Building towards something great

We are currently in a period where we are taking two weeks off of racing. But it is anything but down time for the team. Cross Country has upped their miles (Ceja, Sorenson, Ashley H, Payton on the leader boards) last week and this week. We have progressively been getting better at all of "the little things" which is very exciting to watch their progression. It is amazing the jumps this group has made in a months time. We just need to stay the course and keep working hard. I am very excited to see what the group can do at Oklahoma State and Tabor next Saturday. In the mean time we have some tough workouts and lots of miles to cover. Things are on track for a very exciting November for the Bulldogs.

NAIA posted the new conference polls this morning. The Bulldog women maintained their 4th place ranking which can be found here, http://naia.cstv.com/sports/w-xc/spec-rel/091310aab.html. The men moved up a spot from 3rd to second, their rankings can be found here http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-xc/spec-rel/091310aac.html.

Track has started conditioning. We have 25 track only kids who are working out this fall. They are a great group and have been working very hard. We now have more fall track athletes than we had athletes when I arrived at McPherson. This speaks volumes to the work that Coach Becker put in this past year.

JK Gold Recap

This past weekend the Bulldogs race at RAFT golf course in Augusta Kansas, for the JK Gold Cross Country Invitational. The Women ran a 4k and the Men ran a 6k. I really like going to this meet because of the shorter distances. It gives the freshman a chance to ease into college racing with a shorter effort and it also gives the upperclassman a chance to get used to racing on the grass again.

Overall I was very pleased with the meet and how the Bulldogs performed. We had 4 out of 7 women and 8 out of 15 men run as fast as or faster than their projected times from our time trial during camp. With the amount of work they put in the past few weeks I know their legs were heavy. So the fact that we were able to run as well as we did is very exciting and bodes well for the future.

The team continues to impress me. They have been looking better in workouts from the weight room to hills sprints and each week has a small but noticeable improvement in form and efficiency. The team is headed down a very good path




Kelsi Beam once again led the team with her 28th place finish with a time of 15:32. She was followed by Payton Hartman (15:48) 36th, Ashley Huizar (16:14) 49th, Erin Lueffler (16:33) 55th, Ashley Martinez (18:17) 85th, Sonia Fuentes (18:50) 96th and running unattached was Lizette Guzman (19:13) 97th. Both Beam and Hartman ran PRs for 4k. Overall the women placed 4th in the College Division with 114 points. Conference rival Southwestern was 3rd with 88 points.

1k mile 2k 3k 2 mile 4k AVG k avg mile
1 28 Kelsi Beam 03:52.0 06:00.0 07:36.0 11:48.0 12:38.0 15:32.0 03:53.3 06:19.0
2 36 Payton Hartman 03:52.0 06:04.0 07:39.0 11:51.0 12:43.0 15:48.0 03:58.7 06:21.5
3 49 Ashley Huizar 03:53.0 06:08.0 07:50.0 12:07.0 12:58.0 16:14.0 04:07.0 06:29.0
4 55 Erin Lueffler 03:56.0 06:12.0 08:00.0 12:35.0 13:28.0 16:33.0 04:12.3 06:44.0
5 85 Ashely Martinez 04:29.0 07:01.0 08:54.0 13:47.0 14:42.0 18:17.0 04:36.0 07:21.0
6 96 Sonia Fuentes 04:41.0 07:22.0 09:22.0 14:23.0 15:23.0 18:50.0 04:43.0 07:41.5
9 97 Lizette Guzman 04:21.0 06:47.0 14:22.0 15:24.0 19:13.0 04:57.3 07:42.0

On the Men’s side the Bulldogs freshman Morgan Peterson led the way with an impressive 20:24 in which he came through the 5k in 17:06 which is a PR for the 5k. Next in was Sophomore Kyle Smith (20:31), followed by David Parry (20:56) then Juan Jimenez (21:31) and the last scorer for the Bulldogs was Mike Baxter (21:40) who is coming back from a knee injury last year.



