Championship medalist Bryce Hoppel. Hoppel has been on the worldβs biggest stage multiple times, including the last edition of the championships and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and most recently the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade a few months ago. Heβs raced ten times this season, with his fastest time of the year being 1:45.30. The 800m is sure to be interesting, with thirteen men under 1:46 heading into the national championships. The final Kansan is a hometown hero for Scott City, KS, as Brett Meyer finally gets to compete at a national championship after barely missing out on the trials standard a year ago. Meyer will be racing the 1500m in a very competitive yet unpredictable field.
If youβre interested in following along with the championships, hereβs a schedule of the weekend, and a link to the website that should have any information you are possibly looking for! I donβt want to jinx it, but Iβm fairly confident that there will be some Kansas athletes wearing the red, white, and blue next month. *knocks on wood*
Brothersπ€Soles
The Bowerman Track Club, Athletics Club, Tinman Eliteβthe list of professional track clubs goes on for a while. Groups of athletes, dedicating their lives to the sport they love, all while learning how to master their craft are growing. I was on Instagram last week, scrolling through some stories, and I saw someone re-post βBroles Running.β At this point, I hadnβt heard about Broles, let alone familiarized myself with any aspect of the group. After some quick research, I realized that Broles Running is a team on the rise. The group is made up of five Frenchman, also with athletes from Portugal, Wales, and the United States. My fascination for the group increased when I realized Broles was started by a group of athletes from Colby Community College. Tom Thierry, a Colby sophomore, took some time out of his day and answered a couple of questions for me about the group, growing my fascination for Broles even more. It would be a shame if I tell you all about them without introducing the team, so might as well.
Ricardo Barbosaπ΅πΉ
Julien Reczkowiczπ«π·
Aled Jonesπ΄σ §σ ’σ ·σ ¬σ ³σ Ώ
AurΓ©lien Barnesπ«π·
Thomas Termoteπ«π·
Martin Perrinπ«π·
Luke SundbergπΊπΈ
Maxime Touronπ«π·
What was your inspiration for starting Broles?
The inspiration for Broles came from the covid-19 containment we had in France. Everyone was training on their own. And that's when the idea of creating a group to support and train each other was born. In France if you are not in the top 3 you will hardly have the opportunity to participate in training camps or things like that. So for two and a half years I worked to find ideas: graphic identity, name of the group, athletes being in it.
For the graphic identity I tried to contact some graphic designer who liked the project and who would accept to help me for free. For the name of the group it comes from the contraction of "brothers" and "soles.β And for the athletes I tried to take the people I already knew a little bit who had already a good level in running. Broles is created with the purpose of bringing people together to help them improve and one day reach the professional level.
Who does what for the club? Do you all have positions within the club, or do you all do a little bit of everything? Can you explain how the club operates?
It is important to know that in the eyes of the law, Broles is not a club. We have obtained the status of a non-profit association in France.
In the management of the association, I manage a little bit of everything. The athletes who integrate Broles do not come to manage the group but to have a framework around them. The athletes can make any kind of request that I would be happy to fulfill.
Some of the things I do are
- Managing the meetings
- Managing when the athletes meet like this summer
- YouTube channel
- Finding partners for the association
It is also important to know that Broles athletes do not receive any money from Broles. There is no financial aspect between us and them.
How are you guys going to balance competing for Broles and collegiate competition? Is this for primarily the off-season?
As far as the competitions are concerned, the priority is the university season, but in the season or after the summer season, many athletes still have the possibility to run in their country, so that is when they will have the possibility to wear the Broles jersey.
How did you all get Broles launched and off of the ground? What was the hardest part about starting the running club?
For the moment Broles is very new. We officially launched the project in January 2022 so for the moment we are not really known. To try to grow we try to be present on the competitions with our outfits. But social networks are also very important, and we try to take every opportunity that can help us to get known like collaborating with you. We also think that youtube can really help us to get known. Finally we are planning to try to collaborate with other groups like this one.
Where do you want Broles Running to be five years from now?
In 5 years time we hope to have a big group with athletes from all over the world and organize 1 or 2 big camps to gather everyone in the year. This group will not only be made up of guys as we plan to have a women's group. The big project of Broles in the future is to have a house to host athletes throughout the year to train together.
Whatβs the rest of the summer look like for the group? More racing overseas?
For the rest of the summer, some athletes continue their season in their country under the Broles jersey as Ricardo Barbosa or Julien Reczkowicz, and some are on break to be able to resume training soon for the cross country season. At the moment I'm writing this text we are heading to the "Meeting de Marseille" in France with Ricardo because he is running the 3000m steeplechase at the international meeting, passing the 1000m in 2.45 as pacer.
What is the most important thing you want readers to know and remember about Broles?
What I would like the readers to remember is that Broles has for first goal to have fun. We just want to keep our good mood while practicing our sport.I would like to add that Broles is not a closed group. We are open to all proposals that it is partnerships or for the recruitment of new athletes. Do not hesitate to contact us on the networks. We answer to everyone.
The confidence and poise that Tom and the group have is very remarkable in my eyes. A group of college kids living their dream, competing and training overseas, while keeping the professionalism of a club (but theyβre not a club, just to clarify). I would have loved to have been fortunate (and fast) enough to do an ounce of what these young men have the opportunity to do, but boy am I glad itβs them. From the interactions Iβve had with the group, they are genuine, honest and one-hundred percent #goodforthesport, which makes me both happy and confident with the future of Broles.
K-State π€ being high jump U
For the fifth time since 2011, a Kansas State athlete won the menβs high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Both Erik Kynard (β12 & β11) and Tejaswin Shankar have each won two titles, while Christoff Bryan won one in 2017. Since 2010, Kansas State has claimed five of the twelve titles, while the next closest teams are Indiana and LSU, who have won two. The Wildcats are also the only program to have three different athletes win the title in that span, with the Hoosiers and Tigers having one athlete win. Last weekend, Shankar closed out his collegiate career with his second national title. The event was decided with a jump off between Shankar and Darius Carbin of Georgia. In the end, Shankar was able to successfully clear 2.27 meters, which for those unfamiliar with the metric system, itβs three-quarters of an inch shorter than Yao Ming (7β 5.25). After two consecutive runner-up finishes in 2019 and 2021, Shankar was able to end his Wildcat career on top! Who will be the next Wildcat to etch his name in high jump history?Β
Gear up readers, weβve got some great track & field coming your way. Weβll be in Eugene for both USAβs and Worldβs, and weβll do our best to give you as much content as we can.
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