heritage runner

[MaryvilleRebels]

Was that at William Blount on the concrete?

[trkstrzmom]

She has done that at William Blount, Farragut, Anderson County and one other school that I can't think of right now. Does that make a differnce in how you jump?

[MaryvilleRebels]

The concrete makes a HUGE difference on how you jump. You tend to slide rather than be able to plant firmly. You also have to jump in tennis shoes rather than track spikes. Tennis shoes tend to be heavier and can make a difference in your height as well as your arch. Shes doing well for a freshman if she jumps 5 foot 2. I think the highest I saw a girl jump last year was 5 foot 4.

[GovMan]

heritage has this kelsi muckleroy girl who is as fast as lightning, man she can fly, pretty hott too if i do say so myself.

For what's it worth ... the Muckleroy young lady is the grand daughter of a Maryville legend ... none other than Don Sentell.

 

Katie was blazingly fast, but lost her passion for track after her sophomore year. Her speed and quickness made her an incredibly good defender in basketball.

 

By the time she's through--barring injury-- Danielle will be remembered as the fastest girl to ever run in Blount County. She's an upper D1 prospect and possible Olympian if she wants it bad enough ... and I think she does.

[MaryvilleRebels]

Govman...Katie's basketball skills were pitiful. She, as a senior, still dribbled the ball at her head on a fast break. As for Danielle...well the problem with girls in high school and running track especially is their appearance. They don't want to put on the needed muscle to be great at high jump, long jump, etc, etc. because they don't want to have the appearance of a big girl. For some this is appealing but in this day and age popularity usually wins over future in sports.

[trkstrzmom]

You really don't know Danielle because she has lots of muscle. She is solid muscle. Track is vey important to her and she does want to do this after high school. She is willing to work at it and jumping is not what she is best at. She is a sprinter with the skills to jump. She is good at it and she loves it. You really can't lump all girls into the same group because there are always a few who will stand out and Danielle is one, Jenae Anderson is another. Oh, and looking pretty is just a bonus.

[GovMan]

Govman...Katie's basketball skills were pitiful. She, as a senior, still dribbled the ball at her head on a fast break. As for Danielle...well the problem with girls in high school and running track especially is their appearance. They don't want to put on the needed muscle to be great at high jump, long jump, etc, etc. because they don't want to have the appearance of a big girl. For some this is appealing but in this day and age popularity usually wins over future in sports.

Yeah ... women like FloJo, Marilyn Jones, Nancy Griffith-Joyner ... all those women were/are "beasts" don't you think? Daniel has "plenty" of muscle already and she wears it really well.

 

As far as Katie -- you're a little harsh in your assessment. Katie was a "role player" and she played her role well. She wasn't out there to lead fast breaks, handle the ball, or score a lot. She was out there to "shut down" the other team's best offensive player. When she stayed out of foul trouble (her biggest weakness) she was very valuable. A person needed to "really" know the game of basketball--not just be familiar with ESPN style highlights--to really appreciate a player like Katie.

[MaryvilleRebels]

Gov..I played basketball, I am pretty familiar with the game, but if you're playing high school basketball and you can't dribble..why are you out there? Sure you can be good at one thing, but that defeats the purpose of basketball, afterall there is only 5 people on the floor. You can do one of two things, you can contribute on both ends or you can contribute on one end and on the other you can be a person that doesn't hurt the team. She was neither of these.

 

About Danielle...well lets put it this way..

My little brother was the greatest baseball player I (and many others) have ever seen when he was young. As a two year old my mom would throw a little foam ball to him and he would hit it with a foam bat. Well everytime he would hit it he would go and get the ball and bring it back to my mom (she did this while watching television). One day she threw the ball to him and he hit it right back at her and broke her nose. As a two year old! As a 5 year old he was hitting the ball that some 14 year old baseball players were throwing to him (a pitching machine ball) and he hit it over their heads and hit an older lady in the head. As an 8 year old he had a gun for an arm...he was nearly perfect at the game. Late in his 8th grade year he suffered an injury on a trampoline (rolled his ankle), he's never ran the same again. Once he started getting popular in school he lost care for baseball and practice. Once that started happening my older brother (a pitcher for Maryville College) got upset with him when he realized he was wasting his potential, he started to put a lot of pressure on him to practice and play better. Now he is an average, at best, 12 year old.

Whats the point of my story? Not to expect something great out of young people until they prove to you that they are willing to be great and stay great. Now this young lady sounds like she is getting it done, but you never know..she might lose interest...there are any number of things that can make her change her mind. Boys, parents, school, track coach, her future in its self, among others. Also if you look at pictures of Marion Jones...she is ripped. That is unappealing to a lot of girls, not all, but the majority. Not to mention that in order to be a good sprinter you have to have muscle to enhance your speed. For instance..Diana Burgy when she is on the track has a lot of determination and heart, but she won't really go into the weight room inorder to enhance her skills with a lot of muscle. Carl Stewart was a heck of a sprinter and could have won the decathalon his junior year, he didn't have the heart to work hard and run a fast enough mile. They are both good athletes, but they just didn't get it done enough to be great. Does your Danielle have what it takes? I don't know...all I am saying is that its a little early to jump to conclusions.

