USU men’s track & field looking to send multiple athletes to the Olympic trials this summer

USU men’s track & field looking to send multiple athletes to the Olympic Trials this summer

By Weslie Hatch

For some making it to the Olympics has always been a dream. For others, like a few of the male sprinters on the USU track team, that wasn’t always the case.

The USA Olympic Trials for track & field will take place this summer in Eugene, Ore., starting at the beginning of July.

“My main goal is to make it to the Trials this year,” Cole Lambourne, a senior sprinter, said. “I’ve always had the dream to go to the Trials and then the Olympics, but it became more realistic when I had a really good season last year and ended up competing in the World University Games in Korea last summer.”

Lambourne was named the America First Credit Union Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week last June and earned Second-Team All-American Honors at the end of the season.

“Track isn’t one of those skill sports like basketball where you need to practice specific things over and over to get it right,” Lambourne said. “Something I do on my own, though, is extra weight training. Upper body work, core strengthening, just some really basic supplemental things.”

Lambourne said although the majority of the training is done as a team, he does a few things on his own while making sure he has his goals in mind.

“During the off-season it’s more of just building a lot of base fitness. Weight lifting 3 times a week, doing a lot of long runs (putting in mileage), less speed training,” Lambourne said. “I’m just getting fit and preparing my body for the long haul.”

In-season training is a bit different. He said since there is a lot more racing going on, training is a little less intense. During the season Lambourne has to work on speed more than strength and work on the technical things like block starts and race strategy.

Just like Lambourne, Nic Bowens, another senior sprinter, didn’t always have the Olympics in mind.

“I first realized this goal around the 2012 Trials when I noticed the times that some of these professionals were running weren’t too far from what I was running,” Bowens said. “It gave me motivation to keep training and improve in order to have a chance to compete for the Olympic team.”

In preparation for the Trials, Bowens also puts in some extra work outside of team training. He said although he does extra, he isn’t doing too much because he doesn’t want to overdue it and get himself hurt. He said he has faith in the coaches and their training style.

Bowens was also named the America First Credit Union Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week in March and the Mountain West Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Week in February.

Alongside training, both Bowens and Lambourne know if they want to be the best athletes they can be and make it to the Trials, they have to keep strict diets.

“My off-season diet isn’t as strict but I still try to eat as healthy as I can. I’m more lenient,” Lambourne said. “I’ll eat fast food or canned food here and there, but when it comes time for the season I try to stick to a strict and routine diet.”  

Besides putting in extensive hours of training on and off the track, the support groups of these athletes are what, at times, keep them motivated to keep their goals and make it to the Trials.

Lambourne said sometimes he feels as though goals and aspirations as big as something like the Olympic Trials seem to be unrealistic to most people. But he said his friends and family have always supported his goal.

“When I went to the Games over the summer I became friends with a few other athletes that have the same goals as I do,” Lambourne said. “I know if I went [to the Trials] they’d support me and I’d do the same for them."