TERRE HAUTE —
You know an athlete is special when figuring out how many championships he or she has won takes a few seconds.
Rose-Hulman high-jumper Liz Evans is starting to fall into that category.
On March 9 at Grinnell, Iowa, the Bicknell junior cleared a school-record 5 feet, 101⁄2 inches to win the NCAA Division III women’s indoor championship. That earned Evans a third NCAA title (two indoor and one outdoor) and a fifth All-American honor (factoring in her indoor and outdoor runner-up finishes in 2010).
Also worth noting, 5-101⁄2 would have placed eighth in the NCAA Division I nationals if Evans had competed there.
“That’s quite an accomplishment for a little gal from Bicknell, Ind.,” Rose-Hulman track coach Larry Cole remarked.
From the Rose men’s squad, Sutton Coleman has not captured a national crown yet, but he’s getting close. At the same NCAA indoor meet at Grinnell, the senior from Lebanon, Va., placed second in the men’s 60-meter hurdles in a school-record time of 8.01 seconds.
Coleman’s previous highest NCAA finish was fourth in the 2011 outdoor 400-meter hurdles. Like Evans, this was his fifth All-American honor.
Both trail former pole-vaulter Andrew Schipper (1999-2003) by one for the most All-American awards in the school’s track and field history and both plan to tie it at the NCAA outdoor nationals May 24-26 at Claremont, Calif.
But neither plans to do much at the season-opening Rose-Hulman Early Bird Invitational this Saturday at the William Welch Track and Field Complex because they’re more focused on training.
They’ll be following a routine based in consistency, which both attribute for much of their success.
“We have the same workout routine every week,” Coleman told the Tribune-Star. “I think our success is really a testament to the coaches’ programs. They really put in a lot of work and really know what works best for us.”
“In general, every week is the same,” noted Evans, whose routine usually includes neuromuscular training Monday, general strength Tuesday, jump and run Tuesday or Wednesday (depending on whether the next meet is Friday or Saturday) and warmups and light weightlifting Thursday and Friday.
Larry Cole and his son/assistant coach, Matt Cole, also praised the practice and meet habits of Evans and Coleman.
“The thing that’s been so impressive about Liz since she left North Knox High School [in 2009] is her consistency,” Larry Cole emphasized. “That’s the key in the field events. It’s a key in any track event, but in field events even more so. She jumped 5-10 or better four times this indoor season and that was above her personal best coming into the season. She really stepped it up and consistently jumped well. Her and Sutton are both athletes who never seem to have a bad meet.”
“Sutton’s very consistent,” Matt Cole pointed out. “He comes to practice every day and works hard, like Liz. They’re both very consistent. He does a good job of working hard and doing everything he’s asked to do. He improves week by week every year.”
Using that consistent approach, Evans and Coleman were able to improve throughout the indoor season and perform at or close to their potential at the recent indoor nationals.
“Liz was the underdog going in this time,” Matt Cole mentioned. “Shelby Demos [a junior from Wisconsin-Whitewater] was ranked above her and Liz knew that going in. She really took that on as a personal challenge to step up and say that she was the best. She was there to get her crown again.
“Liz had an outstanding meet. She jumped perfect … no misses until her final bar [when she already had clinched the NCAA title]. That’s Elizabeth. She’s a hard worker.”
“They both compete at the highest level at the biggest meets of the year,” Larry Cole said of the Engineers’ top track athletes in recent memory. “Liz went in with the idea that she was going to win the competition. She’s a very confident young lady. Her and Matt talked about starting heights and she went in at 5-7. She hit it on her first attempt. She went to the next height and hit that on her first attempt. She was clean clear through the competition until they both went out at 5-11.”
“I use all my other competitions throughout the season to practice for the national meet,” Evans explained. “For each one, I prepare the same way. Through all of that, I try my hardest to get every single jump on the first try. At this last national meet, it came through and I ended up winning.”
“The most stressful time is the prelims, trying to get into the final race,” Coleman said from a hurdler’s perspective. “Once you make the finals, it’s kind of anybody’s ballgame. Everybody is close, within a few hundredths of a second… I thought it was a great race. The winner was a little bit too far outside for me to see. He was a couple lanes outside of me. But I was pleased with the race. It was a lot of fun.”
“Sutton’s goal was always to be an All-American,” Matt Cole added. “But this year, we really focused on winning it. This was the year we wanted to win the national title. We really had to convince him that he could do it, that he is that elite-level athlete. I think he knows it, but I’m not sure he believed it.”
Evans missed three attempts at 5-11, a height that she hopes to put in her rear-view mirror during the 2012 outdoor season.
