Spring Break
Godell shines heading into MWC championships
Scott Callahan
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: Sports
Last Friday, a small group of track and field athletes competed at the Robert Shine Invitational hosted by the University of Wyoming. It was the last competition for the athletes who needed to tweak technical aspects of their game before the Mountain West Conference championships this Thursday at the Air Force Academy.
But that doesn't mean it was an insignificant meet. For senior weight thrower Alex Godell it was a major break in his senior year.
Godell hurled his 35-pound weight 67 feet and nine inches, beating his personal best by two feet. His throw landed him in 10th place in national rankings. The move up from 22nd place has given Godell a chance to qualify to compete in the national championship, in which only the top 16 athletes will compete.
Head track and field coach Brian Bedard has been working with Godell all year trying to help the athlete off the provisional mark and into legitimate contention for the national championships. Bedard liked the throw by Godell and thinks it is good enough, but realizes that he is not guaranteed a spot.
"(Godell's throw) was a good mark, it should get him in, but we'll wait and see until after this weekend," Bedard said.
Godell will have to wait until the upcoming weekend is over to know if his throw will be good enough to compete. Next weekend is the regional championships in which new marks will be made and potentially change the current rankings. The rest of the athletes who competed in the quick trip to Wyoming all had their chances to fix any last problems in competition.
"The competitive effort was good and some technical issues were getting worked out," Bedard said. "The conference meet will be high intensity and some of the athletes will have to step up."
Sports writer Scott Callahan can be reached at sports@collegian.com.
But that doesn't mean it was an insignificant meet. For senior weight thrower Alex Godell it was a major break in his senior year.
Godell hurled his 35-pound weight 67 feet and nine inches, beating his personal best by two feet. His throw landed him in 10th place in national rankings. The move up from 22nd place has given Godell a chance to qualify to compete in the national championship, in which only the top 16 athletes will compete.
Head track and field coach Brian Bedard has been working with Godell all year trying to help the athlete off the provisional mark and into legitimate contention for the national championships. Bedard liked the throw by Godell and thinks it is good enough, but realizes that he is not guaranteed a spot.
"(Godell's throw) was a good mark, it should get him in, but we'll wait and see until after this weekend," Bedard said.
Godell will have to wait until the upcoming weekend is over to know if his throw will be good enough to compete. Next weekend is the regional championships in which new marks will be made and potentially change the current rankings. The rest of the athletes who competed in the quick trip to Wyoming all had their chances to fix any last problems in competition.
"The competitive effort was good and some technical issues were getting worked out," Bedard said. "The conference meet will be high intensity and some of the athletes will have to step up."
Sports writer Scott Callahan can be reached at sports@collegian.com.
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