Coaches Corner for May 27th: Kelley Grothus, Madrid Girls Track

Joining us on coach's corner, KWBG, going to talk some Madrid girls track today. Kelly growth is joining us as the Tigers fresh off a really, really fantastic finish at State. I thought a six-place finish was, I thought there was some, maybe a chance to get some hard work, Kelly. I'm sure the girls probably had some dreams there too. And you know, as well as I do, a lot of things really have to bounce your way, but I kind of had a chance to look back at everything on Monday. And I tell you what, I thought this was a really, really solid year of you guys down in, down in Des Moines. It was, we felt like we were in contention for a trophy, but so were about 10 other teams. And the way to get there was not to be just to focus on winning or just to focus on that end goal, but to focus on how we got there in the first place. And that was hard work and executing a race strategy or working on form in the field events and all the little things. And I think the girls went in with a great mindset of just focusing on the things they were working on and that they knew were their goals and would help them be successful in their events. Felt a little sort of a trophy, but felt very proud of how hard they worked. We had a lot of PRs at the State Meet and several school records too. So it was a lot of fun and we were very satisfied that made it a little bit more that we can try to go back and get next year. I think that's a fun part too, Kelly, is when we look at, and I know we'll talk about this at the end, just kind of a little brief preview for next year, but gosh darn, there's so many juniors that are coming back and sophomores and some other girls that I know are waiting for their opportunities that maybe could have had them if they hadn't been what you had for a class this year. I think that was a fun thing for me is I'm watching relays, I'm watching individuals. I mean, this is a girls team that isn't just going to, well, maybe we take a step back for a year and then we'll be back in a couple. I mean, to me, Kelly, it feels like you guys could be right back in the same spot next year. You know, I hope so. We have a lot of potential and in the freshman class, we just see a lot of opportunities for growth. They're really well-rounded. And like you said, some of them got to contribute really well at the varsity level this year. Others are just kind of waiting their turn and they've got some time to grow and opportunities to get better at their events, but we've won three straight State Qualifying Meet championships as a team and I hope that that's not over. They were a really well-balanced team and they just work hard and they know how to show up and bring their best. Well, one that I wanted to talk about right away, obviously, because she'll be lost to graduation, but Lauren Dvorak had her career come to an end and finished third in the discus and seventh in the shot put. And geez, you want to talk about somebody who, I still will say this, Kelly, for a long, long time, she's going to go down as one of your best throwers I think you probably ever had and she'll be in that top list and be brought up for many years to come. What a senior year and what a way to wrap things up for Lauren. It's been great. She is such a hard worker putting in just tons of effort and time into the events to work on all the little things and seeing her form at the State Meet in the discus was just all the things she'd been working on her whole career pulled together. It takes so much time to master such a technical event and she's an athlete who has put in that time. And that'll show she's going to go on and continue training in college, continue getting better. They have more thrilling events than just a shot in the disc. So she has more things that she can continue to learn and grow. She's had just a great attitude throughout and ups and downs is all athletes do, but I would say state wasn't apt to leave with two medals. I feel like her best day, her most consistent day in the discus, she threw over 140 feet for the second time since she qualified and met the Drake Blue Oval Standard. This has been a tremendous example of hard work and dedication for our team and someone who just got the job done and we're really proud of how she finished out her high school career as a Tiger at State. Well, and somebody else who finished out her career as a Tiger was Caitlin Brandhorst. And boy, I had a chance to kind of see a little bit of the 800 and she looked so good in that. And she was so instrumental. I know in that four by eight that they finished 948 which I know we'll get to in just a few and a part of that sprint medley team that finished fifth. Another one that will go down as one of your top runners too. Kelly, she just had a real great end, I think, to that career. She did. She ran 300, 800 at the state meet. That was a new mix for her. She's always run the miler the two mile before, but we are deep enough. We don't have to have one person in all the events. We've got several strong distance runners and we were really thankful to be able to enter every distance event and even have two in the mile and be able to focus on having good races because everyone just had one or two or three events instead of spreading someone too thin. So Caitlin worked very, very hard on those shorter middle distance races, the eight and 15, even ran some fours this year. And she got back down at the end of the season. She was within half a second of her all time PR in the 800 in her open 800 and set a PR in her four by eight split. So just wonderful to see such a tremendous athlete who has given a lot to our school and also same as Lauren just dedicated the time and the work and a lot of personal growth to be able to finish out her career strong and as such a great leader for our team. So we look forward to seeing her continue to race in college and know that there are, just like in the Fros, different events, longer events, people taste, indoor has different distances, and we've got a 600 and a 1200 that girls can run sometimes. So we look forward to having Caitlin continue running in college and know that her career as a tiger is done, but we still have a lot of races left to watch her into. Oh, no question. Paige Richards, obviously somebody else to bring up to and the junior takes another 100 meter dash championship, finishes fifth in the 200. I know maybe not her favorite when we talk and look back at the long jump, but it was also cool to see her be a part of that sprint medley team as well, Kelly. And Paige, I just can't wait to see what that senior year's coming because I feel like there's still more in