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.
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.”
E-mail Bethany Bradsher
PAGE UPDATED
01/30/13 09:42 AM.
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