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All-KCAC Honors
The 2005 edition of McPherson College track and field opened its indoor season under first-year head coach Dave Smith in Manhattan, Kan., at the Kansas State Wildcat Invitational.
And, it opened with a bang as sophomore Preston Taylor ran a pair of provisional national qualifying marks for the NAIA National Indoor Championships with his first and third place finishes in the 200-meter and 60-meter dashes. Sadly, that was Taylor’s final competition of the indoor season as he would sprain an ankle in intramural basketball, thus ending his indoor season.
Fellow national qualifier from 2004, Seth Cavanee, would knock on the national qualifying door throughout the indoor season, but never was able to chip away the final 0.2 of a second necessary to qualify for the national championships in the 55m/60m event.
For the remainder of freshman dominated squad, the undercover season would be one of new experiences and focusing on improvement of personal bests.
On March 12, the Bulldogs moved outside for their outdoor season opener at Bethany College. This time it was Seth Cavanee and Dan Hudachek who would be posting the early provisional national qualifiers. Cavanee ran 10.84 for 100 meters, just missing the automatic qualifying mark, and Hudachek threw the discus 154’10” to earn May trips to Louisville, Kentucky.
The following weekend, McPherson hosted the Bulldog Invitational and, for the first time in recent history, the Bulldog men won the meet team championship over six other KCAC squads. Cavanee (100), Preston Taylor (400), Tim Cox (800), and Hudachek (Hammer) won individual titles while Brooks Reale, Kris Smiley, Tayor, and Cavanee combined to win the 4x100 relay title. Rebecca Stover won the triple jump to grab the only title by a Lady Bulldog.
But, similar to the indoor season, the injury bug began to bite. At the Friends Invitational, the only McPherson win was posted by the 4x800 relay team of Andrew Paull, Zach Kimble, Chad Richert, and Tim Cox. At6he the ACCK Championships, Cox (1500), Jacob Merrick (steeplechase), and the 4x100 and 4x800 relays were victorious as the Bulldog men finished third overall. As the Bulldogs made their final preparations for the KCAC Championships, Cox broke two minutes for the first time in 2005 as he won the 800-meters at the Tabor Invitational.
On May 5 and 6, the Bulldogs traveled to Hillsboro for the KCAC Championships. While the Dogs didn’t capture any conference titles, freshman Brooks Reale ran an automatic national qualifying 10.77 while finishing third in the 100-meter dash. Second places by Cox in the 800, Hudachek in the discus, and by the 4x800 relay paced the Bulldogs to a fourth place team finish. Chris Benisch was one of meet’s surprises as he placed third in the long jump in his first competition of the season. Sheila Bevan was the only Lady Bulldog to place as she came away with a pair of fifth place finishes in the shot and discus.
Only May 14, the 4x100 relay of Cavanee (back in action after being outwith an injury for almost a month), Reale, Smiley, and Taylor ran a provisional qualifier of 42.09 at the Emporia State Last Chance Meet, but the NAIA advanced only 16 teams to the national meet, and the 19th ranked Bulldogs were left at home.
At the NAIA National Championships, Cavanee, Reale, and Hudachek were unable to advance beyond the preliminary rounds.
With none of the Bulldogs’ points at the KCAC meet coming from seniors, the days ahead for Bulldog track and field under coach Dave Smith look good. The 2006 season will also mark the time since 2001 the Bulldogs will go into the year with the same coach.
“Continuity is important in building a competitive program,” said Smith. “We’ve started to establish a base to grow on. Now, we have to continue to build our numbers and improve our quality to move up the KCAC and NAIA ladder.”
