Perfunctory Extra Credit Post

Friday, April 10th, the University of Oklahoma was the site of the 40th annual John Jacobs Invitational.  This high school track and field meet featured athletes from all over the state running, jumping, throwing, and vaulting against one another in search glory and locker room immortality.  

For some, the thrill of victory led to great celebration:

(picture NOT taken at the John Jacobs track meet)

For others, the agony of defeat was the cause of great sorrow:

(again, picture NOT from the John Jacobs invitational)

I went to the John Jacobs track around 11 on Friday morning to meet up with some of my high school friends.  I ran track all four years in high school, so being back on the high school track meet scene brought back a flood of memories.  While I was searching for people from my high school I snapped this action shot of the beginning of one of the girls' 100 meter dash races:

All of the girls seem to be coming out of their blocks at close to the same speed.  However, I would have to say the two girls on the far right seem to be a little quicker.  I wish I would have paid attention to who ended up winning.

I eventually tracked down one of my old teammates.  He was a freshman while I was a senior, so we ran together for one season.

This photo was taken minutes before he competed in the two mile.  I watched the race and cheered enthusiastically.  He ended up with a time of  about 11:39, which he was pleased with.

I also got to catch up with my old coach.  

We chatted during the two mile race.  The day before the track team had competed at another meet in the town of Marlow.  He said that they treated that meet basically as junior varsity.  He wanted the team to be well rested for John Jacobs, which is a much more prestigious meet with a lot stiffer competition.  

Although I would have loved to spend the rest of the afternoon with the track team, I had to leave to go to work and then class.  I was glad to be able to go to the track meet though.  It served two valuable purposes.  First, I was able to talk to some old friends and catch up.  Second, it provided me an extra credit opportunity for JMC 2033.  It is safe to say that two birds were slain, while only one stone was spent.