By Melissa Ingabire
Brigham Young University hurdler Max Scheible said he treats every race like a practice race, but nothing in practice really prepared him for the conditions at the 2018 Pepsi Team Invitational.
However, Scheible weathered the weather and finished second in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.29 seconds, .04 beyond the winner, his teammate Scott Mecham.
“You gotta be optimistic, right?” he said. “In Utah sometimes we have crazy weather — I think two weeks ago we had snow during practice. It just started snowing really big flakes, but not quite this crazy.”
The weather in Eugene proved to be one of the biggest obstacles for the athletes, with a nonstop downpour of rain and up 49 mph gusts of wind at Hayward Field. “Coming home on the back straight with three-to-four meters per second of wind is just not what we’re used to,” Scheible said. “I don’t think anybody can get used to that.”
When asked how he adjusts to such unpredictable conditions, he said: “You just run. Just try to hit your stride right and try to hit the hurdles. Just remember it’s just another practice race, basically.”
With BYU taking first and second in the 400-meter hurdles, Scheible said he was overall happy with his performance considering the conditions. “It was good — went out pretty fast, the first hurdle was great. I know I could have pushed a little more with the wind. But it was a good race.”
Looking toward the future, the hurdler is taking what he learned from this experience back home with him to Utah.
“ I think we have two BYU meets that are coming up, so I’ll be running at home and it’s always nice to run on your home turf,” said Scheible.
The senior came in just three seconds shy of his PR and said he hopes to beat that PR back on his home turf later this month. Hopefully with better weather.
