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.

Back from Traveling

Started my traveling off by heading out to San Francisco, California for the State Community College Meet. Got to see a lot of recruits talk to a lot of coaches and make great contacts. So all in all it was a good trip.

The day after I got back it was off to St. Louis for the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National meet. It was a good meet and we had a great view from our hotel of the arch. On Friday Antwoine competed in the high jump. A miss at 6'7" cost him a spot on the All American stand. He would have been about 4th or 5th place. He was 7th place with a height of 6'9".



Saturday it was Andreas turn. She set a school record and made the finals for the first time at the national meet with a throw of 44'6" or 13.56m. She was also 7th place.

Both competed well so there is no complaints.

Now my attention shift totally to try to find some more recruits and finish up this years recruiting class strong. Things have been going well and I think I will sign a few more before its all said and done.

Few updates

Recruiting has been going well. We got a verbal commitment from Mike Baxter from Cuyahoga Falls Ohio. He has run 15:37 for 5k XC, 4:35 for mile and 9:46 for 3200. He will be a great addition to the team.


Last weekend we went to a last chance meet at Emporia. Lamb jumped the best he has all year he cleared 6'9" and i still don't know what he knocked the bar down with on his 6'10 3/4". Andrea Swanson set the school record at 13.28m and had a great overall series with all of her throws on the 13 m line or further. Leterius Ray ran in the 200 in 23.50, he had a bad start which did not help because he was in a fast heat. He ran even with the guys coming down the straight he just lost too much ground on the start. Megan Meyer went after the school record in the 5k, coming up a bit short but still ran her second best time of her carer. I am excited to see what she can do next year with more consistent training under her belt.

So now we wait a week till nationals. This weekend I will be off to San Francisco to do some more recruiting and hopefully seal the deal with some of the California Community college athletes. I leave Thursday, and arrive back home on Monday. Then I will turn around on Tuesday and leave for the National meet. Should be a fun filled couple of weeks.