We again had a great showing and successful meet this weekend in Fort Worth. The rink was cold, the floor dusty, but nothing was going to stop our skaters from rolling out their best and rolling over the competition!
The meet was filled with exciting moments. Some of the highlights included our “new” skaters showing up in force, some for whom this was their first meet (Camryn, Marisa, Jamie, Raygan, Henry, and Debra). They really did great and skated with an ease and a confidence that I know I did not have during my first meet. It was also great to have some of the older “more mature” skaters back, some for whom this was their “first meet back” (John Thurman and Donald ). Welcome back boys, I know the competition is not glad to see either of you!
Of course Texas speed took home a small horde of medals. Was it our skating abilities, or was it the fact that most of the referees were from our team? We may never know, but thanks go out to our teammates who gave their time to call the races. (Deb, John Burke, John Cassady, Al, Robin, Mike, and Will). The officiating highlight of the meet was when John Burke got to DQ Deb for cutting the track. Of course he let her skate around a lap making her think that he didn’t see the misstep but as soon as she started skating hard, the whistle and the finger! Sorry Deb.
We had some hard falls too, but sports cross-training saved us. Marisa went head-over heals and gave us all a scare, but her gymnastics back-ground must have helped out, and she came out unscathed. She is going to try to work less on her “floor routine.” The best fall had to go Gary Beers though. Even for a guy who takes quite a few hard falls, this one took cake. Gary was skating better than I have ever seen him skate. Coming around the final corner he got on the outside to pass the skater in front of him before the line. The skater in front was about 6′4″ and Gary was squeezing between him and the wall. I thought Gary was going to throw the “eagle-hawk” which I have seen him do in practice (but just never on purpose!). We all held our breath; Gary moved in; the other skater lost his balance, and dove straight into Gary’s knees (picture the skating equivalent of a football chop-block). Gary’s football background must have kicked in though, because he went up and over diving across the finish line to come in second place ahead of the other guy. He banged up his hip pretty well, but definitely would have made the ESPN highlight reel. Of course, if the rule for when a skater crosses the finish line is when the first wheel THAT IS ON THE GROUND crosses the line, then what happens if ALL OF YOUR wheels are off the ground? What about OVER YOUR HEAD? Anyways, great dive Gary! Kids, don’t try this at home (or at practice).
Here are the rest of the results from the individual events. Because we ran late, and everyone was trying to get out of the rink before session, I didn’t get the results for the open races or the relays. I hope that I did not miss anyone!!!! If I did, send me an email and I will update the post. Thank you all for coming out, supporting our team, and supporting our sport. Thanks to Sonny for coaching the best team around!
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Results for Mid America Speed Meet in Fort Worth
January 31, 2010
Results listed by skater roughly by age.
Placements listed are for the “overall” division finish.
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Trey Tinsley
- Primary Boys, Third place
Jordan Felter
- Primary Boys, First place
Henry Saltmarsh
- Primary Boys
- Novice B juvenile boys
Raygan Cassady
- Primary girls, Third place
- Novice B Juvenile girls
Nicole Rodriguez
- Primary girls, Second place
- Novice B Juvenile girls
Eshita Sangani
- Primary girls, First place
Josh Lopez
- Juvenile boys
David Bane
- Juvenile boys
- Novice B Juvenile boys
Lacie Cassady
- Juvenile girls
- Novice B Juvenile girls, third place
Cordell Rodriguez
- Novice elementary boys, second place
Trent Weems
- Novice elementary boys, Third Place
- Novice B Freshman boys, Third Place
Art Villarrell
- Novice elementary boys
- Novice B Freshman boys
Jamie Burns
- Novice elementary girls, first place
- Novice B freshman girls, second place
Travis Jarman
- Freshman boys
Zack Threet
- Freshman boys, Third place
- Novice Freshman boys, first place
Brandon Surrett
- Novice Freshman boys
- Novice B Freshman boys, 3rd place in 300m race
Camryn Brown
- Novice Freshman girls
- Novice B Freshman girls
Marisa Threet
- Novice Freshman girls, first place
- Novice B Freshman girls, third place
Donald Saltmarsh
- Sophomore men, Third place
Sterling Reynolds
- Sophomore men, fourth place
- Novice sophomore men, first place
Andrew Saunders
- Sophomore men
- Novice Sophomore men
Nathan Lopez
- Novice sophomore men
Anthony Landau
- Novice Senior men
- Novice B Senior men, second place
Gary Beers
- Novice senior men
- Novice B senior men, third place
Jason Metcalf
- Grand classic men, First place
Amy Taulman
- Novice Masters ladies, first place
Debra Rodriquez
- Novice Masters ladies, second place
John Burke
- Masters men, First Place
Kasey Felter
- Masters Ladies, First Place
Cheryl Beasock
- Masters Ladies, Second Place
Nick Salome
- Grand masters men, First Place
- Novice masters men, First Place
John Cassady
- Veterans men, First Place
Al Tinsley
- Veterans men, Second Place
John Thurman
- Veterans men, Third Place
Robin Saunders
- Veterans men
Caroline Kyhl
- Veterans Ladies, First Place
Debra Rodriquez
- Veterans Ladies, Second Place
Debra Smotrilla
- Grand Veterans Ladies, First Place
Mike Pickle
- Grand Veterans Men, Second place
Jim Wipff
- Esquire men, Second place
- Jolliest-old-man, first place (Santa scratched)
One Comment
Nick, that is just waaaay too funny!!!
Thank you so much for posting this!