Triathlon Sets Sooners Up For Success

NORMAN – Fall softball serves many purposes. Among them, it enables a team to work on fundamentals or other specific goals without the pressure of a meaningful game, it helps ease incoming freshmen into the speed and complexities of the collegiate game and it gives coaching staffs the freedom to try out different strategies and lineups to see what might work and what might not.

In addition to all of those benefits, the Oklahoma softball team also uses the fall to test the mental strength and resolve of its student-athletes. It's method for doing that? A modified triathlon.

“First and foremost, it's for me to see how they handle adversity and when the going gets tough that they can keep pushing through it,” OU head coach Patty Gasso said. “It shows teamwork and how they are trying to help each other get through it. It shows their toughness and heart, so for me more than anything it gives me an opportunity to see what I am dealing with and what I need to do going forward.

“Sometimes, on the field it's hard to push them to the wall and see whether they are going to run through it, jump over it or fall from it and not get up. These are areas that I get to really see them accept challenges and get pushed to the limit.”

Now in its 15th year, this season's version, which was held on Oct. 9, began with a 500-meter swim in the school's campus pool. Upon completion, the Sooners then ran from the OU Pool to the Everest Indoor Training Center, roughly one mile away. That's where they endured a series of grueling CrossFit events.

Going the short way across the practice football field, the Sooners had to bear crawl with a weighted vest 50 yards, down and back. That was followed by 30 body-weight squats before 50 yards, down and back, of the farmer carry. After that, they had to do 30 straight-arm sit-up and reach throughs before pulling a weighted sled 50 yards, down and back once again.

After 30 additional body-weight squats, they proceeded to a medicine ball wall toss that had to clear a designated line 30 times. After 30 more straight-arm sit-up and reach throughs, the Crossfit portion was finished following 20 burpees.

"'Can't' is not a word that you can use in this competition."
— Patty Gasso

With two-thirds of the triathlon done, the Sooners then had to leave Everest and run a 2.2 mile path before crossing the finish line at home plate at the OU Softball Complex.

Gasso asked her players afterward and they agreed that it was the hardest triathlon they had endured.

“I think it was a little bit by design because it's also taken those freshman to a place where they think 'I can't do this' and that is the main point of this, is taking the word can't out of any equation,” Gasso explained. “'Can't' is not a word that you can use in this competition, so they handled it really well.”

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For senior Whitney Ellis, it was the fourth and final triathlon of her career and she agreed it was the hardest in which she had competed.

“Our CrossFit was very challenging, we bumped up the swimming and actually went 500 meters this year,” she said. “I am not a fish; I'm a land shark not a fish, so that was tough for me. I like CrossFit but it was a challenge this year, I thought, and as always once you get done with everything you have the run.”

The team trains for the triathlon during the fall, but many take it upon themselves to train extra on their own.

“I really focus on strength because I obviously just want to be strong, in general,” Ellis said. “My swimming could always be better; I am just not a fish. I hate the water and I hate swimming so that is probably my biggest mental block. Once I get past that, I know I am good so I work on the mentality of it a lot just because you know it's just going to be the hardest thing that you will probably do for a while.

“In your head, you are just like 'I want to quit, I want to quit,' but you have to tell yourself that you are not going to. So I really focus on knowing how in shape my body is and how strong I feel going into it, so that I know that I can push through everything and I know I can win it.”

All the extra training and work paid off for Ellis this year as she finished first in the triathlon for the first time in her career, posting a winning time of 56:30 and winning the individual CrossFit and running events.

“I definitely wanted to make sure I came out with the win, especially the whole triathlon, but CrossFit I knew I wanted to win and I came out with the win in the run, which was nice as a bonus,” she said.

"If I can do that, then I can do a lot of things; it's empowering."
- Whitney Ellis

“Whitney was absolutely no surprise, but I liked how Lea Wodach, Erin Miller and (the team) went out there, as well,” Gasso said. “Honestly, I know we're a softball team, but you could probably take four or five these girls and turn them into triathletes; they are very athletic.”

Ellis ended her triathlon career as a winner. She said it was a relief knowing it was her last one, but she likes the effect it has on the team.

“It's very relieving,” she said. “It looms in the background of your head for a while; I mean that is pretty much the hardest thing.

“It really sets everybody up for a good season, you know you've completed it and you are like 'If I can do that, then I can do a lot of things.' It's empowering.”

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While Ellis just completed her final triathlon, on the other end of the spectrum eight freshman competed in their very first one. Among them, Raegan Rogers came in second place overall with a time 56:48.

“I just heard about how challenging it was to get through it and push yourself through it,” Rogers said of what her teammates had told her before the event. “Also to not stop; that stopping would only stop your momentum and to have a good mindset and not think, 'I can't finish this' because if you can get through this you can get through anything.”

Rogers said that the swimming portion was most difficult for her, but knew she could make up ground later.

“I don't like being in water so I was very nervous about the swimming part,” she explained. “Going into that I was thinking if I could make it through the swim I know I can catch everybody on the CrossFit and the run. So for me, my part was just get through the swim as fast as I can and make up time by not stopping and going hard in the run and the CrossFit.”

Rogers did not know what to expect in her first triathlon, but still had an idea as to where she wanted to finish.

“Not knowing what to expect and knowing that I was not a very good swimmer, I was just hoping to finish middle-of-the-pack,” she said. “But as soon as I got out of the pool, I thought 'I'm out of the pool, I'm going to catch everybody' so after we started and I got out of the pool, I knew I wanted to finish top three, but beforehand I wanted to just finish in the middle of the pack.”

Gasso's goal for the triathlon was to push the Sooners to their limits and remove the word 'can't' from their vocabulary. Rogers took that to heart, saying she had success because she had the mindset not to quit.

“I think I ended up eighth out of the pool and I knew I had to go in and catch everybody on the run and CrossFit to win,” she said. “I just had to push myself to go harder in the two strong areas I had and run faster and never stop so for me just to push myself and not stop because I knew I could catch others doing that.”

The physical aspect of training for the triathlon, but achieving the mental strength is another endeavor and Rogers relied on past experiences to guide her.

“For me, just thinking as if I'm in the moments of an extra inning game, it's the little things to keep your energy up and keep you going and talk to yourself saying, 'you have this much longer, you can quit when you're done,' she explained. “It's a mental thing; you have to get past that roadblock. You might think, 'I don't have any more, I can't go,' but you have to keep pushing another step, another step and get past that road block and you can go as far as you want.”

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Gasso was happy not just with Rogers' performance, but that of the other seven freshman, as well.

“Raegan Rogers, she was definitely fearful of the water, but she faced her fears,” Gasso noted. “That is another lesson that can be learned from this: it's scary not knowing what you are walking into and the expectations get you a little anxious because you don't know what is front of you and to see them kind of attack those and not back down from them and facing their fears.

“Raegan Rogers did just that, she faced her fear of water and she turned that into something that was not going to be a weakness and which allowed her to finish second. She was within striking distance of Whitney Ellis and that's impressive because Whitney is probably one of the best I've seen in all of our time here doing this.”