the tank for her. Oh, for sure. And to see that we can use her, you know, she can win the 100 meter dash. She repeated as one of the state champion, which is hard to do, but Madrid's just got such a legacy of that event. I should go back and count how many 100 meter state championships we've won in the last couple of years because Paige is not the only runner that's had that, but she's contributing, they're all contributing to just this tradition of track and field at Madrid. And it's not dependent on any one team, any one athlete, there's so many people that have set that example for them. And it's been wonderful to see our girls this year set that for future runners, hopefully as well, in the sprints, in the distance, relays, field event, turtles, we just had a little bit of everything down at state. Paige is a very versatile runner and she also, yeah, ran the 400 leg of the medley and just contributed to a wonderful opportunity for four people to get out, run at the state meet, represent our community. They placed fifth, but they also broke a 57 year old school record that we had just viewed as untouchable and they shattered it. So watching them do that just kind of makes us think, okay, you know, what's next? What else could we do? And we're thrilled that they ran so well, but also really excited to have three of those members from the medley back next year too. Well, and we want to talk a little about Madeline Grothis as well coach and finish his fifth in the 3000. That was actually a race I had a chance to watch from finish to end. And I thought she just looked fantastic in that. And then she was also 14th in the 1500. And then we kind of talked a little bit about the, about the four by eight that she was a part of as well. But Madeline had a really great end of that junior year. And boy, she's got to be chomping at the bit for that senior season. Yeah, it was really exciting. And running both the 3000 and the four by eight is hard to do. At the state qualifying meet, you might get 45 minutes to recover if you're lucky. And it's a little longer, it's about an hour and a half. But she was ready for it. She focused on it. She prepared for it. Had a game plan of both how to race and then how to recover between events. And just executed that so well. The cooler weather definitely helped took a little bit less out of all the runners because it was cool. But at the same time, they ran such fast times. So that's, it's a huge feat to be able to do so well in events so close together. She had a game plan. She knew what she wanted to do. She had her eyes on certain runners that she knew she could be ahead of. And she broke her own school record by 18 seconds in that 3000, which is definitely her favorite event. So that was a great way to get the Tigers started off scoring some points at the meet. And then yeah, came back in the four by eight and they broke a school record as well. Each of them ran their fastest time, fastest 800 split ever. And we look forward, as you said, since she's a junior to having those juniors as seniors, they have scored the bulk of the team's points since they were in seventh grade. They're just a very well-rounded, large group of driven kids. So we can add in their Hannah Brandhorst, Jale Hanson, Paige Richards, Addie White, and Isla Fine in the hurdles. And there are more. Those are the ones who are at the state meet, but there are so many juniors who've contributed and been great leaders. And we're really looking forward to using them for one more year. Yeah, but we're not just gonna say see you later after this season. That's for sure. We can't wait to have them back. Kelly, again, district championship. The conference is gonna change a little bit next year with obviously some schools that'll be leaving and then we'll have some newer schools that'll be coming in. What do you think about just kind of the schedule and everything that'll be coming up here, Kelly, next spring? I know we just got done with it, but forecasted a little bit with me. You gotta have some people that are looking at this Tiger team saying, I wonder what's coming here in 2027. Yeah, you know, we've been honestly running against Des Moines Christian and Van Meter, these bigger schools, Woodward Granger. It makes us bad air. We run against big schools all year. It's not until maybe our last two or three meets that we're running against other schools our size. So seeing that level of competition has really shown us what else is out there and helped us rise to the challenge. I appreciate the opportunity to compete against them. In tracking cross-country, both changing the conference doesn't change our schedule at all. You tend cross-country meets with people from all different conferences, all different class sizes. It's just that that conference meet that you're up against the conference schools. So we won't see Des Moines Christian or Woodward Granger there anymore. We'll have some new schools in and we'll see how that comes. I like the competition, but I also like being able to go to our conference and be against schools our own size. That's a confidence boost for our kids to see what they can really do when they're up against smaller schools. And we have had over 30 girls on the team for the last three years, two years and counting. And that really gives us a lot of depth that most small schools don't have that many girls. So when we can go to a small school meet with our team that's deep. And like I said, not have everybody exhausted because they're running back-to-back events or four events. And really shine in more things because we're running people fresh. I think that's an advantage we can have over small schools. And it's nice at the end of the season for conference and districts to be at our best, be hopefully winning or placing high, getting some medals to bring home and building that confidence going into state. So I'm happy for the changes to be with some schools that are more our size, but I know we're gonna continue seeing the bigger schools and even the schools that are leaving. We have regular season meets against them. So we'll still get that level of competition of being against bigger schools, which I like to have for our girls. Kelly, as always, thank you so much for all the results, all the coaches, corners this past spring. We'll give you a couple of months off. I know we'll be talking cross-country before we know it, but thanks for a great spring season once again. Yes, thank you and thanks for all your coverage. We're happy to represent the community and the area and let the girls shine and use their talents for good. You bet. Kelly growth is again joining us. Madrid Girls Track here on Coaches Corner.