The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Monica Kinsella and Jack Linehan bring home some hardware
Local coach Trent Sanderson of Team Prep USA took four runners to compete in the Simplot Games, an indoor track meet in Pocatello, Idaho the weekend of February 19-21.
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More than 1,800 athletes attended the event, bringing in some of the top high school competitors from 18 states and two Canadian provinces.
Monica Kinsella and Jack Linehan led the charge of the local contingency, with both runners bringing home medals.
Nicholas Harper Johnston appears to be on a solid pace heading into the upcoming spring outdoor track season, finishing 113th out of 209 runners with 1,600-meter time of 5:01.78, a good enough time that should allow him to qualify for the state championships once the larger outdoor track presents itself.
Kelli Hargrove exceeded Sanderson’s pre-race expectations by over three seconds and finished second place overall in her 800-meter heat in her first indoor meet of her career.
Kinsella and Linehan carried the Crested Butte torch through preliminaries and into the finals of their events to both earn medals.
Kinsella ran an individual state qualifying 1,600-meter time of 5:35.82 on the 200-meter banked track to take 31st out of 117 runners.
Running in the second indoor meet of his career, Linehan exceeded Sanderson’s expectations to take 31st out of 209 runners with a time of 4:39.63, an individual state qualifying time as well.
Furthermore, Linehan made a verbal commitment to run with Boston College for the fall of 2009.
“Jack has worked his way on to a very tough Atlantic Coast Conference team, academically and athletically next fall,” says Sanderson. “Jack has been on a freight train this winter with training and managing his time so he can see how good he can possibly be. Jack has become a great athlete and role model for the future of local prep athletes in Crested Butte and the valley through his outstanding success and leadership in soccer, hockey, tennis, and track and field. Jack has become a dream athlete to coach through his discipline and hard work ethic in his running. Jack lit the track on fire this past spring at the Florida State University relays in the 1,600-meter, and reached the podium last spring in the 800-meter and 1,600-meter. Jack has a shot this spring to shoot for a state title in the mile, so let’s cheer him on in his last season as a high school athlete.”
