September 20, 2024

REMINDER: YOUR SUBMISSIONS ARE ENCOURAGED AND WELCOMED

Overview for this week.

1. My first item this week covers two of my favorite athletic activities: triathlons, and distance running. The University of Arizona has been encouraging cross over between the women's triathlon team and cross country team, with several athletes training and competing with both teams. The results have been positive for both teams.

2. In The Heavens, the earth had a stadium-sized asteroid make a close pass this week. Luckily it was far enough away to pose no risk of colliding with the earth.

3. This week in The Next Gen, I am catching up with Zoe and Ana Crimmel. Zoe is competing in a national collegiate tennis tournament this weekend, and Ana continues to amaze with her athleticism, academics and entrepreneurial talents.

4. In Wellness I'm featuring an Equine Assisted Therapy Center just outside of Aspen. WindWalkers utilizes the natural caring bond between species to provide therapeutic growth and healing for a wide range of conditions.

5. At just six-months old, Reid Park Zoo's newest member of the elephant herd, baby Meru, took her first swim in the zoo's pool last week. I've got the video below, enjoy.

6. I'm exercising my prerogative as publisher this week to use the Bragging Rights section to brag about my son, Michael G. Kamuela Kasser.

7. In this week's Pet's Corner, we're catching up with the Miksta's and their Coton de Tulear puppy, little Rosie. Thanks for the new pics Jay!

Now, to this week's Flock.

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The University of Arizona women’s cross country and triathlon teams are unique in the NCAA with several athletes competing on both teams. An experiment cooked up by the respective coaches that has been beneficial to both teams.

From: Arizona Daily Star, By: PJ Brown, September 14, 2024

Arizona triathlete Molly Lakustiak didn't even think twice about competing in a cross country meet a few weeks ago — even though she is in the midst of her triathlon season.

Running is, after all, at the center of both sports.

Lakustiak not only participated in New Mexico State's Lori Fitzgerald Open, she led the way for the Wildcats, finishing fifth individually to help the UA women to a second-place team finish after running the 5k-course in under 18 minutes.

She's not the only triathlete who crosses over and competes for both programs during the same season. Many of her triathlon teammates do the same thing. Three of the top four Arizona finishers at the NMSU meet — Lakustiak, Mia Wentzy and Ellison Wolfe — are also triathletes.

'It's so cool to be part of two teams,' Lakustiak said. 'You get to see how different groups work, get to meet a lot of new people. It's super nice to have both coaching (staffs) work together, and t hey're very supportive.

'We just got thinking, like, 'Yeah, we could collaborate in a really cool way,'' Johnson said. 'With triathlon, it's always won in the run. It can be lost in swim or bike. We need them to be able to run fast and run well. Putting them against even higher level competition on running, having that running- only focus, a few times, that is really beneficial to us.

– UA triathlon coach Wes Johnson

Two weeks ago, a chunk of asteroid approximately 1 meter wide entered the Earth's atmosphere creating a brilliant fireball as it descended and exploded in a flash of light over the Philippines. On Tuesday morning of this week a stadium-sized asteroid came within 621,000 miles of the Earth, very close from an astronomical perspective. But luckily, too far away to present any danger.

From: Fox News, By: Andrea Vacchiano, September 17, 2024

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is monitoring a "potentially hazardous" asteroid that is moving past Earth on Tuesday.

NASA told Fox News Digital that the rocky object, which has been named 2024 ON, is 350 meters long by 180 meters wide, which roughly equals 1,150 feet by 590 feet – larger than previous estimates. 

NASA has deemed the asteroid "stadium-sized" and reported it was 621,000 miles away from Earth on Tuesday morning, which is considered relatively close. Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Fox News Digital that an asteroid of this size coming this close to Earth only happens every five to ten years.

Farnocchia, who works at the laboratory's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said that the last time a large meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere was in Russia in 2013. Earth has not been hit by a meteor of 2024 ON's size since prehistoric times. 

On February 15th, 2013 an asteroid approxmately 181 meters across entered the Earth's atmosphere over the Uralregion of Russia creating a bright fireball and exploding between 100 and 250 feet over the ground. THE explosion had the force of a small nuclear bomb creating a shockwave that blew out windows and injured over 1,000 people.

