Lakeside shootout

We hosted the first annual Lakeside Shootout this past weekend and it was a successful event.

We had a great crowd out to cheer the athletes on. The feed back on the course was very positive. spectators like how easy it was to view everything.


Payton and Kelsi in chase pack.

The womens race was first with Karissa Cominator of Friends going stright to the lead which she kept the whole race. Freshman Kelsi Beam (McPherson, Kan.) was McPherson’s top finisher with a time of 20:15 to finish sixth overall, while fellow freshman Payton Hartman (Smithville, Mo.) completed the race in eighth position with a time of 20:23. Hartman’s time matches her season-best from Oklahoma State. The Bulldog women finished in third place behind KCAC rival Friends University and Fort Hays State University. McPherson had four runner finish in the top 25, including Erin Loeffler (North Newton, Kan.) (21:01) in 14th and Ashley Huizar (La Puente, Calif.) (21:59) 23rd place. Sophomore Torey Fry (Wichita, Kan.) finished just outside of the top 40 with a time of 25:04. Overall the women competed very well and took a good step forward toward the conference meet. We still have some things that we need to work on, but we have time.

Bulldog junior Javier Ceja (Pico Rivera, Calif.) won his first individual title in a McPherson jersey with a time 25:55.30. Ceja previously won the individual crown as an unattached athlete at the J.K. Gold Classic hosted by Wichita State University. Ceja shaved approximately nine seconds of his previous season-best of 26:04. Overall for the men, Ceja led McPherson to a team score of 31 points, eight points better than second place Fort Hays State University. McPherson’s four other runners finished in the top 20, with freshman Morgan Peterson (McPherson, Kan.) (28:06 PR) finishing 10th, David Parry (Morganville, Kan.) (28:24 PR) coming in 11th, Mike Baxter (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) (28:51) placing 17th and Kyle Smith (Junction City, Kan.) (29:12) finished 20th. Like the ladies the guys competed much better and were battling with people from other schools. The guys made a nice statement and have lots of positives to take from the meet. It is always good to get a win as a team and as an individual.

The major glitch of the whole meet was the course ended up being long. When I initially measured the course it was short by about 30 meters, we then remeasured and it was right on 2000 meters. So we started to paint and put posts up over the next few days. Somewhere in the mist of all of that the course became about 20 meters per lap long. This is something that can be easily fixed. We hope to grow this meet into a quality event, and potentially bring in some more ranked teams. We have some work to do between now and then.

All in all I was pleased with how things went and we will plan on hosting the KCAC Championships there next year.

Tabor

The Bulldogs had a group of athletes compete at the Tabor Invite this past weekend. Leading the way for the men was Josh Nilles at 31:30.68 good for 64th place. Josh was followed by Freshman Derek Kruger (34:49.45, 93rd), Senior Matt Brown (35:57.74, 98th) and Jason Pfoutz (40:37.70, 106th).

On the ladies side Torey Fry ran for the first time since indoor season running a time of 28:31.88 for 91st place.


Torey and Sabrina Lee post race

The team will be back together on Oct 9th for the Lakeside Shootout.

OSU Jamboree

Women's Results
Men's Results

Stillwater, Okla. – The McPherson College men’s cross country team finished 11th of 23 teams, while the women took 14th of 30 in the College Division of the annual Oklahoma State University Cowboy Jamboree Saturday morning in Stillwater, Okla.
Junior Javier Ceja set a season-best with a time of 26:04.08 and a fifth place finish to lead the Bulldogs. Ceja was the highest finishing NAIA runner. Edward Limo of Colby Community College was the top finisher with a time of 25:15.49.
Sophomore Kyle Smith (28:07.24) and freshman Morgan Peterson (28:09.96) were the next two Bulldogs to cross the finish line. The duo finished 64th and 65th respectively. Junior David Parry (29:06.51 PR), sophomore Mike Baxter (29:12.27), freshman Juan Jimenez (29:45.87) and freshman Preston Mossman (30:57.76) rounded out the scoring for McPherson. The Bulldogs tallied 319 points en route to the 11th place finish.


Javier Ceja

On the women’s side, freshman Kelsi Beam and Payton Hartman lead the Bulldogs for the second straight race. Beam ended the race at 20:09.12, good for 32nd place and the 6th fastest time in McPherson College history, while Hartman took 42nd position with at time of 20:23.17 putting her 7th on the all time list. The duo was followed by Erin Loeffler in 77th place, with a time of 21:06.13 good for 10th all time, Ashley Huizar (103rd, 21:49.68), Sonia Fuentes (132nd, 22:46.19) and Ashley Martinez (158th, 24:24.59).

