- Tim Glover,
ISU men's javelin thrower
NORMAL – Since the mid 1800s, people all around the world pause for 16 days every four years to observe the top athletes from over 150 countries as they go head-to-head for a gold, silver, or bronze medal.
As the countdown to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London is just over the 100-day mark away, several Illinois State track and field athletes are hoping to represent the United States in the most recognized athletic competition in the world.
“I’ve already hit the qualifying standard, but I’m aiming to do well enough at the Olympic trials [in June] to be able to go to London,” said ISU men’s javelin thrower Tim Glover, who won the 2011 National Championship.
Glover, in addition to fellow javelin thrower Leigh Petranoff, and distance runner Aisha Praught are each aiming for the Olympic Games in their respective events, hoping to join a rich history of Redbird athletes who have competed for the United States.
In 1936, ISU’s Tidye Ann Picket-Phillips competed in the low hurdles at the Berlin Olympics. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, Redbird legend Doug Collins competed with fellow Americans in men’s basketball, while Adeola Aboyade-Cole (110-meter hurdles), George Daniels (100-meter dash), and Bruce Ijirigho (400-meter dash) competed in track and field.
In the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Charlotte Lewis played for the U.S. in women’s basketball, while both Aboyade-Cole and Ijirigho each returned to compete in the 110-hurdles and 400-meter dash, respectively. In 1984, Cathy Boswell played on the U.S. basketball team at the Los Angeles Olympics. And finally, in 2000, Kevin Bracken competed in the wrestling event at the Australia Olympics.
“We have a rich tradition of Redbirds in the Olympics, especially in track and field,” Elvis Forde, ISU men’s and women’s track and field head coach, said. “Tim, Leigh, and Aisha are setting lofty goals of making it to the Olympic trials and hopefully moving onto London, but I think those are goals that are reasonable considering their caliber of talent.”
The ISU threesome will have a chance to make history by being the first Redbirds to qualify to the Olympics in 12 years at the Olympic trials, which is scheduled for June 21 -July 1 at Hayward Field in Portland, Ore., where the University of Oregon is located, also known as Tracktown USA.
Glover will compete June 23, with finals scheduled for June 25, while Petranoff will likely compete June 29, with finals on July 1. Praught will likely compete June 25, with the finals on July 1.
“It may be a large goal, but I’m really aiming for the Olympics,” Praught said. “Earning runner-up at the Indoor National Championships in the mile was an amazing accomplishment, and I don’t want to stop there. I want to hold the bar high and keep working toward success; the sky is the limit. I want to make my final season on the ISU track team to be a memorable one.”
Praught upset several top-milers in the women’s NCAA Division I Indoor Championships when she shattered an ISU school record with a time of 4:39.85 March 10 in Nampa, Idaho, against a field of All-American runners. The second-place finish was the best for an ISU runner since 2002.
“Aisha’s mile at nationals really proves that she can run against anyone and beat them,” Forde said. “She runs with so much confidence and she hates to lose, that’s a perfect combination for someone who has a goal of making it to the Olympics.”
As for Petranoff, she hopes to build upon her eighth-place finish from the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships where she threw the javelin 162’01”. And in only her second meet of the 2012 season she proved her elite status. The senior crushed her 2011 marks by launching a toss of 173’03” to break the ISU school record and Missouri Valley Conference record.
“I’ve been working really hard, I knew I was going to throw well,” Petranoff said. “I have my mind set on the end of the season, the postseason, and hopefully the Olympic trials. We are training in a way where our biggest throws will come at the end of the season when we compete against national and even world-wide throwers.”
While the threesome are hungry to make the trip to the most historic track and field stadium in America at Hayward Field, they are also looking forward to working toward a red, white, and blue jersey and honor of representing America at the London Olympics where they could compete against the most talented and elite athletes in the world.
“I want more than anything to wear a USA jersey in late June and be in London with the best competitors on the globe,” Glover said. “I can practically taste it: the excitement, the butterflies, and the once-in-a-lifetime feeling of being apart of the most historic sporting event ever.”