Quotes from three of the four state indoor record setters at the 30th PTFCA Indoor State Championships
Andy Radamacher, Hickory
Pole Vault, 16\'3\", breaking his own record of 16\'2\" set 2/21 @ Penn State
Talk about the record-setting jump. Was it clean the whole way?
Yeah I stayed pretty calm the whole competition. I wasn\'t nervous when it got to 16\' 3\". I was actdually more nervous at 15\', my opening height. And then at 16\' 3\", it was a clean jump. What I thought about was quickening my steps the last 5 steps and speeding up instead of slowing down and striding out and over striding. So that helped me a lot. I was closer to my take off and the pole vault was real smooth.
Has this been as good an indoor as you would have liked?
I actually should be jumping higher than 16\' 3\", but I\'m just improving my PR an inch at a time. I\'m not ready mentally probably to go that high. Maybe at Nationals in two weeks. Hopefully I\'ll jump a lot higher there.
How has your training been going?
I\'ve been having the best practices I\'ve ever had and these are my best vaults too. I\'m jumping real well. The bars not in the right place and I kind of break down mentally at 16\' 6\" and above right now. I know I can clear 16\' I know I can clear 16\' 2\", but I get nervous right after those over 15 6.
Are you getting comfortable at 16\'?
I\'m not real comfortable, but I\'m getting more comfortable. The big meets, I\'m more comfortable. When I have no one to compete against and it's a smaller meet , I don\'t get pumped up as much, just like in practice. I don\'t jump as high because I\'m not pumped up.
Frances Koons, Allentown Central Catholic
Mile, 4:53.18, breaking 1982 record set by three-time Foot Locker Finalist Lynn Strauss, State College, 4:55.2h
You almost got two records today (9:57.24 in the 3000, 1.98 seconds off 2001 record of Lauren Shaffer, West Allegheny). How\'d you prepare for such a tough double, and more importantly, how\'d you pull it off?
I just really did a lot of not too high intensity workouts this indoor season. I think that\'s what kept me fresh and going this long. I took seven days off after Foot Lockers, then got a 3200 qualifying time in there for this meet. I did 35 miles a week. My week basically consisted of just a 400 workout, or some kind of track workout, maybe a 600. One time I did 1000 and then I\'ll do 4 miles on a tempo run on a treadmill. So the 400 sort of took care of the mile and the tempo took care of the 3000. I would start out of the treadmill at 6:00 minute pace and work my way down to 5:30 pace and come in at 5:00 minute pace at the end to the last quarter. We have really good treadmills at our gym actually. Then I would do a long run. Most of my long runs were out while I was visiting colleges. I\'d run 8-10 miles here and 5 miles there. Pretty much in moderation. My easy days, I kept easy 7- 7:30 minute pace. I didn\'t race too much because I know sometimes you can get burned out. And toward the end of the season I worked on getting up on my toes and increasing speed because Amy\'s a really great competitor, she was right on my tail.
Talk about your record-setting mile today?
We went out pretty conservatively. I knew that Amy got boxed in a little bit. I thought she did. I just said okay I gotta get out there and I think I went through in 2:28, which was pretty conservative for someof the races I\'ve been in. I\'ve gone out in 2:24 or something. And then at the 1/2 mile mark, you say to yourself, \'oh, another one to go,\' so you have to be pretty positive and say I can do it. I think it helps so much that I knew that Amy was just like me, planning to go knowing someone was right there. At two laps I could hear the crowd and I could feel her on me. I just really burned that last lap. My coach timed it at like 33 or something like that. I really love it when you can have a great finish like that. Sometimes you have it. Hopefully you have it at the right point in your season and other times you think, \'where did it go?\' But I\'m really happy that it ended up like that. Big PR for me.
Then you go out and add another seven laps to that distance. You didn\'t look tired, because you took off from the gun. Weren\'t you tired?
I think it was tired. I thought, let\'s just see what I can do to shake out some of the lactic acid from the race before and just see what I could do and hang on. I did a lot of jogging in between, but if there\'s a lot of lactic acid in there, it\'s gonna stay there. Get out and stretch for the first couple of laps to get into a rhythm. I know I had a couple of laps that were definitely slower than my first couple, but then coach was over here yelling out 40, 38.
Adriene Beltz and Amy were right there. Then Lynn Morelli challenged you. You knew you were in a race?
I could hear fans and I knew she was right there. If you can hear people\'s names, Lynn, then you know they\'re right there. I could hear the announcer and everything saying \'Frances Koons and Amy Kelly, Amy Kelly and Frances Koons.\' I think you\'re really good for each other in racing you really push each other.
What are you plans from this point?
I\'m taking a week off. I\'m coming to the PA Track Carnival. That\'s our first meet and I want to maybe qualify for the Penn Relays as a team in the 4X800. That would be really cool. I think I\'m doing the mile there, but I\'m not sure. Coach said maybe we should do the 3k.
Lindsay Regan, Easton
Pole Vault, 12\' 6\", breaking 2001 record set by Emily Tharpe, McDowell, 12\' 4\"
Was the state record in your goals for today, or just the win?
That was my best jump yet and I had no intention of making it. I didn\'t know I had it in me. I was trying out a lot of new poles I got on Rockets instead of Spirits. That was a big change for me and then when I got to 13 I moved back to a Spirit, so that was another big change. Then I was on a 45 lb pole (145 lb), and I\'ve never been on a pole that big, so it was really scary. I was never on a pole bigger than 35.
Is that a confidence-booster, almost getting the US sophomore class record on a pole you\'d never used in competition?
I know what\'s ahead of me now and I know that I can make it. In time that will come. I just need a lot of practice with that pole. I made the first attempt made 12\' 6\", the record. That was probably my best jump out of the whole meet. I don\'t think I ever had a jump that good. Now I have a big welt on the side of my arm. It\'s all black and blue. That was actually one of my best jumps. I wish that jump had been at 13 feet so I could have made it, but those are the breaks.