team race 1k 2k 3k 4k 5k 6k AVG K
1 1 Javier Ceja 03:06.0 06:06.0 09:10.0 12:20.0 15:23.0 18:24.0 03:03.6
2 11 Daniel Sorenson 03:08.0 06:07.0 09:24.0 12:48.0 16:10.0 19:09.0 03:12.2
3 12 Art Parra 03:08.0 06:14.0 09:25.0 12:45.0 16:01.0 19:10.0 03:12.4
4 36 Ankur Joshi 03:08.0 06:19.0 09:42.0 13:16.0 16:47.0 20:01.0 03:22.6
5 52 Morgan Peterson 03:13.0 06:36.0 10:04.0 13:37.0 17:06.0 20:24.0 03:26.2
6 57 Kyle Smith 03:18.0 06:36.0 10:04.0 13:43.0 17:16.0 20:31.0 03:26.6
7 70 David Parry 03:20.0 06:48.0 10:22.0 14:09.0 17:43.0 20:56.0 03:31.2
8 78 Kyle Bogda 03:13.0 06:25.0 10:11.0 13:43.0 21:22.0 03:37.8
9 84 Juan Jimenez 03:20.0 10:16.0 14:09.0 17:58.0 21:31.0 03:38.2
10 88 Mike Baxter 03:20.0 06:48.0 10:28.0 14:22.0 18:08.0 21:40.0 03:40.0
11 96 Josh Nilles 03:30.0 07:00.0 10:43.0 14:41.0 18:29.0 21:59.0 03:41.8
12 107 Preston Mossman 03:21.0 07:08.0 10:52.0 14:55.0 18:56.0 22:36.0 03:51.0
13 112 Matt Brown 03:40.0 07:22.0 10:16.0 15:27.0 19:37.0 23:26.0 03:57.2
14 121 Derek Kruger 03:50.0 07:50.0 12:01.0 16:33.0 20:55.0 24:58.0 04:13.6
15 126 Jason Pfoutz 04:09.0 08:32.0 13:26.0 18:19.0 23:05.0 27:50.0 04:44.2

All in all it was a good day and a step in the right direction for the Bulldogs. We are ahead of where we were last year, but we still have a long road ahead. I am excited to see where the road leads this team. It could be a very exciting trip.

KCAC

Ottawa, Kan. – The Bulldogs tallied four individual victories and three runner-up finishes as the McPherson College track team finished eighth in the women’s competition and fifth on the men’s side at the annual KCAC Conference Championships. This year’s meet was held at the Bill “Bo” Boucek Track on the campus of Ottawa University.

Andrea Swason, Javier Ceja, Antowine Lamb and Mitchell Krier all claim individual KCAC Championships, while Rachel Leuthold, Swanson and Garrett Sharp finished second in their respective events.

Junior thrower Andrea Swanson opened Saturday’s competition with McPherson’s first KCAC Championship in the women’s shot put since Stacy Miles won the event in 1977. Swanson, a junior from Littleton, Colo., broke her own school record, 13.56m (44’-6”), with a mark of 13.78m (45’-2.5”).

Just hours later, Swanson would impress for the second time of the day in the women’s hammer throw with a second place finish. She solidified her spot in McPherson track history with a school record mark of 44.50m (146’-0”).

Teammate Rachel Leuthold also finished in runner-up position in the women’s pole vault. In just her second meet of the season, Leuthold vaulted 2.97m (9’-9”). Her clearance tied the winning height, but was on her second attempt to give her second place in the event.

Other notables from the women’s competition include, freshman Sonia Fuentes finishing with a season best time of 14.74 seconds in the 100-meters and sophomore Krissa Fuentes setting a season best of 32.75m (107’-5”) in the discus.

McPherson College sophomore Javier Ceja continued to impress in the men’s competition. Ceja opened Saturday with a fifth place finish in the 1,500-meters, crossing the line at 4:00.61 before winning the men’s 5,000-meters. His winning time of 15:03.62 is the fastest at the KCAC Championships since Elliott Rodda (Southwestern College) in 1988. Ceja also became the first McPherson College male to win the event since Dave Burgess in 1978.

Junior pole-vaulter Mitch Krier won his first KCAC Championship as a Bulldog with a vault of 4.73m (15’-6.25”). Krier’s mark was two feet higher than the second place finisher, as he became the first Bulldog to win the event since Mike Butsch in 1971.

Senior Antowine Lamb and teammate Garrett Sharp swept the top two spots in the men’s high jump, as Lamb defended his 2009 KCAC Championship with a height of 2.03m (6’-8”) to claim the 2010 crown. Sharp followed Lamb’s lead with a clearance of 1.93m (6’-4”) for second place.

Other notables from the men’s championship included, David Parry finishing with a season best and personal record of 1:57.16 in the 800-meters, while setting a season best in the 1,500-meters (4:05.23; 7th).

Bulldog freshman Kyle Smith set a season best in the 3,000-meters steeplechase, placing fourth with a time of 10:41.87. Junior Rattanck Mour rounds out the Bulldog notables with an eighth place finish in the 100-meters. His time was 11.28.

