Mannozzi learns from mistakes

By John Kovach

EUCLID – Michael Mannozzi of Boardman and Notre Dame College is determined to avoid the same mistake that he made in last year’s 5,000-meter (3-mile) race-walk event at the NAIA Track and Field Championships, when he competes again in the national event this week.

Mannozzi, a 5-9 junior transfer from Youngstown State, was disqualified last year in his first national race-walk event as a sophomore after only 11 weeks of training, when he committed his third bent-knee infraction about halfway through the 121‚Ñ2-lap competition.

But the Boardman High graduate and former Spartan wrestler, who also wrestled two years for Notre Dame before shifting to track and cross country, believes he has learned from his mistakes thanks to a full year more of experience and some knowledgeable coaching assistance.

And the son of James Mannozzi and Marilyn Williams is hoping for a high finish and his second All-American honor at the 58th annual men’s NAIA outdoor track and field national championships slated Thursday through Friday at Ralph Korte Stadium in Edwardsville, Ill.

“I’m hoping to finish in the top six. That will be a blessing for me. I [would] become Notre Dame’s first male outdoor track All-American,” said Mannozzi, an education major, who already became the school’s first male track All-American earlier this year in national indoor competition.

He set that precedent March 6 when he placed sixth in the 3,000 meter run walk in a school-record 13:34.45 in the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Mannozzi will compete on Friday afternoon and is seeded No. 6 in the field of 25 racewalkers with a school-record time of 23 minutes, 36.25 seconds.

He achieved that qualifying time April 18 with a second-place finish in the American Mideast Conference Championships.

The No. 1 seed is junior Inaki Gomez of British Columbia in 20:09.96.

Mannozzi said inexperience contributed to his disqualification in last year’s outdoor meet.

“I only had been race walking 11 weeks coming into the national,” said Mannozzi, noting that he had to learn a lot about racewalking on his own at first because Notre Dame didn’t have a coach who specialized in the event. “When I bent my knee, my leg was not straight the moment of contact with the ground. It must be straight.”

He said race walkers try to bend their knees as much as possible to benefit from a running technique, while trying to make sure both legs are straight when they hit the ground.

“I did push the envelope. What killed me was inexperience. I taught myself how to race walk,” said Mannozzi.

There are only two types of infractions — bent-knee and lifting both feet off the ground the same time, he said. Both are usually done running.

Mannozzi has gained experience since then and has received valuable instruction from assistant coach Dave Bellar and coach Mike Rohl of Mansfield (Pa.) University, and by attending a USA Track and Field Camp last summer in Chicago.

“Coach Rohl taught me a few technique tricks that I had not been doing to get faster,” said Mannozzi, who met Rohl at a Kent State indoor invitational meet. “Rohl’s wife was a 2004 Olympian and Rohl was her coach.”

Mannozzi considers race walking harder than running.

“You have to make up for the fact that you can’t bend your knees, and you have to compensate for it.” So, “ It requires you to use more muscles in your body to race walk than you do running. “

Coach Joe Magill of Notre Dame said Mannozzi is like any other racewalker looking to maximize performance within the rules.

“Everyone is pushing for that edge and there is a fine line to walk,” said Magill,” noting that NAIA is the only body that provides race walking on the collegiate level. “There are judges standing around the track to make sure [race walkers’] form is correct.”

Magill said Mannozzi has made great strides in only about 11‚Ñ2 years a a race walker.

“The main thing is that he has an incredible amount of desire, and lot of heart and is incredibly competitive, [and] that kind of was his downfall [at the 2008 NAIA outdoor meet],” he said. “He tried to go too fast. He got so pumped up that his form broke down. I don’t really fault him.

“He has not been disqualified since then.”

While at Boardman High, Mannozzi competed in wrestling, track and football, and won the Greatest Comeback Award in wrestling in 2004.

kovach@vindy.com