Sievers Ending Track & Field Career At State
04 Jun 2009

By Eric Christiansen
This is going to be one busy week for Manchester High School senior Brittany Sievers.
Sievers, along with over 100 of her classmates, will take their final high school exam, then participate in commencement exercises this Friday night.
Sievers will also be competing in the state track and field meet in Bloomington Saturday in the discus.
“I feel good about it,” Sievers said. “I’m glad I made it to state. I thought I had a good chance, but it’s exciting to get there.”
Sievers qualified for state by finishing third in the discus at the Bremen Regional last week.
Sievers posted a throw of 119' 2", over five feet farther than Katie Kraft from Penn, to qualify. It wasn’t as far as her sectional heave of 125' 3", but she was happy to move on.
“I was kind of nervous, but after a couple of throws, I calmed down,” she said.
Her first throw was 104 feet. “I just tried to get one in,” she explained. “Once I did, it felt a lot better. Last year my first throw was 97 feet. This year after the first throw, I was more confident.”
One reason for her improved confidence is the addition of throwing coach Kyle Wood last year.
“She has done a lot of good things this year,” Wood said. “Really, mentally, she was kind of our biggest challenge. She was a bit of a head case the last couple of years, and she would tell you that. It’s great to see her get her composure.
“She knows how much work she had put in the weight room, and she trusts her technique,” he added. “This has been about her being mentally strong and more confident in herself.”
Sievers credits Wood with helping her become a better all-around thrower.
“I’ve been in the weight room this year more than any other year,” she said. “We’ve been working on getting stronger and on good technique. You have to have a combination of both. You can be strong, but without good technique, you aren’t going to do very well.”
Wood is especially happy with the leader that Sievers has become in the field.
“She has done a nice job with all of the throwers,” Wood said. “I have an extra set of eyes when Brittany can help me out.”
As for the week leading up to state, Wood and Sievers are trying to keep things as routine as possible.
After a hard day in the weight room last Friday, they are taking the beginning of this week easy.
”We’ll lift a couple of times and get into the throwing the last couple of days,” Wood said. “At state, they open it up in the morning, so we’ll get some throws in then. She’ll have a massive breakfast is she can stomach it, and we’ll have warm up ahead of time.”
“I can’t wait,” Sievers said. “It’s going to be an awesome experience.”
Based on regional throws, Sievers is seeded 14th, but only four regional marks from around the state topped her sectional throw of 125' 3".
Field events start at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, with the top 10 advancing to the finals later in the day.