Amy Blogs the Championships

Student-athlete Amy Schmitz has qualified as one of 22 UIndy athletes participating at the 2009 NCAA Division Winter Sports Festival in Houston, Texas. The action-packed week will crown national champions in wrestling, men's and women's swimming and diving and men's and women's track and field. The UIndy athletics department has asked Amy to chronicle her experience during the week to help us catch a glimpse of the process and give us insight to not only the competition, but everything else that happens during championship week. Amy will share her thoughts each day here.

When asked to provide a daily journal for us all to read, Amy quipped "Ha, ha, well, I suppose I can capture this extravagant and glamourous lifestyle into blog form for ya'll!". Don't let her fool you. It's neither extravagance or glamour that has led her and 21 of her classmates to Houston, but instead grueling hours of practice, lifting weights, balancing academic commitments and traveling, boiled down to one week of competition against the finest athletes in all of Division II.

Sunday, March 15- 8:57 p.m.
What a week! I'm laying in the hotel room just relaxing and trying to process everything I experienced in Houston.

Yesterday was the end of competition. Emily Schaf (high jump) placed 11th and Andrea Horban (shot put) placed 8th! Another All America nod for the Hounds! We didn't end up going to the closing ceremonies becuase of how late the meet ran but we did go to an authentic Mexican restaurant which was delicious! After dinner we came back to the hotel for a full night of celebration and ruckus. Just so everyone knows, the Hounds were perfect representatives of UIndy! :)

Today it was sad to see all of the teams and athletes leaving. This week went by so fast and has left me with some wonderful memories. I enjoyed the festival and cannot believe my indoor track and field career is over, but what a way to go out!

See ya at outdoors!

GET OFF THE LEASH!!

-Amy

Saturday, March 14th- 9:58 a.m.
So yesterday we competed and ... I'm an All American! I didn't throw as well as I was hoping to, but mentally yesterday was probably the biggest day of my career. I was able to get past some major mental hurdles I have battled since my first experience at nationals two years ago. I had such a good time competing, and I embraced the opportunity to throw the weight for the last time. After my last throw, even though it wasn't as far as I had hoped, I walked out of the ring smiling because I knew I had just ended my career with a mental win and an All American honor. How awesome is that?

Yesterday wasn't all great though for the Hounds. Sam Elmore and Willie Little (weight throw) did not make it to finals, and that broke my heart. They both work so hard and to see them struggle kills me. They were great teammates though and cheered me even during their heartbreak. I really admire them both for that.

We weren't able to watch the swimmers or wrestlers again, but we know that the swimmers were breakin' necks and cashin' checks AGAIN! GO HOUNDS! The wrestlers unfortunately didn't advance but they seem to still be in good spirits. Today we are going to the track to watch Emily Schaf (high jump) and Andrea Horban (shot put) compete. I am super pumped for the both of them and know that they both have the potential to do great things.

Tonight will be fun at the hotel - everyone is done competing and there should be a bit of a celebration! I just hope that the Hyatt doesn't turn into "Animal House"! haha! Well, I have to prepared to cheer for the Hounds and throw up the Dog Paw!

*We got ya today Fangman!!*

GET OFF THE LEASH!!!!

-Amy

Wednesday, March 11- 8:52 p.m.
Today was our first full day in Houston, and I LOVE IT! We started out the day nice and early (7:30 a.m.!) for breakfast in the Student Athlete Lounge. The lounge is so nice, one half is all bean bag chairs, video games, pool tables, ping pong tables, and other tables/chaise lounges set up for athletes to relax on. Whoever set this up did an awesome job because it is a really great environment for athletes to relax and have fun. The other half of the lounge is set up with dining tables for breakfast and lounging. Breakfast was pretty good this morning, which makes me confident we will be well fed for the rest of the week!

After breakfast we headed over to the indoor track facility for practice. There is a great shuttle service going every half hour from the hotel to the different competition sites so that is convenient. The indoor track facility is really big and open, not quite like our racquetball court! For the throwers who are reading, their ring is a wooden platform much like ours, but slower. The cage is open like at Wabash, so it is a really familiar and comfortable setting all around for the Hound throwers. We had a great, concise practice and are feeling ready for Friday.

After practice we came back to the hotel, changed clothes, and walked about 10 blocks to the nearest grocery store. Every meal we have had here is at least $10, so we decided to be economic with our eating! It was nice to be able to experience some of downtown Houston first hand, but I am sure there is much more to see. It was a humid day, and the walk was a nice little cardio workout.

We relaxed for a few hours in our rooms after grocery shopping. Around 5:15 p.m. we headed over to the swimming facility to cheer on our Hounds! We saw a great finish by Erica Smith (6th in 200IM) and an amazing effort by Manuel Stiem (3rd in 200IM). It was exciting to watch a swim meet since I honestly have only attended one before! We were making sure to cheer loud and proud for our Hounds! On the way back to the hotel we ran into Dr. Pitts and her husband, Bill - what a great surprise!

