Wednesday, August 8, 2012B2 The Smithville Herald sports

Practice: Athletes begin new year with high expectationsu Continued from Page B1

“As a staff, we’ve got to have precautions in,” Smith said. “We’re tracking each kid and making sure they’re maintaining their water weight. That’s a very impor-tant part of this. And ulti-mately, the safety of our athletes has to be at the forefront of our minds.”

Smithville lost a signifi-cant senior class last year and will likely have a dif-ferent look on offensive this season. Still, Smith said the team is in a good position thanks to a couple produc-tive team camps that could lay the groundwork for another successful season.

“We know we’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve got a pretty good jump start,” Smith said. “We’re pretty close to having everything in — offensively and defen-

sively. That’s what we do in camp. What we’ve got to do right now is prepare ourselves physically because we’re not where we need to be yet.

“But the kids worked hard this morning, and we’re pleased with the way the preseason has started.”

Down on the turf field, change was also in the air for the boys soccer team.

For the first time in 15 years, the Warriors did not begin their first practice with the traditional run out at Smithville Dam. Instead, coach Jon Reed ran the squad through a number of conditioning drills that he hoped would be more ben-eficial to the players.

“We just decided that long-distance conditioning wasn’t what we needed,” Reed said. “So we spent two hours doing sprint work,

push-ups, sit-ups. When they do that long dam run, it’s a cross country run, and that’s just not what soccer is.

“… We’ll see if it makes a difference or not.”

Reed also indicated that the soccer squad is in good shape and hit the ground running because of the team’s hard work during the summer months. Sev-

eral players also gained addi-tional experience with the respective club teams, as a handful of Warriors took part in the Midwest Regional Championships in Saginaw, Mich., in June.

In addi-tion, a strong f r e s h m a n class of near-ly 20 players bolstered the team’s overall numbers and should allow Smithville to field three s e p a r a t e teams this season.

“That’s just going to help our future,” Reed said. “We’ve got great numbers, and hopefully these kids will stay out for four years, and we can continue these numbers.”

Soccer coaches concluded the first practice with a skill drill that tested the play-ers’ ability to control the ball in the air. Following a few sprints along the length of the field, Reed wrapped

up the first p r a c t i c e pleased with the shape of the team, which seeks a return to the state s e m i f i n a l s and its 11th consecutive MEC title.

“We’ve got hard-working kids,” Reed said. “They worked hard at practice today. Some of the younger ones still need to learn the work-ethic we expect. … And they’ll learn the speed of the high school game.”

triathlon: First-year race features patriotic atmosphereu Continued from Page B1

that gave the first-year event a patriotic atmosphere, including: A huge American flag

suspended from a fire truck The national anthem

being performed by a group of Mason’s college friends A 21-gun salute courte-

sy of members of the Ameri-can Legion American flags lining

portions of the race course A flyover by a Chinook

helicopter during the early part of the race A Fallen Soldier Battle

Cross at the finish lineMany of the special events

surrounding the race came as a surprise to Betty and Dave Mason — Matt’s parents — who were overwhelmed by the amount of support they received throughout the day from so many throughout the day.

The two of them spent most of the race handing out medals in the shape of dog tags to racers as they fin-ished the course, as they got to witness the outpouring of encouragement from every-one they encountered.

“It was so awesome because there was Matt’s friends, there was family, people that we knew outside of them,” Betty Mason said. “And to be able to see them cross and be there was special.”

Matt Mason helped many of his friends and former classmates get involved with triathlons in the first place, including Zimmer and Jason Key. After Mason passed away last August, that group worked hard to put the event together and tried to make it an event that would encour-age first-time competitors to get involved, as well.

One of the main organiz-

ers, Key spent much of the day behind the scenes and also assisted with the swim-ming portion of the race.

As a former teammate on the Maple Woods base-ball team, Key said that the venue at Smithville Lake was a great location consider-ing how much time Mason spent there growing up.

“Smithville Lake is just the perfect place, and we’ll definitely be doing this next year,” Key said. “This is just wonderful. It’s beautiful.”

With nearly 300 racers and almost 200 volunteers, Zim-mer said he was humbled by the amount of support shown by the community and was appreciative of how everything seemed to fall into place.

“It went off without a hitch because of everyone associated with it,” Zimmer said. “We had no control over stuff like that. It just all worked out. I couldn’t be happier for the Legion to come out here. I couldn’t be happier to have the Chi-nook fly over.

“It all just worked out the way it was supposed to.”

Among the many first-time triathletes was Brooke Boyn-ton, Mason’s sister-in-law.

Participating in the race took its toll on her, both phys-ically and emotionally, but Boynton said she was proud to take part and felt Mason’s familiar words of encourage-ment helped propel her across the finish line.

“If Matt was here, he would be like, ‘Toughen up. Cowboy up,’ Boynton said. “It’s really cool, and it’s really neat to see this many people come out here and do this. It’s really cool seeing all these friends and family.

“Matt’s here, you know. He’s here.”

Boynton, several other family members and some friends also are planning to take part in another race in Washington D.C. this Sep-tember in Mason’s honor.

Christopher Yows won the first-year race, finishing the course in 53 minutes, 32 seconds, and said he was amazed to see how well-run the event was considering it was in its first year.

With all proceeds going to the Wounded Warrior Proj-ect, the race also gives back to America’s military veter-ans, and Yows said he can see a bright future for the race in the years to come.

“Word of mouth is going to travel pretty quick on this event because they did a phenomenal job, and it’s for such a great cause,” Yows said. “I think it’ll grow. It’ll definitely grow.”

Several Smithville resi-dents also took part in the race, including: Jason Lang-ford, Cara Massie, Jodi Green, Doug Stahl, Cynthia Dunn, Michael McKenzie, Sandra Stahl, Jennifer Hedgecorth, Tiffany Green and Angie Langford.

After a long day of receiv-ing well-wishes and kind words, Dave and Betty Mason reflected on just how meaningful the event was to them.

Both said they were deep-ly impacted by outpour-ing of love and support by everyone associated with the event, and that the event would help their son’s legacy live on thanks to the efforts and hard work of so many that helped make the race a reality.

“This was special, not just because of Matt, but how well they did it,” Dave said. “It just shows how much those guys love him.”

Andy Meyer/The Smithville Herald

A Chinook helicopter flies over the crowd and participants during the Matt Mason Memorial “Cowboy Up” Triathlon on Sunday, Aug. 5, at Smithville Lake.

Andy Meyer/The Smithville Herald

Brad Arnold runs past the Fallen Soldier Battle Cross near the finish line of the Matt Mason Memorial “Cowboy Up” Triathlon on Sunday, Aug. 5, at Smithville Lake.

Andy Meyer/The Smithville Herald

Smithville assistant football coach Josh Speer oversees a drill during the first day of practice on Monday, Aug. 6.

“What we’ve got to do right now is prepare ourselves physically because we’re not where we

need to be yet.”Greg Smith,

Smithville football coach