Coaches Corner for May 7th: Tony Cosentino, Boone Boys Track

With us on coaches corner, KWBG, get a chance to talk Boon Boys track, Tony Costantino joining us. Torridors, fresh off the Raccoon River Conference meet last night in a Dell. And Tony, I know you and I have talked about this quite a few times. This conference meet, sometimes more difficult than the state qualifying meet. Yeah, I always feel like this is always a good preview to the state meet because our conference is just loaded. I mean, you saw the scores, what I shared on last night, Gilbert puts up 164 points. I mean, they're relays, they're individuals, they're loaded. ADM is always an annual, you know, top five favorite. Bondurant for R has improved a lot. I mean, North Polk is, they're down, but they still scored 71 points last night. And then you got Ballard, Carlisle, Winters at Carroll, and then us. So it's always great competition. And they always, it's just me like at districts, we always get kind of, while we're going to North Polk, North Polk's going to have Gilbert, you know, they're going to, Bondurant's going to be there, Ballard. So it's like, well, we're going to see them at districts. We're going to see them tonight. Maybe they can help us improve on our time. And then we can catch them at the state qualifying meet. So it's always fun to watch a lot of those athletes too, because they are fast and they got distance runners that went to really great times. And you look back on your own career and you're like, I could never do that at their age. It's just impressive. And, you know, just talking with like Bill and Chad, it's after like, wow, they're going to be, they're going to be hard to beat at districts. So, and then we started talking about, okay, what do we want to do? And, you know, we're not going to divulge our secrets until the day of, but it's just, the Raccoon River Conference is the best conference in the state of Iowa. Well, I'll tell you what, you did have some very nice successes though, from Wednesday night. Jude Baumgartner's got to be somebody that we start with. He takes the discus, finishes third in the shot, put as well. You know, that's 16 points right there that Jude was able to get. As you just said, arguably, you know, one of the best track conferences, maybe in the state. Talk about Jude tonight, real nice end to his senior year as kind of starting wrapping the things up. But what a nice conference night for him. Yeah, it's been just great to watch him develop, you know, over the last four years. He puts in so much work. He's a hard worker. You know, he's always, he's always been kind of our top thrower since like freshman year, right? And he's just wanted to stop, but it has just increased. You know, he's the favorite, favorite at North Polk and, and we don't want that to get to his head or anything, because you're still going to have to compete. But I mean, he's seen the number one at our district, but the kid just works hard and he's trying a couple of things. So like he's been over 50 a couple of times this year, but he's trying a couple of things in practice and trying to master that technique. I think he's working on a spin in the glide. So you're going to have some setbacks, you know what they say, right? You've got to have some setbacks before you can have a comeback. So he's, he's working on those things in practice so that he can, you know, 51 or 52, and that he's been over there. And I know he said he wants to try to go for that school record, which I think is like at that 53, 54 range. And I think he can get it done. But you know what, right? The weather this year just hasn't been ideal, you know, to throw the disc or the shot, you know, like last night it was, it was cold and windy. I mean, that's not like the story of our team. I'm not making excuses, but I'm like, there's been guys that have been thrown in 70, 75 degree weather or the meat just happened, or like a team's been at the meat the day before us. And it was 70, you know, the next day it's, you know, 42 with a 25 mile per hour wind, right? So we just, we just see the conditions to be where, where we can compete at a high level. And last night it was good, the wind kind of died down, but hey, this whole season I've been freezing. I'm ready for some nice warm weather, okay? Short's in a T-shirt, coach is asking, that's all he wants. Couple other things I wanted to talk about too, from the conference meet. Maddox McIntyre coach in the 400 finishes fifth, and then he anchors the four by 14 that also finishes fifth. I'm looking at times, I'm not looking at places, I know I just brought up the places there, but I'm looking at times. I like where we're trending right now, not just with Maddox in the open four, but also with that four by four. Yeah. I mean, that four by four has been really good all year. I mean, their times have been getting better, but I mean, like last year there was a strong headwind, but hey, a 334 on a chilly night with headwind, hopefully it would transfer to something around 330 or 329. I mean, Jayden Clark opened up with a, like a low, a low 51, high 50 split. In a day, obviously had been running, he'd run two 800s already up to that point. And then Dorian's been out with just kind of a minor injury, so we didn't want to risk him. So Boatie was a great film last night, had run it all year. He typically does four under her roles. We took him out to get rid of the four by four, so we're thankful to have him. So we've been really happy with how they've been doing, so we're excited to see that we're gonna hit it at the right time, we're gonna peak. I think that's what you're looking for. I think there's another relay too. We've talked about quite a few times, and I'm kind of interested to see what we see with them. And that's the four by eight. I mean, I think that's another relay. Coach, you and I have talked about a few times this season. I think that's another spot that still hasn't seen its peak, and they've done really well, by the way. Yeah, it's a thing, you know, Dorian, we held him out last night just for precautionary reasons, and Austin