LurkingDog
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Drake University coach to attend Queens/Jackson Meet Wednesday, January 23, 2013 Print this page Email A Friend! THE Queen/Grace Jackson meet attracts many fans and college coaches each year. Drake University's assistant track and field coach LaRon Bennett will be in attendance to observe Jamaican athletes in action with the intention of identifying student-athletes capable of competing at the NCAA Division I level. More than a year ago, US Army Major Trevor Nelson, a civilian attorney with the US Department of Defence, and a member of the Drake Alumni, contacted Drake track and field head coach Natasha Kaiser-Brown, a two-time Olympian and silver medallist, to suggest that she consider a visit to Jamaica. Drake has typically not recruited student-athletes from the Caribbean and other tropical locations due to the adjustment with Midwest winters, according to Kaiser-Brown. "Jamaica has some of the greatest athletes in the world, but attracting them to the Midwest has been difficult," Kaiser-Brown added. "I have often been reluctant to recruit warm-climate athletes because our winters can be challenging to those who have not experienced cold weather."However, Nelson, a 1986 Kingston College graduate and KC track team captain and later, a graduate of Drake (1991) who earned an athletic scholarship in 1987, assured coach Kaiser-Brown that many Jamaican high school student-athletes simply want the opportunity to experience college and Division I athletics in the United States regardless of the weather. Regardless of climate, these young students are looking for a world-class educational experience combined with a knowledgeable coaching staff.
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LurkingDog
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Drake does not have an indoor training (let alone competition) facility befitting the host of the Drake Relays, NCAA Championships et al. For the sake of our own track teams, let's raise the money and build one.
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Darth Vader
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I think D is busy trying to raise funds for this. The Fieldhouse would become that facility.
Darth Vader Lord of the Sith Founding Father - Drake Spirit Committee (1990)
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LurkingDog
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Darth Vader (2/4/2013) The Fieldhouse would become that facility.I hope they are trying to build something adequate for indoor meets. That would require taking out a parking lot and extending the Fieldhouse's current footprint most/all the way to Clark. Are drawings of what they want available?
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DUBulldog
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LurkingDog (2/4/2013)
Darth Vader (2/4/2013) The Fieldhouse would become that facility.I hope they are trying to build something adequate for indoor meets. That would require taking out a parking lot and extending the Fieldhouse's current footprint most/all the way to Clark....Are drawings of what they want available? I have seen the plans, but not sure if they're on-line anywhere. The plan is to renovate and greatly enlarge the fieldhouse for indoor track, indoor football practice, weight room and volleyball. Price tag $25 million. There are also plans ($7.5 million) for a basketball practice facility/locker room to be built attached to the northeast corner of the Knapp Center. If these 2 projects get built, then they can finally think about converting the Knapp Center to a basketball-only facility, rather than a multi-purpose facility. Now, Sandy just needs to raise the money.
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LurkingDog
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I couldn't find a graphic online. But I did see this. Leadership lab? Would someone please translate that into English?
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TennisDog2013
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DUBulldog (2/4/2013)
LurkingDog (2/4/2013)
Darth Vader (2/4/2013) The Fieldhouse would become that facility.I hope they are trying to build something adequate for indoor meets. That would require taking out a parking lot and extending the Fieldhouse's current footprint most/all the way to Clark....Are drawings of what they want available? I have seen the plans, but not sure if they're on-line anywhere. The plan is to renovate and greatly enlarge the fieldhouse for indoor track, indoor football practice, weight room and volleyball. Price tag $25 million. There are also plans ($7.5 million) for a basketball practice facility/locker room to be built attached to the northeast corner of the Knapp Center. If these 2 projects get built, then they can finally think about converting the Knapp Center to a basketball-only facility, rather than a multi-purpose facility. Now, Sandy just needs to raise the money. WOWZA! 25 million huh? Sounds very exciting though. When I get a solid full time job in a couple months, I'll definitely throw a few bucks towards that each year. Now I'm not sure if I read this on here, heard it from someone, or am going completely loony, but is is true that Nike offered to help revamp the fieldhouse if the Drake Relays became "The Drake Nike Relays?" I feel like I might be loony... And is it just me or does a practice facility attached to the main arena sound silly? I mean... there are courts right there in the Knapp Center but we need practice courts directly attached why? I guess it is really just for recruiting purposes. Everyone shooting for halfway decent recruits has one, so we need one too. Bummer. I'd rather see the Knapp Center revamped if we stumbled across that money. Permanent seats, chairbacks up top, new video board... maybe hanging from the ceiling. Stuff like that.
