bleedCrimson.net will be conducting interviews with Aggie women's track and field head coach Orin Richburg throughout the 2008 season as Coach Richburg builds the Aggie track and field program. In this week's interview Assistant Coach Paul Harkins recaps the Aggies' performance in the 2008 WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships and talks about the upcoming outdoor track and field season.
bleedCrimson.net: Can you talk about your team's performance at the 2008 WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships?
Paul Harkins: Right now we're a long way from where we want to be. We proved that we can compete or at least get to the level where we need to be. I think we can compete at this level and we've got a lot of people who were on the verge of getting to the finals, we just need to get that final push to where we're getting into scoring position.
We have a lot of work to do for sure but everybody has been improving and we have good attitudes across the board and they're excited about their improvements, we just need to open up the eyes a little bit more about what it takes in order to compete in this conference.
bc.net: This being the coaching staff's first season, how did the team do in the championships relative to your expectations this season?
PH: After going through the season with them and seeing them compete on a number of occasions I think we did almost as well as we could have expected. I think that there were a few more points we could have scratched out here and there but it wouldn't have been enough to really change any end result. For the most part I think we just need to continue to work hard, continue to improve with people that we have and get some additional recruits that can compete at this level right off the bat.
bc.net: Can you talk about what some of the strong performances that you had by the individual girls in the championships?
PH: Jordan Veney did pretty well in the weight throw, scored a couple points for us there. I know she wasn't 100% happy with it and especially wasn't happy with her shot put performance. Devin Brooks did pretty well, she didn't run quite as well as she has over the course of the season but she was still able to go out, make the final and score a couple points for us. Leah Benton did a good job for us as well. Unfortunately she was just edged out in both of her sprint events but led off an excellent 4x4 for us. Precious Nelson, unfortunately didn't score any points for us but led off a fantastic leg in the DMR with a blazing 1200 meters that she ran. Ingrid Flores scored a point for us in the 5K as well and did a pretty good job in that respect. Unfortunately she got tripped and fell in the 3K the following day and wasn't able to repeat after that but still did a pretty good job. Got up and still managed a PR after the fall. Caprice Bradshaw did a pretty good job as well and set a season best in the 800 and was member of the scoring distance medley relay team. Then came back and led us in the 3K with a personal best in the 3K.
We had a lot of improvements and a lot of personal bests and so it was good to see that people are going in that direction. We just need to go a little bit farther.
bc.net: With the amount of freshmen and sophomores and young kids that you have, how comfortable are they becoming, one in your system, and two in understanding the level that they need to compete at?
PH: Any time you go through a coaching change I think there are a few growing pains. But I feel like we have been able to get through that so far with relative ease. The kids have adapted to us well and they have an idea as to what our expectations are and what we expect out of them both on the track and off the track, in travel situations, that sort of thing. The adjustments being made and also having a lot of freshmen and sophomores, the haven't had that much experience with different types of styles because they're either right out of high school or one year out of high school, they don't any different than us for a lot of them. So they've adapted fairly well.
It's been going relatively smoothly and I think it's taken some time to get them aware of what our expectations are out of them as young ladies but it's definitely been a smooth transition.
bc.net: You guys kick off the outdoor season in a couple weeks, can you talk a little bit about that and your expectations for the outdoor season?
PH: We have two weeks down time where we're shifting our focus and shifting gears into the outdoor season. We open up at the University of Arizona with the Dave Murray Distance Carnival and Willie Williams Classic on March 21st and 22nd. Just looking into the outdoor season I definitely expect a few more points out of us, there's going to be a couple events that we add. Unfortunately they take away the distance medley relay which was a scoring event for us indoors but they add the steeple chase which I think we can get some points out of. They add the javelin and the discus and they switch from the weight throw to the hammer which I think will hopefully benefit us in those respects also.
Our goal is to do as well as we can with the athletes we have and continue that improvement that we've been showing all year.
bc.net: How much of a change in mindset is it going from indoor season to outdoor season and how much do you think the experience they've gained from the indoor will carry over to the outdoor?
PH: I definitely think the experience from indoor will carry over into outdoor. I don't think it's too much of a change. There's probably only a couple of technical things like we go from a short 60m hurdles to a longer 100m hurdles so you've got to be able to focus for a longer period of time. I think that'll help us. I think with some of the technical events where we add in the discus, the javelin and the hammer throw, we've been working on those events all year long as it is and I don't think the transition will be too difficult for us. I think if anything it'll help benefit us adding some of those other events.
The transition shouldn't be too difficult just because the events are so similar from indoor to outdoor. It's just having a lot of young people who aren't used to having an indoor season as well. So we've just got to be able to make sure they can focus for that longer period of time. Going from a high school season, they're only competing from March through the end of May typically and now they have to compete from January through the end of may so they've got to be able to focus for a longer period of time.
