Through five months of constant use, a knife needs to be regularly sharpened.
And Colorado State track and field works the same way, with competition season spanning its first indoor meet in December to its last day of outdoor Mountain West Championships halfway through May.
The Jack Christiansen Invitational marked the official start to the outdoor season Friday and Saturday at home for CSU, and many athletes got to flex a little after adjusting from indoor events. Jack Christiansen Memorial Track was alive once again, with the Rams competing against Black Hills State, Colorado, Northern Colorado, South Dakota School of Mines, UCCS, Western Colorado, Wyoming and unaffiliated athletes.
Meet director and sprints, hurdles and relay coach J.J. Riese is no stranger to managing a big workload, but he knows his runners are the same way, too.
“When your training loads are really high, you’re not going to be a shark,” Riese said. “It’s like taking a dull knife, and you have got to sand it down, right? … So sprinters are kind of like a knife. That’s an analogy we use a lot.”
And while the men’s jumpers group took that advice to heart, holding out all their athletes aside from high jumper Hari Brogan, the men’s sprinters showed up to play.
The Rams grabbed gold in the men’s 100-meter and swept the podium in the men’s 400, while Lily Krob and Alora Tortorelli Cruz put up team-best third and fourth-place finishes in the 400-meter and 100-meter races, respectively.
Tyler Colwell was responsible for the 100 victory, tallying what he described as a “baby PR” at 10.37 seconds as well as a third-place finish in the 200. But Riese knows what to expect and what not to expect in the first meet of the outdoor season.
“(Riese is) like, ‘Tyler, you still got more left in the tank,'” Colwell said. “That’s not your best yet. So he just kind of keeps me on that ground level and just keeps me excited to work and just continue to keep getting better, too.”
On the other hand, Kenny Carpenter and the rest of CSU’s 400 crew dominated and seemed to leave nothing up to chance Saturday.
Carpenter continued his ascent and stomped a 45.79 second PR in the season opener. The strider handily took gold at the Indoor Mountain West Championships earlier this year, along with the rest of the men’s team, but will need to continue improving down the stretch.
“Carpenter’s a smiley guy to begin with, but I mean, he’s really happy,” Riese said. “I’m really happy. I don’t show a lot of outward emotion. So whether or not he can appreciate that, I’m actually very happy with them. You know, I have got (to) be a little more explicit with him to let him know that I am proud of him, but now he’s doing a great job. Running 45.7 is nice in March but doesn’t really mean a whole lot (until you do it in May).”
Riese said Carpenter dealt with appendicitis last season along with other illnesses, which cut into his training time. And while CSU didn’t roll out their top-performing 4×400 squad, a showing like that provides some confidence going into a long portion of the year.
But the sprinters weren’t the only ones finding collective success.
The 100- and 110-hurdle crowns went to CSU’s Neya Jamison and Owen Langdon at 13.69 and 13.77, respectively. The 400 wasn’t as kind, as Jamison encountered an error and didn’t finish her later race, but Langdon grabbed second, capping off a solid day.
And this is just the beginning for the two, transitioning from indoor to outdoor races.
“Sometimes there’s just a bit of a spatial change that has to happen,” Riese said. “Indoor, (you have) 60 meters (and) five hurdles, and (when) you get outdoor, it’s almost double that (in) meters plus 10 hurdles plus twice the hurdles. Sometimes they get out there and it’s like, wow. You know, 13.6 (is a) pretty quick PR for (Jamison), but I think she’ll (be) a lot faster.”
While the speedsters found overall success, the field events were solid for the Rams.
Both the women and men dominated the top spots in throws, nearly sweeping the podium in every category.
Kajsa Borrman claimed first in hammer and discus for the women, just barely beating out teammate Klaire Kovatch by two inches with the disc, and senior Makayla Long did what she does, winning shot put.
While head coach Brian Bedard’s crew fared well on the men’s side, too, Cameron Kalaf appeared to tweak something in his lower leg in the back half of the javelin, dampening an otherwise productive day for the throwers.
For CSU, much of the main challenge will come from managing injury while still making qualifying marks before the important part of the season.
Each event group handles matters differently, with some of the best jumpers being rested to avoid strain on joints and shins, while others like the young sprinters still need chances to prove themselves.
Riese said he has come up with his own formula to balance critiques and confidence for the runners.
“He instills a lot of confidence in me, even when I may not have, like, the best performance I’m looking for,” Colwell said. “He’s always able to pick my head up and just remind me of what I’m capable of as a sprinter. He kind of just keeps me on track and makes sure that (I keep) hammering down and just not getting too ahead of myself.”
CSU takes its next step on the road to the Mike Fanelli Track Classic and Stanford Invitational, each starting April 3.
“It’s March 28, right?” Riese said. “Things don’t really matter till May 15, you know.”
Reach Michael Hovey at sports@collegian.com or on social media @michaelfhovey.
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