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dtdog
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DUBulldog (2/4/2013)
LurkingDog (2/4/2013)
Darth Vader (2/4/2013) The Fieldhouse would become that facility.I hope they are trying to build something adequate for indoor meets. That would require taking out a parking lot and extending the Fieldhouse's current footprint most/all the way to Clark....Are drawings of what they want available? I have seen the plans, but not sure if they're on-line anywhere. The plan is to renovate and greatly enlarge the fieldhouse for indoor track, indoor football practice, weight room and volleyball. Price tag $25 million. There are also plans ($7.5 million) for a basketball practice facility/locker room to be built attached to the northeast corner of the Knapp Center. If these 2 projects get built, then they can finally think about converting the Knapp Center to a basketball-only facility, rather than a multi-purpose facility. Now, Sandy just needs to raise the money. I wonder if Drake will make the same mistake they made with raising money for the stadium remodel? That is not having a public component of the fundraising effort. There was no public drive for the stadium, it was all big money effort. One could contribute, but you had to approach them. Weird approach to fundraising, but not reaching all to all those who had participated over the years at the Relays was a big mistake to me.
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Drakey
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TennisDog2013 (2/4/2013)
Now I'm not sure if I read this on here, heard it from someone, or am going completely loony, but is is true that Nike offered to help revamp the fieldhouse if the Drake Relays became "The Drake Nike Relays?" I feel like I might be loony... Heard the same story. Maybe I'm goofy, but I think Nike is a more impressive sponsor for a Track and Field event than a grocery store. Seems like it would immediately create nationa exposure.
Drakey
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DUBulldog
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Drakey (2/17/2013)
TennisDog2013 (2/4/2013) Now I'm not sure if I read this on here, heard it from someone, or am going completely loony, but is is true that Nike offered to help revamp the fieldhouse if the Drake Relays became "The Drake Nike Relays?" I feel like I might be loony... Heard the same story. Maybe I'm goofy, but I think Nike is a more impressive sponsor for a Track and Field event than a grocery store. Seems like it would immediately create nationa exposure. I can't imagine that rumor is true....I can think of absolutely no reason why Drake would pass up an offer like that, if it was made.
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dudistance
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I can't imagine that rumor is true....I can think of absolutely no reason why Drake would pass up an offer like that, if it was made. It was rumored Drake had an offer from Nike, but they wanted to change the name to the Nike Relays (and not include Drake in the title). It was swirling around at the time they signed the agreement with Asics.
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DUBulldog
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Here's a video showing the proposed new fieldhouse.
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TennisDog2013
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DUBulldog (2/19/2013)
Here's a video showing the proposed new fieldhouse. That seems pretty cool. The soccer team could practice indoors too, which is neat. Would they be able to have field events in there though? Like... where would pole vault and all the throwing be? And I can only assume the track on the upper level is big enough for actual legit track competition? I found it funny how it was like "Hey golf, here is a tiny place to putt." (Unrelated: Basketball practice facility
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UrbyJT
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DUBulldog (2/19/2013)
Here's a video showing the proposed new fieldhouse. Judging by that it looks like they want to take out that street there, 27th. Which from Google Maps looked like it was recently re-paved. Good luck with the city on that one.
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TennisDog2013
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UrbyJT (2/20/2013)
DUBulldog (2/19/2013)
Here's a video showing the proposed new fieldhouse. Judging by that it looks like they want to take out that street there, 27th. Which from Google Maps looked like it was recently re-paved. Good luck with the city on that one. It certainly doesn't feel freshly repaved when I drive across it. If anything, Forest might be in need of a repaving.
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dtdog
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DUBulldog (2/19/2013)
Here's a video showing the proposed new fieldhouse. Wow. Where to begin? The absolute waste of space? Is that a recreation track on the second level or a competition track? Not sure why you'd put the competition track in the air, unless it's just a warmup track for the stadium and recreation use. There's a lot of turf there, but no indication of areas for field events. $25 million? That was the original plan for the stadium and see what happened there. Keep record of that drawing, it'll be interesting to compare it to the finished product. Good luck getting 27th St. closed. It was so much fun for DU trying to get Clark closed.
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Drakey
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Maybe if they ever do that they can get a contractor who wil finish the tuckpointing instead of leaving mortar all over the bricks like they did at the Football stadium.
Drakey
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ViewFromBehindDolph
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Looks really cool (except for the putting green for the golfers, WTF?). I can't imagine they'd use an elevated track for indoor competitions so it has to just be a warmup/practice track. I'd love to run on a full-size indoor track sometime!
Does anyone have an estimate or wild guess when they'd actually get started? Or is this something where the zombie apocalypse is more likely to happen sooner? 8)
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UrbyJT
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They'd have to get the money first. Which has to be far off. I wonder if the field house or the practice facility is priority.
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DUBulldog
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ViewFromBehindDolph (2/22/2013) Does anyone have an estimate or wild guess when they'd actually get started?Whenever they get the money raised.
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