The Bulldogs have one more warm up meet, the McPherson Twister Twilight, prior to the NAIA National Outdoor Championships on May 20-22, 2010.

Cross Country finishes 4th and 9th at KCAC Championship meet

The McPherson College cross country teams finished their seasons at the KCAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning at Lake Afton Park in Goddard, Kan. The men finished fourth overall, while the women turned in a ninth place finish.



Freshman Mike Baxter was the top finisher for the Bulldogs men. Baxter crossed the line in 27:11.00, good for 16th place and a life time PR for 8k. Finishing 17th, and second for the men, was senior Shaun Griffin with a time of 27:12.00. Freshman Kyle Smith finished third for the Bulldogs at the 27:40.00 mark.

Sophomore David Parry and junior Matt Brown rounded out the top five, finishing with a time of 29:11.09 and 30:59.00, respectively.

1 mile 2 mile 3 mile 4 mile 8k
1 Mike Baxter 05:09.0 10:35.0 16:20.0 22:15.0 27:11.0
2 Shaun Griffin 05:09.0 10:29.0 16:17.0 22:08.0 27:12.0
3 Kyle Smith 05:08.0 10:39.0 16:26.0 21:54.0 27:40.0
4 David Parry 05:31.0 11:27.0 17:39.0 23:46.0 29:11.0
5 Matt Brown 05:27.0 11:31.0 18:01.0 24:43.0 30:59.0
7 Fred Miller 06:39.0 13:07.0 20:09.0 27:06.0 33:02.0
8 Zach Dowling 06:27.0 13:22.0 20:39.0 27:37.0 34:04.0
9 David Johnson 06:58.0 14:40.0 22:44.0 27:47.0 34:30.0



"I was really proud of the guys", said coach Eby,"they ran well at the biggest meet of the year and improved on last years place. Its a step in the right direction."

men's results

For the women, sophomore Kati Beam paced the women with her time of 22:19.00, good for 43rd place. Sophomore Katie Logan was the second runner to cross the finish line for McPherson, posting a time of 22:26.41. Freshman Torey Fry finished third, while sophomore Krissa Fuentes took fourth for the Bulldogs with times of 22:48 and 23:20, respectively. Junior Katey Taylor rounds out the top five women’s finishers with a time of 24:25.

women's results

1 mile 2 mile 5k
1 Katie Logan 06:28.0 14:00.0 22:25.0
2 Kati Beam 06:32.0 14:04.0 22:18.0
3 Torey Fry 06:43.0 14:23.0 22:47.0
4 Krissa Fuentes 06:46.0 14:33.0 23:18.0
5 Katey Taylor 07:15.0 15:22.0 24:25.0




Coach Eby said, "It was great to see the girls place as a team at the conference for the first time in a long time, this is also a huge step in the right direction. Overall we just need to continue to build on the momentum we have started this year. If we keep going in this direction the future of McPherson Cross Country will be very bright."

Polls

Polls have always been something I look at with amusement. Most of the time it is someones best guess or a match up on paper to see which team is better than another. To me polls have always been interesting but nothing more than that. Since I arrived on the NAIA scene polls have more weight to them. They can determine weather a team makes it to nationals or not. To me this is absolutely ridiculous. If you have schools that always race on fast courses or historically have been good but are having down years they are just considered to be good because they have always been good. Cross Country is one of those sports where every course is different, they might not even be the same distanced based on how they are measured etc... It is very hard outside of head to head competition to judge how one team would run against another. But each week I still find myself checking the NAIA web site http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-xc/2009Ratings.html http://naia.cstv.com/sports/w-xc/2009Ratings.html to see where the pollsters think our team matches up in the conference. And as of right now I would say they hit the nail on the head for where we are right now. I will say that I am excited to see what will happen at the conference meet when we finally match up head to head with something on the line.

On the women's side we started the year off in 9th, we then moved up to 7th for two weeks after our first meet and the latest poll has us at 6th. As I said earlier I feel this is a honest representation of where we are right now. I do feel that if we can pull things together for the end of the year we could place higher but we will have to stay on our game and keep making major improvements.

The men started the year off at 5th, after our first meet we dropped to 6th which again was justified with our number 3 man going to the meet as a spectator. The next week we moved back to 5th without racing which always makes me laugh and this week we find ourselves sitting in 4th.

The next two weekends should tell a big story about both teams. If we can continue to improve and be successful we will be set ourselves up very nicely for a great end to the season. With the way workouts have been going I have the utmost confidence in our ability to run our best at the end of the year and realistically that's all that matters. Only time will tell.