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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN TRACK & FIELD MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 9, 2015Mick ByrneMichael LihrmanTHE MODERATOR: Senior Michael Lihrman is the defending NCAA Champ in the weight throw and enters the meet with the top mark in the country this season. Now we are joined by Director of Track and Field and Cross‑Country Mick Byrne and Michael Lihrman, Coach Byrne will have an opening statement, then we can take questions. COACH BYRNE: This week we had to go to Arkansas for the Big Ten championships. On the women's side we have three athletes competing and the men's side one. On the women's side, Sarah Disanza will complete in the 5,000 meters. She is ranked No. 2 in the nation with 15:20. She just lost that No. 1 spot recently after Emily Sisson set a collegiate record at the Big East Championships. Sarah is coming off a runner‑up spot at the Big Ten where she competed in the 3,000 meters. Also Kelsey Card coming after a fantastic Big Ten meet she won the shot‑put and the weight throw and will compete in both events at the NCAA Championships. She is currently ranked 7th in the shot‑put, and 5th in the weight throw. Georgia Ellenwood will compete in the decathlon, she is coming off the runner‑up spot at the Big Ten, with a score of 4223 points, she is currently ranked 10th in the nation, at the Big Ten meet Georgia scored PR's in all five events. As Brian states on the men's side to my right here, Michael Lihrman, defending NCAA championship coming off the Big Ten meet with a win and a new collegiate best. Q. For Michael, when you were living at your parents' mow tell and throwing up at stout did you think you would be sitting up there as the best in the country? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: Definitely not. It took a lot of hard work and I definitely didn't expect to get where I am right now but overtime and over a time period of different coaches and learning different techniques and kind of a whole new thought process it kinda just grew into a division one athlete state of mind and that's how I got to where I am. Q. Mick, how remarkable is what he's been able to accomplish? COACH BYRNE: When you look at the progress over the last two years, obviously he's has a great coach in Coach Astrauskas and I was talking with Coach Astrauskas this morning and I asked him straight out, what is it that he brings to the table and Coach Astrauskas said right out, "He's a great student of the event." Weight throw is one of those events in the United States that we don't hype up a lot. It's kind of not‑‑ we don't compete in the weight throw in Europe. Just was watching over the weekend the European Championships, from Prague and there was no weight throw. It's something that is unique to the United States. I think Michael's big asset is that he is a student of the event. Obviously it doesn't hurt, the fact that he's 6‑5?, 6‑5? and he has a huge wing span that most guys in the weight throw their wing span would probably match their height but Mike has a +6‑inch wing span, so his ratio, his height to the wing span is amazing and I think that's where he gets a lot of his power and speed from. He's like a ballet dancer, I remarked to Coach Astrauskas, but if you look at his feet, the eye/feet coordination when you see him in the circle, from my point of view growing up in Ireland and back in Europe, he has the ability to, because of the wide radius of his swing, you see the feet turning so fast, it's almost like you don't see them, so it's that coordination, also. Q. How have you been able to do this, Michael? Seriously? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: It has to do a lot with being a student of the sport. If you go online and you're going to look at how to throw the weight or the hammer, you're not going to find too much on it. It comes down to looking at video, finding people with the same height and weight as you, something you can relate to, which is hard for me because there aren't that many 6‑5 throwers out there. So you kinda gotta pick things from each thrower, understand what they're doing and imagine yourself to the technique that they're doing and you can kind of know if it's going to work for you. I have been able to pick the best from each thrower that I've seen and find something that works for me. Q. Michael, one of the things about being a national champion, world champion, whatever the case might be, people are gunning for you and when those moments come up you have to perform. What's been the key in your mind looking at these guys one NCAA after another and say you're not going to beat me? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: You have to have a champion's mind, gotta not be so much of a pessimist about it, but be an optimist. You gotta tell yourself you're going to win, you're going to be a champion opinion I tell myself I've got thousands of throws under my belt, and this is just another meet and really it's a reward for all the hard work you've put in all year and I'm there to put a show on for people. Q. For Michael, at this point is 1st place enough, or do you have to break the record every time you go out there to be satisfied? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: Definitely helps. I love breaking records and as far as I can see I have two that I don't hold. I don't hold the NCAA meet record and I don't hold the World Record, so those are the two I'm gunning for now. Q. What's the NCAA meet record? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: I'm not sure. Q. What's the world record? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: 25.86, close to 85 feet. Q. Who is the best weight thrower you've ever seen? Or do you just look in the mirror? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: I don't know, there aren't that many weight throwers, the U.S. is the only country that really throws it, so I think I have good technique but there are definitely some shorter people who move a lot quicker than I do, which is fun to watch but, Lance Deal, the world Record Holder, there aren't many videos of him throwing the weight so you can't really gain too much from him. Q. Coach, what are you expecting out of Sarah Disanza this weekend in the 5K? COACH BYRNE: As I said, Sarah is currently second in the nation. After her super performance back in Decemberwhen she set the number one collegiate time, she had some issues and we had to shut her down for a little bit of time in Jan. She responded, our trainers did a great job of getting her back to where she is right now and going into the meet it's the NCAA Championships, anything can happen. Probably the favorite for the event would be Emily fits from Providence but Sarah is a great competitor, she went into the Big Ten meet a couple of weekends ago with very little training under her belt and you could see that competitive spirit, her talent and she is going to give it everything she's got and hopefully, you know, time will be on her side. Hopefully two more weeks of training since the Big Ten so, yeah, we're looking for a positive result from Sarah. Q. Michael, you said something earlier about being there to put a show on for people. You view yourself as a showman? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: I expect people‑‑ a lot of people to be coming to watch me throw, so I need to put on a show for them, gotta give them what they came to watch. Q. Have people come up and said that to you, they're there to see how you compete and that's where this has come from? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: I guess somewhat. I have definitely had people come up to me and say they have been following me all year and they want to take pictures with me and things like that, it's fun to get the support like that. It's just another motivator for me. Q. So are there more videos of you on the internet than any other weight thrower? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: What do you mean by that? Q. You said you can't find a lot of video on weight throwers, might you have more than anybody else now? Because you tend to post a few things, you know? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: Yeah, it's not so much that it's hard to find other weight throwers, but it's harder to find the actual throw from someone in their furthest, the world record, that video isn't out, you can't find it. A lot of people's PRs, those videos don't exist, seems like there is no one there to take the video of it. So I've made it my goal to get all of my throws on video so I can get it posted so other people can look at them. Q. Last year when I talked to you said at one time you were an out of shape high school kid. Do you still view yourself as a work in progress in that regard, physically? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: Most definitely. I've always been weak, I would say. When I lost all that weight from high school I was extremely weak and scrawny and it's taken a long time to build up my strength. I still have a long ways to go if you compare me to other throwers, they're much stronger than me, I could tell them what I'm lifting and they would laugh at me. It's kind of a motivator for me, too, because I've got room to grow and they don't. Q. Michael, are you recognized on campus? Do people know who you are when you're in class with them? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: No, definitely not. Q. What about Rice Lake? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: Oh, yeah. Q. Michael, you're one two throwers for Wisconsin going down to the NCAA meet, Kelsey Card on the women's side will compete in the shot and the weight. What can you say about Kelsey's performance this year? MICHAEL LIHRMAN: Kelsey is incredible. Every time she goes to the bigger meets she shows up. She knows how to compete and even lacking at last year, her redshirt year, you saw when she was at pan ams, she is a beast when she gets in the ring and people better watch out. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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