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NEWS, NOTES & COMMENTARY
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The Bradsher Beat
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
By Bethany Bradsher |
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Track and field: Success feeds
success
By
Bethany Bradsher
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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Curt Kraft has noticed a shift
in the mindset of his athletes in the last year or two, and it’s a new
perspective he embraces: the East Carolina track and field teams expect to
win.
When Kraft arrived to lead the
program and its 80 athletes eight years ago, he and his staff worked hard to
speak confidence into their athletes, to convince them that they had what it
took to excel in Conference USA and to compete on the national stage. This
season, he said, his charges seem to have internalized those pep talks.
“The group is running with a
lot of confidence right now, they’re running with a lot of enthusiasm,” he
said. “And winning breeds winning. Winning breeds confidence. We’ve gotten
to the point where we don’t have to constantly remind them of this.
"They’re talking about this on
their own. And when we can step back as coaches and let them talk about it,
and we can let them set that goal and set that vision, it’s so much better.”
This renewed attitude on the
track was fueled by the ECU women’s C-USA indoor championship last February,
Kraft said, a victory that served to validate the women’s legitimacy and
push the men to prove themselves worthy of a trophy as well.
Need evidence? In their last
two indoor meets — at Virginia Tech and Florida State — the Pirates broke 10
different school records and saw runners, jumpers and throwers surpassing
personal bests as well. High jumper Tynita Butts, whose accolades during her
ECU career would already fill her own personal hall of fame, jumped 6-02.75
for a personal best and the second-highest mark in the nation.
A senior who will redshirt her
outdoor season and return next year for one last hurrah, Butts already owns
five C-USA championships and four All-American honors. With her stellar
performance last weekend she qualified for the USA Outdoor Championships
this summer.
Kraft isn’t sure where her
ascendancy will end.
“She just never ceases to
amaze me,” Kraft said. “It’s safe to say that these records that she’s
putting up are going to last a long, long, long time. She’s putting stuff up
there that it’s going to be tough to touch.”
Drew Kanz, also a high jumper,
broke a 30-year school record at the Virginia Tech meet. Not only does Kanz
study tapes of Butts’ jumps to study her form, he is convinced that the
encouragement of each Pirate toward the other is the factor that has
propelled them to new heights this season.
“Track can be very
individualistic, but it’s nice to have a team that’s like a family,” Kanz
said. “We have teammates who are so invested not only in themselves but in
the team. It’s like a waterfall effect, a domino effect. Someone throws
great, you hear everybody cheering for them, and then someone jumps great,
and you hear the cheers for them, and then someone runs great.”
With Kanz and other breakout
performers like Dylan Spadaccini and Cameron Hudson leading the way, Kraft
is convinced that this is the most talented men’s team he has coached at
ECU.
Beside Kanz’s jump of 7-2,
other men who toppled ECU records in recent weeks were Spadaccini in the
heptathlon and Henry Johnson and Stephen Hodapp in the pole vault. Johnson
and Hodapp demonstrated a classic example of teammates pushing one another
when Johnson set the record at Virginia Tech and Hodapp broke it at Penn
State.
“I think the goals of the team
are continue to do what you’re doing, continue to make small improvements,
prepare yourself physically and mentally,” Kraft said. “We’re contenders
now. Any time you’re a contender, you always have a chance to win.”
Tiffany Harris, a senior
sprinter who has watched the program’s rise, set a school record of her own
in the 300-meter dash at Virginia Tech, and every triumph is more meaningful
as she nears the end of her road as a Pirate. Even if C-USA opponents might
be gunning for her team as they seek to repeat at the Feb. 23-24
championships, she is confident and winning really does beget more winning.
“I know we had a couple of our
great athletes graduate, but I feel like we have a couple of strong freshman
coming in,” Harris said. “I feel like we can do it again, and again and
again.”
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