Iowa State's Kroeschell a Track & Field Legend
College Sports Information Directors of America
By JAMIE SUHR
Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette
Tom Kroeschell and Co. finally got a good night's sleep Saturday.
And they deserved it after their performances during the three-day coed state track meet.
"No question, there's been some really late nights," said Kroeschell, one of the meet's two announcers. "We're running on adrenaline."
This year, instead of having two weekends of state track, 4,000 boys and girls were crammed into three days.
Kroeschell, also the sports information director at Iowa State, has announced the Drake Relays since 1989, the boys state meet since 1980 and the girls state meet since 1997.
He and co-announcer Mike Jay make this event so entertaining because of the amount of work they and their staff do.
Two assistants spent the past week putting together a database of numbers, splits and anything else a track fan would need to know.
That left Kroeschell enough time to scour the Internet for the most mundane of details, including why a runner wears blue spikes or how one runner still has scars after a fall at the state meet last year.
"I read the newspaper sites to get any information I think will be interesting to people," Kroeschell said. "A lot of state meets don't do it, but I think this crowd is more knowledgable than most."
Some of the details are more obvious, like the number of state titles an athlete has. As Charles City's Greg Offerman cruised to yet another 400-meter hurdles title, Kroeschell read off the senior's accomplishments. As Offerman crossed the finish line, the crowd was giving him a standing ovation.
"People may hear my voice," Kroeschell said, "but there are lots of people who make sacrifices. They don't have to do this, but they do it because they love it."