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Justin Critser is making sure that people start noticing him as he has made his name appeared often on any leader board at Idaho State track events.
Critser competes in the men's heptathlon. For men's indoor competitions, the heptathlon consists of the 60-meter, 1,000-meter, shot put, 60-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump and pole vault. For outdoor events the discus and the javelin are added to the heptathlon.
He has been on that leader board in the last two events he has competed for ISU. In the second event of this young track season, Critserhad a second-place finish heptathlon in the pole vault, third-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles and fifth-place finish in the men's 1000-meter run. He won the heptathlon with 5046 points and qualified for the Big Sky Championships that will take place Feb. 24 and the Feb. 25 in Flagstaff, AZ.
Last Friday night at the Montana State Dual Meet,Critser led an ISU 4x400 team of himself, Cade Owen, Derek Puckett and Harley Goedhart and placed fifth with a time of 3:28.94.Critsercontinued to rack up events that he will be competing in at the Big Sky Championships by qualifying in the men's high jump.
It's a good thing for ISU that Critseris a quick learner and an exceptional athlete. "When I first came in, I just did the 800 and the high jump, but I've added in the other ones and I just love it."
"[With] the high jump and the running ones, I can get a lot of points. The other ones I put more effort to try and catch people in events that I'm not as good at," said Critser.
Practices tend to be a little longer for Critser since he competes in so many events. For each event, it varies on the level of technique that is required to be successful. The throwing events and pole vaults are extremely technical and take a lot more practice.
"We have long practices; some days we have three [or more] hours [of] practice," said Critser, "We are there the longest [on] most days."
Since he is there for so many hours in the week, it's a good thing he enjoys ISU's unique wooden track.
"I like running at Holt Arena, I know it's weird but I like the wood track," said Critser. It has given athletes at ISU a distinct advantage over other runners because runners from other schools are used to a different track.
As with many track athletes the draw of being coached by Dave Nielsen played a huge factor in Critser coming to ISU. This will be Nielsen's 28th season as the head track and field coach at ISU. Nielsen is known nationwide in the world of track and field.
"I really wanted to do track with Dave," said Critser. "My coach, the one I ran for in Groveland, CA, during high school, actually ran here with Dave and introduced me to him and all the athletes that ran here, like Stacy Dragilia. [Those things] made me want to come here," said Critser.
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