Meteor Explosion of Atomic Strength Injures 1,000 in Russia

This week, I want to catch up with Zoe and Ana Crimmel. The sisters first graced an issue of The Flock in July of 2022 when I highlighted the young entrepreneurs pet care and training business that they ran together. They built their own small business while simultaneously contributing to their family's involvement in developing the "Aspen.Tennis" program.

I've been periodically following Zoe's professional and collegiate tennis career in The Flock since May of 2023. Occasionally peeking in on her journey into higher education through her personal blog, Where in the World is Zoe, where she shares her experiences, insights, and acute understanding of environmental issues. This weekend, Zoe is competing in the 23rd Annual HBCU National Tennis Championships in South Fulton, Georgia.

Along with sharing her sister's tennis talent, Ana excels at softball, academics and is president of her school's Japanese honor society. Ana has not lost the entrepreneurial drive that first caught my eye. Back in May, when we last checked in, she was creating stuffed toys to sell and raise money for school. Sending out big love to these two sisters that I am so proud to know!

Ana playing doubles, a win in three matches.

Just outside of Aspen, WindWalkers Therapeutic Riding Center in Carbondale, CO provides equine assisted learning and therapy. Along with horses, WindWalkers has therapy goats for autism, learning disabilities, and more.

From: WindWalkers

WindWalkers is a magical place where horses and caring professionals offer a variety of equine-assisted therapies to aid in the development and growth of those with challenges, be they physical, neurological, emotional, behavioral, or psychological. Our services impact not only people living with challenges, but our community as a whole.

A place where you will see miracles happen every moment of every day. 

From: Verywell Mind, By; Jodi clark, MA, LPC/MHSP, January 16, 2024

Animals can offer an extraordinary amount of emotional support. Beyond the pet-owner relationship that many of us have lovingly experienced, animals are sometimes used in therapeutic settings to help clients navigate challenging emotional experiences.

What Is Equine Therapy?

Equine-assisted psychotherapy incorporates horses into the therapeutic process. People engage in activities such as grooming, feeding, and leading a horse while being supervised by a mental health professional.

Goals of this form of therapy including helping people develop skills such as emotional regulation, self-confidence, and responsibility. With mature horses weighing anywhere in the range of 900 to 2,000 pounds or more, it might feel a bit intimidating to have such a large, majestic creature participating in your therapy sessions.

Back in March the Reid Park Zoo's African Elephant Semba gave birth to the zoo's newest addition, a baby elephant to be named Meru. Now, Meru is six-months old and last month she took her first swim in the zoo's pool.

From: Reid Park Zoo, September 13, 2024

Elephant Meru made a huge splash for her first time in the pool this past week! At six months old, the youngest elephant of the herd practiced using her trunk to splash around with the herd. Post-swim, she and her sisters added a fresh layer of dust to coat their skin which acts like sunscreen and keeps the bugs at bay.

Meru Goes for a Swim

From: Mom

I'm using my prerogative as publisher this week to brag about my son Mikey. I'm so proud of my special man! He's been excelling in the San Diego real estate market, and as you can see in this photo collage, he also shares his parents love of long-distance running and triathlons. Oh, that's Kainoa, his most loyal friend, in the lower right corner.

Grandpa Jay has sent us an update on our favorite Coton de Tulear puppy, little Rosie. We first met little Rosie back in April when she was just two months old. She's seven months now, and as adorable as ever. In May, we got to meet the rest of the Miksta family: mom Amie, dad Jeff, and mom’s young twin, Ayla.

Ayla ready for golf in her Hawaii socks.

Here's Rosie with Amie and Ayla out by the pool.

Yellow-throated Vireo

These Flock regulars are always here for you:

In coming weeks: we'll be sharing more investigative articles from our roving reporter William George, original writing from Flock favorite Dino DeConcini.

Don't Be Shy: Share Your Stories!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of your personal stories - oral, written, or otherwise, as we enter our third year. I'd so love to present them to The Flock, hit a mailbox below to share your story.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

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