McPherson Open

McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson College track and field team opened the 2010 outdoor season on a high note, as sophomore David Parry won the 800-meters and junior Andrea Swanson posted an NAIA National ‘B’ Standard throw in the shot put Saturday afternoon at McPherson Stadium.

“I was pleased with our performance,” said McPherson coach Joe Eby. “We had some solid performances for the start of the outdoor season and even a few PR’s. I am excited to see what we can do in the weeks to come. It will be nice to be able to compete on a more regular basis from here on out. I think it will help without team progress. We still have some things to work on, but we are going in a great direction."

In the men’s 800 meters, Parry held a slight lead over Tabor’s Justin Ball coming into the final 100-meters of the race. It was a sprint between the two athletes with Parry edging Ball at the line with a time of 1:58.77.

Coming off a recent trip to the NAIA Indoor National Meet in Johnson City, Tenn., Swanson took third in the shot put with a throw of 12.91 meters. The throw was good for third place behind Mollie Dahl (13.96 meters) and Amber Dunham (13.22 meters) of Bethany College.

Other highlights on the women’s side included freshman Shireana Robinson finishing fourth in both the women’s 100 meter and 200 meter dash with times of 13.01 seconds and 27.43, respectively. The meet was the first of Robinson’s career. Along with Robinson, sophomore Rachel Leuthold took third in the pole vault with a vault of 3.20 meters.

On the men’s side, sophomore Javier Ceja was the top collegiate finisher, but second overall in the 1500 meters. Ceja posted a time of 4:15.23. Other notables included freshman Kyle Smith taking fourth in the 5,000 meters (16:40.83), freshman Ben Barker finishing eighth in the 100 and 200 meter dash (11.41; 23.15), freshman Garret Sharp took sixth in the high jump (1.78 meters), and freshman Grant Miller finished eighth in the men’s hammer throw at 35.65 meters.

The men’s 4x100 meter relay team finished in the third position with a time of 44.10.

The Bulldogs will now prepare for next weekend’s Tabor Invite. The meet is schedule to begin at 10:00 a.m. in Hillsboro, Kan.