[trkstrzmom]

Well yes I do believe that my Danielle has what it takes. First, she has been running in school for 4 years and is getting ready for her third year of AAU. She really works her butt off during the summer for two reasons: she loves it and she wants to go on to college to run. LSU is her first choice. She already is popular and has a boyfriend that is very supportive of what she does. If you think that being popular and liking boys is a reason to not do track then you are talking to girls who didn't really care about track to begin with. As for how Marion Jones looks, Danielle has a poster of her up on her wall(with all of her awards). She knows how she looks and understands that to be a great runner you have to have big muscles. She already has runners thighs and it is not a problem for her. She doesn't do this or look a certain way for other people. Danielle does what is best for Danielle. If you haven't seen her run, then maybe you should. William Blount has a meet Thursday at 4:00. Next week Monday is at Maryville (field events) and Tuesday at William Blount. This is the Blount County Championship. Both start at 4:30. Maybe then you will see what we see, maybe not.

[GovMan]

Not sure what you've got against Katie, MaryvilleRebels, maybe she turned you down for a date or something, but you're way to harsh and way wrong on your assessment of her.

 

She was weak offensively (big part of that due to the fact that she wouldn't shoot the basketball enough) but she was MHS's defensive player of the year two years in a row--she always guarded the other teams best offensive player; her quickness resulted in lots of steals and in lots of broken up fast breaks; and her work ethic was tremendous.

 

To say that she "she didn't contribute on either end of the floor" just shows that you must not have watched a lot of the girl's games while you were at Maryville. That's ok.

[MaryvilleRebels]

No..Katie Bledsoe never turned me down, I never asked...but the point here is that she did not contribute offensively and she really hurt the team offensively more than she hindered the team. I understand that she did have good hands, but a steal is pointless if you make a steal get into a fast break and miss the layup because you don't have control over the ball. I just don't like the fact that she never really perfected her game. How no one on the girls basketball team really did. How the basketball program one year was kicking butt and the next they were bottom of the barrell, and the year afterwards..same thing. I believe that if you're going to contribute on a basketball court you need to do it on both ends, not just on one. I don't like the small point guards that only guard, they don't take control of a game and make it a point to get others open, they only bring the ball up and down the court, and their only points are off of turnovers. There are 5 people on the court, unless you have a superstar then everyone has to contribute offensively. The girls basketball team had a bunch of roleplayers, yes...thats great, now if only one of them would have stepped up and been a scorer, but in two years it never happened, and it probably won't. Everyone on the team was afraid of scoring, in fact, no one could score. They had decent rebounding, they would get second chance shots, but they rimmed out time and time again. I am sorry, but you can't just go out there and play defense and be commended for it, especially if your team STILL loses!

 

Also..I never said that Danielle didn't have the work ethic, but its a tough road to hoe. If she ran KTC, I probably saw her, but theres only been two people at KTC that have really impressed me. Those people were an 8 year old that ran the mile and broke the record for the state in her age group, and the 2002 state high jump champion. KTC is not really a fast team, I ran the 400 against their best and I was only a step or two behind, got third. Lets put it like this...Lori Simmerly graduated from Farragut High School in 2003. Lori at one time was in the Maryville school system and her older brother was a huge football star. Lori was extremely gifted athletically, especially in the speed department. In the junior olympics in the 4th and 5th grade she placed first. She loved track, in fact as a 5th grader she would take on any boy on the playground in a race. She used to beat Carl Stewart time and time again. Unfortunately for Lori, her freshman year she blew out her knee, she recovered later on and once again later on she blew it out again. Despite that she was still very fast and competitive for Farragut, but she had the same dream as Danielle. Just as much fire, just as much talent. Its just that sometimes you can't count your chickens before they hatch. Danielle has a long way to go and the odds are stacked against her...will she overcome them, i don't know (hope she does), but all I am saying is that its a tough road to hoe.

[trkstrzmom]

Ok, how can you say that KTC is not a fast team? Did you run the 400 with Bryan Webb or Nathan Grace or Josh Hich or Shannon Glasper? What about Stephanie Woodfin or Jenae Anderson? The youth girls 4x100 ran a faster time then the Alcoa 4x100 state winners and they were 3 8th graders and a 7th grader(47.43). The youth girls 4x400 finished 3rd(4:00) and Danielle won the 100 and the 200 and Stephanie finished first in the 100 in her age group. Bryan Webb third in the 400(48.42) the youth boys 4x800 finished second. These are all from the Junior Olympics. When it was over, KTC had 7 national champions, 28 medalists and 40 medal performance(top 8). So, yes they really do have a pretty fast team.