Best of the Best (in Hillsdale)

Nathan had another track meet this weekend. It seems like every time Dan and I do NOT go to the meet N8 has a great day. Yesterday Nate broke the outdoor shot put record for Hillsdale College. The previous record was 53'9". Nate's put was 53'10". This throw provisionally qualifies him for Nationals now in both shot and disc.

As of today, Nate holds the shot put record at Davis Middle School, Hillsdale High School, Hillsdale Area Best and now Hillsdale College. I guess he needs to branch out of the county.

The pic on the left is from 2007 when Nate was a senior. The pic on the right is from last week. He's a much bigger boy now throwing a much heavier shot (16lbs as opposed to 12lbs in hs).

I'm not sure who all reads this blog so I will fill you in on the latest development. Graduation at Hillsdale College is May 14. Since the end of football Nate's plan was to graduate then, and not take his 5th year of eligibility. Since track has started these plans have changed. Nate is now not graduating on May 14.

Instead he is taking his 5th year. He will be pursuing another minor degree, participating in track, and getting things together to go to grad school. The only difference is he will be living at home and commuting. He is very blessed to have this chance, not only to participate in the sport he loves, but to also have time to get his ducks in a row for grad school.

Back to work

Well today was my first day back to work. I feel pretty good. A bit tired but good. The kids are happy that I'm back, although I realize that this is a honeymoon period - after two days they will be back to normal.

While my stomach doesn't hurt, my feet do. I guess 8 weeks without wearing shoes will do that. I also have teacher voice. Teacher voice is the raspy feeling in your throat from overuse. Again I haven't really talked in 8 weeks and today I talked a lot.

All in all a great day.

You could hurt somebody with that

Nate came home last week with this big honkin' ring on his finger. It's his championship ring from football. It's very impressive to look at. Hopefully perspective employers will be impressed. The EPEP stands for Every Player Every Play. On the side it has his number "52". His name is also engraved on the inside. Because of the generosity of a donor this cost nothing to the players on the team.
Now on to track. Yesterday Nate competed at Purdue. Because of the weather Dan and I did not go. Nate called about 2 o'clock all excited. He had just finished throwing the discus and not only had a personal best but he won the meet. His throw was good enough to provisionally qualify him to the National Meet at the end of May. Needless to say Dan and I are checking out hotels in the San Francisco area for Memorial Day weekend.