The rest of our evening has been spent relaxing in the lounge and taking it easy. I have loved this experience mostly because I haven't had the chance to worry about competing. There is a really laid back vibe to everything, and I think it is because everyone is having such a good time! The NCAA did a wonderful job of making sure the athletes and guests were accommodated to and comfortable.

Here are some observations I have made in Houston so far:
-Warmer than Indiana, but not nearly as pretty!
-HUGE downtown!
-There are more roads and highways and one-ways going in every which direction! As Coach Holman exclaimed, "HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SO MANY ROADS?!" hahaha
-There is devastation still from Hurricane Ike, i.e. lots of homeless, damaged buildings (We are blessed to live among cornfields!)

Well that is all for today - only 2 more days until competition!

*Love you Fango!!*

GET OFF THE LEASH!

-Amy

Tuesday March 10, 9:37 p.m.
What a long day of travel - but we are in Houston! The day started off with us leaving school with our bags and implements ready - which means my total luggage weight was right around 100 lbs. Ridiculous!

Our flights were mostly on time and travel was smooth. We were accompanied by the wrestling team which was cool.

We knew that we would be a bit late to the opening ceremonies, but our flight was slightly delayed and we ended up arriving at 8:30 p.m. when dinner was over and caught the tail end of the welcoming speech by the Vice President of Championships. So, all and all we didn't really get to experienece the opening ceremonies but the venue was amazing! Beautiful three-story place with fishtanks and such throughout.

So in lieu of the timing of tonight, the Hounds had our own opening ceremonies and banquet across the street at the Hard Rock Cafe!

Now we are headed back to our amazing hotel - we are on the 24th floor and the view is of downtown Houston. The weather is a slightly sticky 70 degrees with the forecast promising rain. Oh well, it's not Indy, and the championships start in 3 days! Swimming starts tomorrow so hopefully they kill it.

*Miss you Fango! Praying for you!*
GET OFF THE LEASH!
-Amy

Monday, March 9th 2:18 p.m.
Holy packing! We leave tomorrow, and I have just begun the packing process. We will be in Houston from Tuesday, the 10th through Monday the 16th. I bet every other athlete who will be competing at the Winter Sports Festival this week (and has perfected the art of procrastination) is sitting in their room with about 1000 articles of clothing surrounding them and an empty suitcase in the middle of it all! I love the packing process, don't get me wrong, but I also like to have options for outfits, and six days of travel means a lot of options! No matter what I end up forgetting, my most important outfit will be in my carryon - uniform, spandex, throwing shoes, and throwing glove. These items are more important than anything else and I won't risk misplacing them.

Well that anticipation is mounting for Houston, that's for sure. While every other person is spending spring break on a beach, or partying, or just relaxing, I look forward to spring break for the opportunity to compete. I've had this date marked on my calendar for months now, and everyday of training has brought me to this week. It's pretty surreal to think that it is finally here! Not only am I heading to nationals, I am sharing this experience with four other track and field athletes (Willie Little, Sam Elmore, Emily Schaf and Andrea Horban), and all of us are fifth-year seniors! What a great spring break to end five years of hard work!

It is pretty sweet too that we aren't the only sport at this nationals. Two wrestlers and a whopping 15 UIndy swimmers are going as well! The Hounds will be invading Houston in FULL FORCE! Hopefully we will be able support our fellow athletes and vice versa. We start competition Friday, but I know wrestling and swimming begin before us. Either way this experience is going to be amazing.

Well, I'm off to the last practice before the trip. Last week couldn't have gone better in terms of practice, and I am looking to start this week off with a solid throw and light lift and begin peaking out for Friday. Tonight promises to be full of hectic packing and hopefully a good night's rest. Tomorrow we leave at 10:45 a.m. and touchdown in Houston around 6:00 p.m., with the opening ceremonies starting at 6:30 - so we will be rushed!

*Pray for safe travel, and Coach Fangman*

GET OFF THE LEASH!!!!
-Amy

A day in the life...

The UIndy Athletic department was buzzing on Sat., Feb. 28-- a little more than usual. You see, while having multiple sportsr going on at the same time is no unusual occurance, this day featured a whole host of events going on in and around Indianapolis on a day that we'll attempt to chronicle here. The theme you'll notice throughout is "pitching in" and how the coaching staffs and athletic department help each other out.

8:55 a.m.- The UIndy tennis teams finish hitting in preparation for its 9:00 a.m. match with Franklin. The Greyhounds call the UIndy Tennis Center home and play all of their home matches there. The indoor facility allows the team the opportunity to host a lot more tournaments and the seven indoor courts can also be used in other ways, for example, the UIndy footballers find their way over there in the early morning to run sprints.

