The McPherson College indoor tracksters made the two-hour trip west to Hays on Saturday.
Making its first appearance on the tight curves of the Fort Hays State Gross Coliseum in recent years, the Bulldogs’ top finish came from Seth Cavenee. A fall transfer from Fort Hays, Cavenee dashed to a third place finish in the 55 meters, clocking 6.73 seconds.
“We had good, solid performances,” McPherson coach Bart Gray. “Since the track is in yards, and we were running odd distances, it makes it kind of hard to relate marks to those for distances we usually run.”
“Rather, we focused on making this a ‘work meet’. We had our kids competing in several events, and not worrying so much about times or places, but using it as a conditioning meet.”
The Bulldogs came away with another third place finish in the 4 x 352 yard relay, which was run in place of the usual 4 x 400m relay. The McPherson foursome of Seth Cavenee, Kris Smiley, Preston Taylor, and Stacy Cavenee finished in a time of 2:55.93 as each runner ran two laps of the tight 176-yard Gross layout, about 80 meters.short of each individual’s normal relay leg distance.
“I believe we found ourselves a quartermiler (400m) today,” said Gray. “We discovered that Kris (Smiley) is probably going to be a much better sprinter than even he thought. He stumbled in the 55 (meters) dash, and didn’t have a real good time. But, boy, his leg (on the relay) was outstanding. It would convert to around 49 seconds, and that is a nice run for no more (long) sprint work than we’ve been able to do (because of the snow and cold weather, and no true indoor facility).”
“We knew coming in that Preston (Taylor) was going to be a quality 200-400 meter runner for us, and what Seth (Cavenee) could do, but Kris’ performance at the longer distance is a real plus.”
Top finish among the McPherson women was Kelsey Hendricks’ 4th place finish in the shot put with season best 35’ 5”. Geralyn Hale placed 7th in the women’s 55 meters in a time of 7.86.
“We tried to do some things that would enhance us down the road. Without an indoor conference meet to focus on, a lot of what we’ve talked about is strengthening us and getting us ready for the outdoor season so we can be tough when the outdoor conference (meet) comes.”
This Friday the Bulldog thinclads will travel to Lincoln, Neb., for the Prairie Wolf Invitational, hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
The meet will be held in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bob Devaney Sports Center, on one of three hydraulic-banked tracks in the nation and one of seven in the world, and which has the largest radius (67 feet) of any indoor-banked track in the world. Two words can be used to describe the Cornhuskers’ 200-meter layout is “fast” and “special”!
Fort Hays State Open complete results –
MEN –
55m Dash – 3. Seth Cavenee 6.73 (6.75q), 12. Preston Taylor 6.99, 14. Kris Smiley 7.08, 25. Klayton Keesling 7.50, 27. Val Thompson 7.65
176yd Dash – 7. Preston Taylor 19.27, 12. Kris Smiley 20.05, 18. Klayton Keesling 21.08
352yd Dash – 16. Troy Hernandez 44.52
880yd Run – 8. Brad Cates 2:34.88
1-Mile Run – 12. Troy Hernandez 4:55.90, 16. Bryan Grosbach 5:08.53SB
4 x 352yd Relay – 3. McPherson 2:55.93 (Seth Cavenee, Kris Smiley, Preston Taylor, Stacy Cavenee)
Shot Put – 9. Brandt Busse 38-05.5, 15. Dan Hudachek 33-04.5, 16. Anthony Kelley (unattached) 32-07.5, 19. Scotty Phillips 28-07
#35 Weight – 8. Anthony Kelley (unattached) 39-05.5SB, 13. Dan Hudchek 33-03.5, 16. Val Thompson 30-04SB, 17. Scotty Phillips 29-10.5SB
WOMEN –
55m Dash – 7. Geralyn Hale 7.86 (7.90q), 16. Laura Enquist 8.86
176yd Dash – 11. Geralyn Hale 23.76, 13. Deidre Frager 25.15
352yd Dash – 9. Deidre Frager 54.13
Shot Put – 4. Kelsey Hendricks 35-05SB