“I was close on my first attempt,” she recalled. “My second attempt … that was not even close. The third one was when I already found out I was national champion, so I was too happy to focus on all the little details I needed to do.”
For Evans to clear 5-11 in the future, she admitted that she’ll need to get stronger, which means more time spent in the weightroom. That won’t be difficult for Evans because she lifted three times a week on campus last summer and she enjoyed it.
The Coles indicated Evans and Coleman aren’t likely to see much serious action for the next few weeks because both want to stay fresh so their seasons can last through May.
“Liz will be ready to go by the end of April,” Matt Cole promised. “The whole month of May is when I’m looking for her to hit some good bars again.”
“It’s up to the coaches,” Coleman said of his chances for early-season participation. “I’ll do whatever they tell me to do. Whatever they have in store for me, I’m willing to do.”
Coleman realizes that following the coaches’ advice will be his most likely way to finish his career with an NCAA title — his best chance being in the 400 hurdles.
“It’s gonna be kinda like the last hurrah,” assessed Coleman, who has accepted a job with Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems in Los Angeles. “This is the last time I get to run outdoor track. I’m going to work hard for the outdoor season and hopefully give myself another chance to win a championship. That’s the goal right now.
“Track might be over for me after that.”
Rose-Hulman
For Rose’s Evans, Coleman, it’s all about championships
- Rose-Hulman
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Rose-Hulman swimmers flying to nationals
Rose-Hulman swimmers John Craig Huster and Orion Martin have qualified for the Division III national meet in the 100 butterfly
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Despite four NCAA Division III titles, Rose-Hulman’s Liz Evans remains as driven as ever
Even though Rose-Hulman senior Liz Evans has won four NCAA Division III titles in the women’s high jump, getting motivated is still easy for her.
Ultra-competitive athletes find ways. -
Balsbaugh’s late-season scoring giving Rose-Hulman a lift
If someone were to predict before last weekend that Rose-Hulman would capture its second straight Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship in men’s basketball and that senior Brenton Balsbaugh would be named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, fans probably would believe the first statement but consider the second as wishful thinking.
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Rose-Hulman opened the second half on a 20-3 run to pull away and earn a convincing 71-40 men’s basketball victory at Anderson University on Wednesday night.
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Rose men top Franklin
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Rose men run winning steak to 11 games
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Anderson holds off rally by Rose women
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Rose-Hulman men ranked 26th in Division III
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Gerken hits game-winner to put Rose-Hulman at 9-1 on season
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The Engineers came out on the wrong end, 55-43. -
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Rose-Hulman women's basketball regains Clabber Girl Trophy
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Balanced Rose tops Fontbonne
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Rose-Hulman men's basketball preview: Engineers looking to follow up last year’s success
It’s pretty safe to say that expectations for the Rose-Hulman men’s basketball team have not been this high since the late 1990s when the Engineers reached the NCAA Division III tournament three times within a four-year period.
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Rose-Hulman women's basketball preview: Engineers continuing to improve
The Rose-Hulman women’s basketball team didn’t dominate many opponents last season when it ended up with records of 9-18 overall and 6-12 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
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Earlham tragedy leads to Rose football cancellation
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This weekend's Rose-Hulman vs. Earlham football game canceled
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Anderson squeaks past Rose-Hulman
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Rose swimmers near top because of vets, youth
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A bigger taste?
On the night of Oct. 14, Rose-Hulman basketball fans were treated to something described by a couple of men’s players as “spectacular” and “epic” when they all jammed into Hulbert Arena for the insititute’s first “Midnight Madness” to tip off a season.
The memorable site wasn’t a 360-degree dunk or a no-look, behind-the-back pass.
It was Rose men’s coach Jim Shaw performing the “Bernie Dance,” based on the deceased character from the 1989 movie “Weekend At Bernie’s.”
“For a second, I thought he was having a seizure,” senior starting guard Austin Weatherford said with a straight face later. -
Rose women picked for 6th
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Hanover and Franklin were selected for first and second respectively, with just two poll points separating the two squads. -
Rose-Hulman no match for Franklin
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Rose blanks Woods 3-0 in women’s soccer
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It has so far.
Led by freshman Hayley Gilliam, a Zionsville native, the Engineers improved to 5-4-1 for the season with a dominant 3-0 victory against cross-county rival St. Mary-of-the-Woods College on Wednesday at Jim Rendel Field. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Engineers dominate HCAC honors
Rose-Hulman Institute student-athletes earned three Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week awards, in results released by the league office on Monday.
West Vigo graduate John Burt was named HCAC Defensive Player of the Week and Eric Schaible the Special Teams Player of the Week in football, and B.J. Thompson earned Player of the Week honors in men’s soccer.
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