Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / 2022 USTFCCCA LIVE podcast: Mike Jay-the voice of the Drake Relays

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2022 USTFCCCA LIVE podcast: Mike Jay-the voice of the Drake Relays · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:05
  Hey podcast listeners, we're super excited about December
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  11th at 5:30 Mountain Time Denver Time when we're going to
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  go live once again on YouTube to record a live Gil Connections
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  podcast. To celebrate, we're giving you
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  bonus clips every day until then of last year's 2022 guests that
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  came onto the live Gill Connections podcast.
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  Check it out. Look in the show notes below and
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  you'll see the URL. Check us out December 11th, 5:30
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  PM Denver time. Let's see if we have Mike Jay.
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  Yeah, let's get this. This is a real treat for me.
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  For a couple reasons. One, this guy is the voice of
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  track and field this this setup might not be good enough for
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  him. He may give me tips on how to
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  how to record here because this is the real voice of track and.
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  Field. Right here live at the Denver,
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  Co USTCC TA2022 convention, and this was completely unplanned.
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  I had no idea this was going to happen.
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  So I'm just overwhelmed that you're here.
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  Please introduce yourself to the audience.
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  My name is Mike J from Iowa and. Yeah, I'm tickled to death to be
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  here. I was invited by Sam Seams from
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  down at the NCAA cross country meet and then of course the
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  break relays are presenting the symposium.
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  So I'm just doing some intros and helping out with awards and
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  and living the high life, man. This has been on my bucket list
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  to come to this, but I had no reason to come.
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  I was never a high school coach, never a college coach, and I
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  haven't coached for 10 years, but I just.
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  I like to hang around. Coaches are good people.
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  Amen. So it's it's it worked out.
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  It's awesome. And you know, Mike, there's a
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  lot of reasons I like you. One, not only your skill set as
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  far as what you do is the announcer, direct relays and
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  other meets and things like that.
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  That's amazing. It's kind of cool.
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  Unique talent, right? I don't know that I can have
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  anybody else come on that does this.
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  But Blake, I had Blake to start off.
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  He just did the meat at Spokane where he did that.
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  You also run an amazing is it fair to say charity event?
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  I want to make sure the foundation.
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  Yeah, that gives back to young people.
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  I mean, come on from your heart. That is just really, really
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  amazing. And then, you know, you host
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  your own podcast, which is cool. I love that.
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  But one of the things that I really like, I really like
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  niche, right? And so you know, track is its
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  own niche, right? And you?
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  Have pole vaulters. That's kind of a niche right
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  here. But there are a slight few
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  people out there that niche down to their state track and field.
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  And you are. I love how you introduce
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  yourself. Mike J from Iowa.
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  You are Mr. Iowa, when it comes to the history of the sport in
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  the state, advocating for the athletes and coaches I've always
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  blown away. I can't imagine what kind of
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  database you have when a meet goes off at the Alabama
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  Invitational and you're like so and so that went to Boonville
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  High School in this high school and this used to coach it, you
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  and I, I just love that aspect. Of it, a lot of it's from memory
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  and I hope that will stick with me for a while, but it's just.
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  I I lucked out Mike and I'll just tell you the back story.
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  In 1975 I was a sophomore in high school.
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  I tell people I had to work my butt off to be mediocre and
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  would never never even dreamed about qualifying to the Drake
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  Relays or the state meet. But my a small town of Columbus
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  Junction 1500 people and my head coach said, hey we've got an
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  extra ticket do you want to go? So I went to Drake, went to
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  state in the spring, and I've never missed either one since
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  1975 and. I credit my high school coaches
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  for instilling a love of the sport got into the relays in 75
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  and Jim Duncan on the mic and I remember telling coach Purdy I'm
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  going to do this someday and that's really so I have and it's
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  just been you know and we've got really good kids in Iowa you
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  know we're and I and and we understand that you know you're
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  not going to get a lot of recruits from Florida and Texas
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  and and and that's Okay but we'll get enough of them to.
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  To blend in with the Iowa kids and and most of the good
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  programs in Iowa regardless of the sport, they get three star
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  recruits and make them a 5 before they graduate and you
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  know, and they don't come in as A5 and I've always loved that
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  work ethic and so it's just it's been a labor of love for me and
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  our foundation. You know when I coach we always
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  had kids that had a need. So it's.
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  It's I've got great supporters. I just saw Rich Benoit down here
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  on the way, you know, and he says I'm going to send you guys
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  some shoes to give the kids. And my favorite story is about 3
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  weeks ago I get a text from Jenny Simpson who is now.
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  She's been with New Balance her entire career, now with Puma.
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  Right, she said. I've got a closet full of New
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  Balance spikes. Do you want them?
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  And so she sent me a great big box, 39 pairs of spikes.
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  She signed a singlet and a pair of spikes and we raffled them
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  off on our track coming clap two weeks ago and made over $800.
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  So Mike, as we wrap up, where can people go?
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  Because first of all, you blessed me with a shirt, the
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  track guy shirt and. And, you know, and I get shirts
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  from around. I mean, I've got them.
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  Yeah, I see everybody. People send them to me.
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  I'm so, so blessed. And I'm not going to lie.
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  That track shirt that you gave me?
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  It was at the Nutty Comb invitation.
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  Yeah, absolutely. Is the most comfortable shirt I
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  own. I mean, I don't know what the
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  material is. They're called Trible.
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  It's amazing, my kids insisted. Dad, you just can't get an old
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  cotton shirt because everybody has those.
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  So tell us where this will be on the podcast all through 2023.
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  Where can we go to for those kind of items?
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  If we have shoes, we want to donate to this.
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  Where can we go? Track Guy found.
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  Station.com, trackguyfoundation.com and all
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  kinds of drop down menus and and one thing we're kind of proud of
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  we just did it this year for the very first time.
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  We have track meeting posters that coaches can download and
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  we've got got the bio of two outstanding former Iowa preps on
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  there. And so if we're going to have a
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  track meetings, got a place to fill out where to meet and what
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  time and lastly January 25th we're going to wind up, we're
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  going to. We get wound up, I should say
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  our track guy, speaker series events again.
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  We had eight of them around the state over 2 years before COVID
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  and last year at the NCAA Indoor Birmingham.
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  Dan O'Brien come up to me, said Mike.
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  I want to do something about the foundation.
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  So Dan O'Brien's going to be there January 25th and a couple
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  of our Paralympia athletes from Iowa, and we've got an
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  Allamerican Catholic from the University of Iowa, Austin West,
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  and he and Dan are going to close the show with a 45 minute
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  conversation between. One of America's one of the
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  world's best ever Olympic gold medalist talking to an up and
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  Comer. So it'll be fun.
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  So track guy, foundation.com, you got to go there, support,
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  he's doing great things. And Mike, I'm just so thankful
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  for. You, man.
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  Thank you. Thank you for what you do for
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  our sport. I look forward to your tweets
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  every day, man. I really do.
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  And I mean, we get to do a selfie before we take out.
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  Let's do it. Mike, thank you so much.
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  Thank you Mike World Record Shortest Gill Athletics
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  Connections Podcast ever. Check us out December 11th 530
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  Denver Co Rocky Mountain Central Time.
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  Check us out on YouTube in the link below in the show notes.