Gunnar
By: zachgray
tags: arizona, arizona state, arizona state university, ASU, baseball, constance ezugha, daily, decathlon, double header, doubleheader, downtown, Edmond, Edmond Santa Fe, edmond santa fe high school, Edmond Sun, freshman, great southwest, great southwest track and field classic, Gunnar, Gunnar Nixon, high jump, high school, hurdles, long jump, new mexico, newspaper, OKC, Oklahoma, oklahoma city, photo, photography, photojournalism, portrait, senior, sophomore, sun devils, sundevils, The Edmond Sun, track, track & field, track and field, triple jump, university of new mexico, yard of the week, Zach Gray
Category: The Edmond Sun
Gunnar Nixon was named the All-Edmond Track and Field Athlete of the Year. The Edmond Santa Fe junior finished third in the boys decathlon at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic at the University of New Mexico.
*UPDATE* I picked up my August 17 edition of Sports Illustrated and found Gunnar highlighted in their “Faces in the Crowd” feature. It was awesome to see a guy I’ve met and that is from my hometown be profiled in one of my favorite magazines. Even cooler was the fact that it was in the same edition that OSU made the cover! Here’s what they selected to say about Gunnar: “Gunnar, a junior at Santa Fe High, won intermediate-division titles in the decathlon and the 400 hurdles (53.95 seconds) at the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympics. At the USA Youth Track & Field Championships, he won the decathlon, 110 hurdles (14.79) and high jump (6′ 6 3/4″).”
It was cool meeting Gunnar, who is actually the brother of a couple of friends of mine that I went to high school with. Small state.
The female winner of the award, Constance Ezugha, will run track at Arizona State University next fall.
Later, I did a few more portraits, including the winner of Yard of the Week. I don’t know who gives this award, but I think it’s hilarious.
After getting back, I was told that I have worked a full 9 hours ahead of pace. If I get ahead, I have to start cutting back on hours to stay at the 40-per-week pace. Time off. Sounds great, right? The problem is that I still have to do the same crazy work load. Only now, I have fewer hours to complete it. Sweet.
I took off at 2:30 and have a baseball doubleheader to shoot starting at 6 tonight.
Tomorrow, my day looks crazy. But Friday, I am set set to take off around 2. That would be nice. Plans in Norman/OKC are developing. Thank goodness.
Great picture Zach! My mom sent the link to me, and I was excited to see that you were the photographer. You have some great photos.
OMG! Great pic!!! Every time I see your work, it just gets better!!!
Zach, very nice work, I think you have a bright future ahead of you, keep up the Great work….
Thank you all for the kind comments. Gunnar was great to work with and from the look of things, he certainly has a bright future ahead as well.
supreme lightning.
i mean lighting
Lightning would have been the perfect touch to this picture. If only…
:)
Zach, hey maybe you could photo shop some lightning in the pic that would be cool…..
Great post!
The best. Keep going Thank you
Thank you much for this nice piece.
Zach, Gunnar has been working hard since summer track ended in Aug. he has started a full weight training program to help with upper body strenght with his throws, disc, shot and Jav. for Dechathlon and he is also running cross country this fall to help improve his 1500M time. Thanks for your story and great photo you took, lots of people have made positive comments about both and they really love your photo skills, keep up the great work. Tim
Thanks for the update, Tim. That is great to hear! Can’t wait to see what lies ahead for Gunner.