10:04 a.m.- UIndy men's soccer team members will be arriving soon to help facilitate the basketball games at home at Nicoson Hall. They are pinch-hitting for the baseball team, who usually performs the tasks of ticket-taking, set-up of the arena and manning the gates at each entrance. The baseballers are outside prepping Greyhound Park for the first home baseball game of the season, set to begin at noon.

11:35 a.m.- Things are in place at Greyhound Park for the baseball home opener so Assistant Athletic Director Scott Young turns his attention back to Nicoson Hall to help greet the officials for this afternoon's women's basketball game. As his "R-UIndy-Fit" pedometer would attest, Young will pile-up the steps on this day monitoring both baseball and basketball.

12:56 p.m.- National Anthem is being performed by Asst. Volleyball Coach Kyp Harasymowycz at the women's basketball game. Asst. Athletic Director Mitch Wigness is on the microphone for the games, helping out after the Hounds' public address announcer cannot attend the games with a death in the family. Assistant Sports Information Director Ryan Thorpe will be handling all of the media and statistics duties for the basketball game, which is being televised and is being covered by both Wisconsin-Parkside radio and WICR 88.7 FM on campus. SID assistant Jackie Paquette has the honor out at the baseball field and will handle the public address duties as well. There's really nothing an SID can't do. Really.

1:05 p.m.- Head tennis coach John Venter calls to report great news from the matches, a pair of 9-0 wins over Franklin.

1:34 p.m.- Word from Alabama is that it's still raining and the UIndy softball team, which was scheduled to play four games over two days there, will be forced to make another bus trip back home quicker than anticipated. Yuck.

2:46 p.m.- The Greyhound women are putting the finishing touches on a nice 77-70 win over Wisconsin-Parkside, who is ranked seventh in the Midwest Regional Rankings, just ahead of UIndy. That win will probably help the Hounds move up a spot before the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament, where they will face host Quincy in the opening round. The outlook is good for another Greyhound trip to the NCAA tournament.

3:10 p.m.- The UIndy men's team takes the floor for their game with the Rangers. The game will feature two of the league's best scorers in UWP's LaVontay Fenderson--who also leads all of Division II-- and UIndy's Keith Radcliff, who is fourth in the GLVC in scoring. They do not disappoint.

3:16 p.m.- After the Hounds baseball team dropped a close 2-1 contest in the opener to #6 Ashland, they find themselves in a slugfest again in game two. AU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth, but UIndy has answered with a run in the sixth to tie it. 3:58 p.m.- The University of Indianapolis Athletic Department is honoring its Hall of Fame Class of 2009 in addition to recognizing some 25th and 50th Anniversary teams during halftime of the men's game. The Hall of Famers will be treated to a nice catered dinner and will get to address their cohorts following the game at Primo's.

4:28 p.m.- Fenderson and Radcliff continue to duel it out. Radcliff has found his stroke from deep and Fenderson has made a concerted effort to get to the line in the second half.

5:15 p.m.- The Greyhounds fall to Parkside, but Radcliff leaves the home crowd with a career-high six triples en route to 27 points. Fenderson makes 16-of-17 from the line to help record 38 points for UWP.

5:27 p.m.- Although the Eagles baseball team sneaked away with a 3-1 win, it took them 11 innings to do so. Chase Kittinger kept his hot stick going, garnering three more hits in game two.

5:57 p.m.- It's on to the Hall of Fame banquet, where Mark Bless, Walter Brenneman, Dennis McNulty, Andy Richardson and the 1973 baseball team will all be enshrined. Associate Athletic Director Matt Donovan and his staff have worked diligently for nearly the entire year to make this event come together and again come out with flying colors.

6:37 p.m.- The UIndy SID staff begins to populate the website with results from the day and send out releases and scores to local media. It's a three-preson effort on this day with all of the different sports involved.

8:05 p.m.- The track and field teams are wrapping up competition at the GLVC Indoor Championships in nearby Crawfordsville, Ind. The women look in good shape to take their first indoor title and third overall since 2002.

9:35 p.m.- CHAMPIONS! The women's team, indeed, did outscore Lewis University and captured the crown with the help of four first-place finishes. Coach Scott Fangman is named the league's Women's Coach of the Year and Kierra Allen is the GLVC Freshman of the Year. The Greyhound men also have a great showing, taking second as a team and grabbing five total first-place finishes.

11:15 p.m.- Another hectic Saturday can finally come to an end, but not without the help of numerous folks to help keep things in line. It'll all get cranked back up in the coming weeks with women's basketball poised for the GLVC tournament and NCAA playoffs, five teams headed to Houston, Texas for the NCAA Division II Winter Festival (men's and women' track, wrestling, men's and women's swimming) and Spring Break action from both tennis teams, both golf teams and both baseball and softball. For love of the game...