Kansas State University held a press conference today for their 2016 Track and Field Olympic hopefuls.
“We’ve had people have some remarkable successes, but in my mind I still think they’re capable of doing more,” said Cliff Rovelto, head track and field coach at Kansas State University.
In attendance was 2012 Olympic Silver Medalist in the high jump and Kansas State alumnus, Erik Kynard.
“Before I can be better than anyone else, I have to master myself and in doing that I’ve had to learn to put myself in a place of peace and be patient with myself and not be at 100 all the time….Coach talks about it all the time, I have two speeds – I’m 0 or 100- I don’t have anything in between; but you know a volcano is a great force even when it’s dormant. So [you] have to be dormant at times so I can learn and go with the process and progress day by day and not just be erupting at all times.” said Kynard speaking on his preparations and training for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
Kynard, competing for the United States and sponsored by Jordan, has an illustrious career beginning long before his Olympic Silver Medal at just 21 years young- that only cemented his legacy.
Other Olympic hopefuls in attendance included Akela Jones, the multi-event athlete at K-State that had a heartbreaking ending to her season at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Going in to the last event of the heptathlon – the 800 meter run- Jones was leading the event in a comfortable 1st place position. About 600 meters in to the race, Jones came to a screeching halt and ultimately walked a portion of her final event in the heptathlon.
“At that moment, I just realized how much I love this sport,” said Jones. “I stopped, I walked, I had a moment that wasn’t my strongest, but I turned around and I said ‘I can’t stop, I can’t walk off of this track – you gotta finish this because this is going to be preparation for something fantastic.’ And I used that moment to build myself mentally stronger, so when it comes down to the Olympics – it’s not going to happen again – ever. I’m glad that moment happened, I needed that moment to happen to teach me a lesson and I’m just going to propel on it, keep going forward and use it as motivation to do better next time.”
Coach Rovelto says that this was only Jones’ fifth multi-event although this was her senior year; many of the women she competed and will compete against have five heptathlons under their belt before their freshman year of college.
Senior shot-putter Dani Winters, from Plainville, Kansas is humbled by the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Trials and hopefully for the United States at the Olympic Games.
“I feel excited. I’m excited just to be counted amongst the ranks of these women who are so amazing and have done so many great things in their careers. I’m going to go in [to the Olympic trials] with just a positive attitude and try my best to do my best and really just compete against myself and get a PR (personal record) that day – that’s my hope,” said Winters.
Winters was the Outdoor Big 12 Champion in 2015 in the shot put and finished 12th in the 2016 Outdoor NCAA Championships.
Runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the High Jump was Jamaican born Christoff Bryan who says that he feels the pressure of being the only high jumper for his native country. Bryan says that training with Kynard and having role models in his country like the legendary Usain Bolt are inspirations for him to work harder.
In all, Coach Rovelto boasts an impressive lineup of athletes competing for various countries having one thing in common – Kansas State University is their training/school home.
Athletes poised to make Olympic teams:
- Erik Kynard – USA
- Akela Jones – Barbados
- Dani Winters – USA
- Shadae Lawrence – Jamaica
- Alyx Treasure – Canada
- Erica Twiss – USA
- Kim Williamson – Jamaica
- Christoff Bryan – Jamaica
- Terrell Smith – USA
- Brittany Smith – USA