BUTTE — Anna Trudnowski had by no means been to the seashore.
Positive, she had been to the Olympic Peninsula and seen the Pacific Ocean from Washington state, “however not like a pleasant, heat seashore,” she stated.
So final week’s journey to Lengthy Seaside, California, was a primary.
“We spent half of a day simply, like, hanging out on the market,” Trudnowski stated. “It was lots of enjoyable. I actually loved that, it was cool.”
It was one among many new experiences for the Butte Excessive grad as she navigates her freshman 12 months with the Montana State observe and area group.
“Being right here for the primary 12 months has been type of quite a bit for me,” Trudnowski stated. “Nevertheless it makes me actually excited for the following three years. I actually prefer it right here and I really feel like I can do some good issues.”
It is quite a bit totally different than highschool, she admits. First, there’s the difficulty of time. Or lack there of.
To begin, there’s class. As a organic engineering pupil issues can get a bit of overwhelming, Trudnowski stated. There’s lots of work to be executed outdoors the scheduled class intervals, that are difficult sufficient on their very own.
“I take pleasure in them greater than highschool lessons as a result of I really feel like I am like studying one thing new, or like one thing that is like type of relevant to the actual world,” Trudnowski stated.
Then there’s apply. Normally two-and-a-half hours per day. Many of the athletes get an opportunity to relaxation on weekends, besides these coaching for multis (decathlon, heptathlon, pentathlon), which Trudnowski was throughout the indoor season and wanted lengthy Saturday runs.
After which there are the precise competitions, which eat up the weekends that weren’t spent working and learning. The athletic tour of responsibility takes the Bobcats to Spokane, Washington, Pocatello, Idaho, three cities in Southern California and, for many who qualify for west prelims and nationals, Fayateville, Arkansas, and Eugene, Oregon. Journey ranges from a day journey to 3 or 4 nights away from Bozeman.
“It’s lots of time in your day that it’s important to dedicate to doing issues,” Trudnowski stated. “And I feel it may be worrying at instances. However I’m actually having fun with it. I don’t wish to be doing anything.”
Trudnowski talks quick however is not in a rush now that she’s in faculty. Her capability to soak in and course of a barrage of data whereas taking the lengthy view helps her improvement, in accordance with her jumps coach, Dustin Cichosz.
“For her first 12 months, she does a terrific job conceptualizing what she’s imagined to do,” Cichosz stated.
The previous Bobcat and Large Sky triple soar champion-turned-coach stated too many younger athletes wrestle to simply accept that change is a needed, however hardly ever quick, a part of being profitable.
“Your marks are going to be worse earlier than they get higher, which may be actually irritating,” Cichosz stated. “However she has been one of the affected person individuals we’ve ever labored with.”
Trudnowski’s persistence and a focus to element paid off on Feb. 24, when she set a private file and received the excessive soar as a part of the pentathlon competitors within the Large Sky Convention Indoor Championships. Trudnowski’s mark of 5 ft, 7.75 inches bested her 2021 State A runner-up mark of 5-6.
“It type of simply felt prefer it all type of got here collectively in that meet,” Trudnowski stated. “I’m studying quite a bit, placing in some work, and for it to lastly present itself in a meet made me actually excited.
“I used to be type of anticipating a PR like that perhaps in two or three years, so I used to be excited to see that type of enchancment in only one season.”
Cichosz thinks excessive soar will probably be a staple occasion for Trudnowski, a two-time State A runner-up for the Bulldogs.
When Trudnowski first arrived on campus, Cichosz used the primary few weeks “to get to know who she is as an athlete.” She was “clearly athletic,” however Cichosz wanted to grasp the small print. He famous how her hips moved, the angles of her shin earlier than her soar, what approach she introduced together with her from highschool and what wanted to be taught and retaught.
They began together with her excessive soar strategy. A meticulous course of that ends in 10 steps taken over 3 seconds, however is essential to optimize a soar.
“We began with the primary steps, the primary two steps. After which as soon as these have been good the following two steps, after which the following two steps,” Trudnowski began. “And proper now we’re engaged on my final steps. And dealing on leaning away from the bar.”
She paused, then, unprompted, elaborated.
“It’s important to work the primary steps earlier than the following steps as a result of should you don’t have the primary steps down constantly then it’s going to mess up the following ones,” she added. “You bought to construct in phases. Then as soon as all of the strategy is completed then you can begin actually engaged on the way you do your kind over the bar.
“So … yeah,” Trudnowski, breathless, stated.
And that is only one occasion. Cichosz stated Trudnowski has the potential to compete within the pentathlon and heptathlon, however specializing in a pair conventional occasions might be extra useful to her and the Bobcats program.
“Are these occasions which can be going to attain for the group?” Cichosz stated. “Are they greatest for her as an individual?”
Trudnowski is sort of 5-foot-9 with the legs of somebody even taller. It is a physique kind that ought to result in success within the excessive soar, and presumably the 400-meter hurdles, which Trudnowski ran for the primary time on April 16 on the twenty sixth Annual Seaside Invitational in Lengthy Seaside. She completed in fiftieth place with a time of 1:07.84.
“I did not compete my greatest,” Trudnowski stated. “However you realize, all of us have good days and unhealthy days and (that) occurred to be one among my not-so-great days.”
Her coach is not involved with the early returns from her collegiate hurdling profession. Trudnowski ran the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles in highschool, inserting fourth within the latter on the 2021 State AA meet.
“This final meet was extra of a studying expertise to see what a 400-hurdle race was like,” Cichosz stated. “Once you do have that additional 100 meters, a pair additional hurdles, it’s a bit of extra demanding.
“She simply wanted to get out and see what that race was all about.”
Quick or gradual, Trudnowski feels that her value to her group and coaches would not change.
“In case you’re not feeling nice that day they wish to speak to you about it and so they wish to be sure you’re doing OK,” she stated. “They’re actually targeted in your complete well being as an individual reasonably than simply your efficiency as an athlete.”
Little by little, Trudnowski is shaping herself into the D1 athlete she needs to be. A few of it is enjoyable, a few of it isn’t, however she and Cichosz consider it is all value it.
“These small issues that it’s important to do each single day which may not be gratifying are the distinction between first and final,” Trudnowski stated. “They’re those that make enormous variations in PRs versus not having an excellent day.
“To be an excellent athlete, you type of should do issues that you simply don’t essentially wish to do.”
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