Florence Ngetich of El Paso Community College won the event with a time of 17:55.43, while Amy Pierson of Southwestern College was the top NAIA finisher at 18:28.72.

I thought that the ladies ran well. We still have to close our gap down and have some people move up if we are looking to contend for top 3 at conference. I am please with how things are going as a whole right now. The men looked a little more rusty than the women. We have a very young team and a lot of them were running their first ever 8k. Add in that OSU is not an easy course it leaves us with some room for improvement. I am still happy with how things are progressing as we need to be running fast in November not the end of September.

Next up is the Lakeside Shoot out at Lakeside Park in McPherson. It is shaping up to be a competitive meet with several KCAC schools and Community Colleges coming. As of right now we are expecting 12 teams.

Good weekend

Antowine Lamb

McPherson Track and Field had a good weekend. We had an auto qualifier for nationals in Antowine Lamb who jumped 6-9.5 in the High Jump which currently leads the nation and is the new school record. Andrea Swansons throw of 41-08.75 in the shot also provisionally qualified her for the national meet.

Rachel Leuthold also set a school record in the Pole Vault with 10-08.

There were 6 collegiate PR's from the team at this meet as well.

The team is having another great week of practice with some great weather to go along.....

Sunday we also found out that Torey Fry of Wichita East will be joining the Lady Bulldogs starting next fall with cross country. So all in all a very good weekend.

Missouri Southern Meet

The Bulldogs traveled to Joplin, Mo., on Friday and Saturday for the Missouri Southern State University Radio Shack Invitational.

Competing on the six-lane, 200-meter flat St. John track of the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center, the Bulldogs came away with personal best by Mark Watson in the 60 and 200 meters, Ben Cummins in the 400 meters, David Parry in the 600 yards, Oliver Williams in the 800 meters, and season bests by Brent Bailey in the 1-mile and the 4x400 relay of Leterius Ray, David Parry, Ben Cummins, and Brent Bailey.

Fourth place finishes in the open section of the 1-mile by Brent Bailey and the distance medley relay of Bailey, Parry, Ray, and Oliver Williams were the Bulldogs top finishes of the weekend. Mark Watson and Leterius Ray placing fifth in the 60-meter and 600-yard dashes rounded out the Bulldogs’ top six finishes.

Andrea Swanson and Rachel Leuthold were the only females competing for the Bulldogs and both posted top eight finishes although neither met their season best set at the Kansas State Invitational.

The MSSU meet was the first time newly hired, McPherson head coach Joe Eby has had an opportunity to see the Bulldogs in a competitive situation.

"I was pleased with the overall performance of the team. I am excited for the future," Eby said.

Eby arrived on campus Jan. 31, and held his first team meeting with the indoor squad on Feb. 2. He has been holding individual meetings with the team members, who have been under the direction of assistant coaches Ryan Jilka and John Hudson since the beginning of workouts for the indoor season.

The next action for the Bulldogs will be their trip to Warrensburg, Mo., for the Central Missouri Classic on Feb. 20, where they will make one final attempt posting NAIA qualifying marks.

Missouri Southern Radio Shack Classic
February 6(a)-7, 2009 -- Joplin, MO
Leggett & Platt Athletic Center
(200 meter, flat track)
MEN —
60m Dash – 5. Mark Watson 7.14, 7.12p PB
200m Dash (a) – Mark Watson 23.83 PR; Jacob Kerbel 25.15; Ben Cummins 25.33
400m Dash – Ben Cummins 55.38 PB
600y Run – 5. Leterius Ray 1:16.71; 13. David Parry 1:19.76 PB
800m Run – 8. Oliver Williams 2:00.19 PB
1-Mile Run – 4. Brent Bailey 4:38.28 SB; Jason Pfoutz 5:39.25
3,000m Run (a) – Shaun Griffin 9:44.22; Josh Niles 10:40.29; Jason Pfoutz 11:51.37
5,000m Run – Shaun Griffin 17:01.32; Josh Niles 18:32.39
60m Hurdles – Jordan King 8.91p; Jacob Kerbel DQ
4x400m Relay – McPherson “A” 3:35.75; McPherson “B” 4:01.72
Distance Medley Relay (a) – 4. McPherson (Brent Bailey 3:23, David Parry 53.5, Leterius Ray 2:01, Oliver Williams 4:35) 10:53.39
High Jump – 8t. Seth Williams 6-00.75 (1.85)
Triple Jump – Jesse Jackson 36-11 (11.25)
Shot Put – Drew Griffin nm

WOMEN —
Pole Vault – 8. Rachel Leuthold 10-02.5 (3.11)
Shot Put – 7. Andrea Swanson 39-07.25 (12.07)