Felder, who's been one of our really good freshmen, you know, he's gone so fast in the mile, and then he's been running like 205, 206, 800. He's kind of had a low, minor injury too, so we kind of just, for precautionary reasons, kept him out. But, I mean, our four by eight consistently has, you know, run under nine minutes, they've been as low as 834, but it just goes back to those conditions, right? It's just, some of those meats have been really cold, and that really affects your PRs, right? So, we've been happy with the effort they've been giving, and like I said, just give us a nice, warm day, and with the state-qualified meat, there'll be plenty of breaks in there for them to recover if they're running multiple races, but we're really excited, I think we have a shot there too. Well, there's still a lot of other stuff we gotta bring up, Tony, so I know you're very busy and very popular young man, so I need to get you on your way, but a couple things I wanted to talk about, Tony, obviously state-qualified meat coming up, and Boone Running Club has got their home meat that's also gonna be coming up here on May the 17th, so let's start with the state-qualifying meat. Next week, I know you're not gonna tip your hand, you would be an amazing poker player, because you won't even tell me what you plan on stacking next week, but are the kids kind of excited here a week from today to put it all on the line and see if we can get down to Drake? Oh, absolutely, they've been talking about it, they knew after last night that there's definitely some possibilities, you know, the kids were talking about, you know, maybe some certain relay, some open races, what we've talked about, what races we're gonna go after, I can't tip my hand to you, obviously, because maybe some of our competitors are listening, but no, they're excited, and they're gonna have some recovery time, so they're ready to peak at the right time. This will be kind of a nice break because we've been having like two weeks a week, even with the ones that we've missed, and that one week, I think we had like four, but it'll be kind of a nice rest time, get it done in practice. We may take, like, you know, I talked off air, we may take a couple of kids, a couple of relays, a couple of individuals, maybe not Monday, if it works, if not, we'll just get it done in practice, but I mean, the kids are already talking about it. What can we do? What can we do to take qualified? What times do we possibly need to run? So they're already having those conversations amongst themselves. Have to, I think, this time of year. I think, yeah, you gotta put goals out there and, you know, try to hit them, obviously. May the 17th, they brought it up, Tony, we got a chance for the Boon Running Club, and I know that's something that near and dear to you and the rest, and not just you, but we got a heck of a coaching staff that helps out with the running club. You guys get a chance to have a home meet coming up on the 17th, Tony, I know you're excited about that. Yeah, you know, it's a smaller meet, so we invite a couple clubs that are near us. I've had, actually, a couple clubs, like, I can see everything in that, where we upload our meet information, that there's some people in clubs that are just unattached athletes that are trying to get in, and I'm like, I'm not there yet, I'm not ready to do a super big meet. This meets a lot just for our kids that don't get outside of school, and for them to get a taste of the competition. So, we typically just have 14. It's a very low key. We're really trying to get live the next time, and we're just like, is it gonna happen? And, obviously, we do awards, but we emphasize just getting a little bit of paper and then improving, and it's nice to do it at home in front of our own crowd. Hopefully, in the next day, it's gonna be 42 degrees, 25 miles per hour days, but, you know, we're excited. And I'm thankful to have some awesome people, awesome coaches, there's people behind the scenes, and I'll share them later, that have really helped our club get better, because this time of year, super busy for me, so there's people behind the scenes that help with organizing stuff, and like, these are like our second, you know, we started in 23, and this is like our second year of really like adding these schedules and getting, and adding like Javelin and getting some really good coaching with that. So, we have some kids from Javelin on Saturday, and you're like, do you wanna run with us? Well, for the younger kids, they throw a plastic tip until they turn 15, and then it becomes that steel tip, and that's when you gotta watch out, right? So, yeah, we're excited, and, you know, it's a lot of work behind closed doors, but I think we're, you know, ahead of the game, ahead of the game, like last year, because last year, we were still getting ready like two or three days before, and I think we're ahead of that, just because when you know more, you do better, and now I know what Mr. Pivetti has to go through, and in Lori Woodruff, about how to get workers and the things that you need, because it takes a village, I mean, it really does. You need a lot of people to run a track meet, but now I know why, Ryan, when they cancel track meets, they don't make a buck, because you have to bring all the people back, but it's too hard, right? Because there's something else that might have a conflict down that day, so I totally get it now, and I understand, so if anybody says, well, this track meet, blah, blah, blah, blah, I'll be like, hey, it takes a village, so. That's why, that's why. Tony, have a great, I guess, a little bit of a recovery, I guess, from Wednesday night, but I know you guys will get hard after it to practice wise, and best of luck coming up next Thursday. Yeah, let's run on fresh legs, throw with our, you know, a few words for those, for Jude and Harry, and Ken, and hopefully, we'll do our best, and run our fastest, and jump our farthest, right? That's what we're looking for, that's what we're looking for. Tony Constantino again, joining us, Boom Boys Track, here on Coaches Corner.