Preston Taylor and Seth Cavenee , along with McPherson College head coach Bart Gray, made the trip to Johnson City, Tenn., last week for the NAIA National Indoor Championships.
Both Taylor and Cavenee competed in the 55-meter dash after posting qualifying times at the 60-meter distance during the indoor season.
Taylor posted a time of 6.60 in finishing fifth in his preliminary heat while Cavenee ran 6.65 and finished fourth in his heat. Neither qualified for the semifinals which took the top 12 preliminary round marks, a time of 6.45.
In the 200-meters, Taylor placed third in his preliminary heat, in a time of 22.60, 0.11 second off his season best (22.49) run at the Prairie Wolf Invite. The minimum mark necessary to qualify for the 200-meter finals was 21.92.
“Both (Taylor and Cavenee) ran about what they did to get in,” said Gray. “The quality of the meet this year was outstanding, and I think they both may have been a little overwhelmed (at the level of the competition).”
“This was good exposure for our program though.”
“The important thing now is for Preston and Seth to come out now, let our other kids know what it takes to compete on the national level, and to be leaders.”
The Bulldogs will open the outdoor portion of their 2004 schedule this Saturday at the Bethany Invitational in Lindsborg.
On Saturday, March 20th, McPherson College will host its only home meet of the 2004 season when the McPherson Open goes off at 10:00 a.m. on the newly, resurfaced McPherson Stadium facility.