The McPherson College indoor tracksters split the squad this past Saturday, with the throwers going to Southwestern College in Winfield for a “throwers only” meet, while the remainder of the squad headed to Lawrence for the Jayhawk Invitational hosted by the University of Kansas.
The top Bulldog performance of the weekend came from Seth Cavenee, who posted a provisional NAIA national indoor qualifying mark of 7.13 in the 60 meter dash.
“Seth had a good race. He didn’t have a real good start, and if you put his start from last week at Missouri Southern with today’s finish, he probably would have run below the automatic standard (6.94).”
Running well in his first competition of the winter was Kris Smiley. Smiley notched a 7.28 in the 60 meters, despite a stumble, and missed the NQ mark by 0.1 second..
“Kris (Smiley) also had a nice performance for his first meet out. He stumbled at about the fourth step out of the blocks, and still ran 7.28. Without the stumble, he too would have probably run the provisional mark.”
“Geralyn (Hale) came back from the back spasms she suffered last weekend at Southern, to run much better in the 60. She getting healthier, and she has a shot the national qualifier also.”
“Because of the weather and the lack of a true indoor facility, we’re having to basically run people in to shape. That kind of frustrating for everybody because they don’t see the immediate results in meets. We’re just trying to run people in as many races as intelligently possible.”
After running the 600-yards/5,000 meters double last week, Troy Hernandez ran a pair of races at more nature distances, running 2:07.03 for 800 meters and 2:55.13 for 1,000 meters.
Jayhawk Invitational –
Men –
60m 24. Seth Cavenee 7.13SB, 34. Kris Smiley 7.28;
200m 21. Seth Cavenee 23.31SB;
600yd 29. Brad Cates 1:37.20;
800m 22. Troy Hernandez 2:07.03;
1,000m 24. Troy Hernandez 2:55.13;
5,000m 20. Bryan Grosbach 18:32.90SB.
Women –
60m 19. Geralyn Hale 8.38SB;
200m 28. Geralyn Hale 29.13;
400m 27. Deidre Frager 1:12.36, 29. Mandy Harvey 1:15.78;
800m 17. Deidre Frager 2:45.24.
“It’s against our philosophy to split the team and send them to different sites, but we felt it was important to get our throwers six measured competition throws rather than the three they would have had at KU. They need the repetitions. It was good experience, and we appreciate Jim (Ratzlaff, Southwestern throwing coach) for putting it together.”
Dan Hudachek improved his season best in the shot put by six feet. Anthony Kelley competed for the first time this winter and placed right behind Hudachek in the shot with a throw of 35-0¼ and led the Mac 35-pound weight throwers with a throw of 39’ 3”.
Kelsey Hendricks posted a one-foot improvement in the women’s shot, where she placed third with a throw of 34’ 2¾”.
This week the Bulldogs will travel to Hays, Kan., on Saturday. This is a change from the originally scheduled meet at Doane College.
Southwestern College Throwers Meet –
Men –
Shot Put -- 5. Dan Hudachek 36-04.25SB, 6. Anthony Kelley 35-00.25, 7. Val Thompson 33-08.5SB, 10. Scotty Phillips 30-00SB;
35# Wt Throw – 5. Anthony Kelley 39-03, 6. Brandt Busse 38-08, 7. Dan Hudacheck 37-10SB, 10. Val Thompson 29-09SB, 12. Scotty Phillips 27-09SB.
Women –
Shot Put – 3. Kelsey Hendricks 34-02.75SB, 6. Katie Atwater 29-08.75SB;
20# Wt Throw – 4. Katie Atwater 32-07.