Runners primed for Jerry Quiller Invitational at CU Boulder
“Stick!” CU sprinter Ian Gilmore’s voice rang out sharp and clear in the chilly Boulder air one afternoon last week as he and the other University of Colorado sprinters and hurdlers went through a workout on the newly refurbished Potts Field track on the school’s east campus. Teammate Dylan Edwards took off at the command but not quick enough to match the speed of the fast-approaching Gilmore, who, with a baton — or “stick” — held in his right hand, was in a flash up behind and then alongside him.
The mismatched speed meant the baton was not passed from Gilmore to Edwards, and CU sprint coach Burke Bockman approached the pair. “Let’s do it again; faster at the start on the next one, Dylan,” Burke told Edwards, a running back on the CU football team who is competing in track until spring football practice begins. “Three-quarters speed.”
Edwards nodded. He lined up about 10 meters in front of Gilmore, who began his sprint with another loud, “Stick!” Edwards accelerated this time like a Tesla Roadster. Gilmore, an evolutionary biology major who has run the 400 meters in 46.2 seconds, easily matched his speed, and the baton passed smoothly between them with neither breaking stride.
“Better,” Burke said in approval, before turning his attention to senior Luc Andrada and freshman Johnny Homsy, who quickly disappeared down the track after a seamless exchange, their comfort level in working together evident. The four sprinters comprise Colorado’s men’s 4×100 meter relay squad; Homsy runs the first leg, handing the baton to Andrada, who passes to Gilmore and on to Edwards for the anchor leg.
The relay squad will race together for the first time Saturday at the annual Jerry Quiller Invitational, one of two home track and field meets Colorado hosts each year. The meet begins Friday at 2 p.m. at Potts Field with the javelin and hammer throws. The other field events and all the running events take place Saturday starting at 11 a.m. (cubuffs. com)
Typically, the relay squad would not run an early-season outdoor meet, with the chance for injuryinducing colder weather, Burke said, but a third home meet has been added, an important one: the 2024 Pac-12 Championships, set for May 10-12 at Potts. The conference is dissolving, and with Colorado joining the Big 12 conference, this will surely be our only chance to see CU race at home against track powers such as Oregon, Stanford and USC.
“This (the Quiller Invite) is a step towards seeing who is selected (to race Pac- 12s),” Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore said after putting his distance runners through an interval workout on Wednesday. “We are excited to host. We have enough time to continue to gain fitness and improve. I think the team understands that. Their work ethic is up a notch.”
Indeed, there was a palpable energy to the CU practice last week. While the sprinters practiced their hand-offs, the 400-meter hurdlers went through a series of drills, then ran a workout over the hurdles (3 feet in height for the men, 30 inches for the women). The 400-meter hurdles is not contested indoors; the Quiller Invite is the first chance to race the distance this year, said hurdler Emma Pollak, who is coming off a strong indoor season that included being part of a school-record indoor 4×400 meter relay team, along with teammates Avery Mcmullen, Joy Moorer and Abbey Glynn.
“We are excited to compete in front of our home crowd,” Pollak said. “Boulder has such a good running community.”
The Quiller Invitational is a chance for that running community to get familiar with some of the non-distance running events, as I did watching the sprinters and hurdlers practice. On paper, the sprinters look capable of scoring points at the Pac-12 championships. The 4×100 meter squad “has potential, but has not raced yet,” cautioned Wetmore. “It is a complicated event. Burke will have a lot of work to do over the next two months to fine tune it. The smoother the transition, the better. That is what Burke is working on.”
Despite having watched many relay races over the years, I was surprised to learn of the complexity of the event. “The baton should never slow down,” Gilmore explained. There is a passing zone for each leg; the sprinters have to complete their baton exchange within the zone, which is marked on the new track in grey. The relay is not to the fastest but to the fastest who make the best exchange.
For those of you wanting to watch the Colorado middle- and long-distance runners compete on Saturday, Wetmore said the 1500 meters and 800 meters should be competitive races, with CU redshirt Isaiah Givens competing in one of the races. And if you do pay attention to some of the other events, Bockman advised, “Get down close to the track. There’s nothing like seeing elitelevel speed from a few feet away.”