Southwestern College Collegian

Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Sports

The track team has been preparing for the SC Relays that will be April 26. Last week the track team participated at a meet Wednesday at Tabor, which was a partial meet, and Thursday through Saturday at KU. Jim Helmer, head men's track coach, said, "At least one person in each event we were entered in had a personal best, and even without several of our better athletes we finished well in the team standings." Bryant Andrews, business management senior, and Charles Wells, sports management junior, finished first and second in the 100 meter dash. Andrews said, "I felt the meet was great. It was a platform to prepare the team for the meet at KU, which is the meet I felt would test us. We knew Tabor wasn't going to challenge us much but we have to prepare mentally and that is something that you can't do in practice. ." Cody Annis, business administration senior, finished second with a personal best in his first 200 meter dash. It was his first time running the event this season and he also finished first in the 400 meter run. Kyle Larsen, education freshman, tied his personal best and finished fifth in the 200 meter dash. Dustin Gorden, biology sophomore, finished fifth in the shot put with a personal best, and then had his second best throw in the discus to finish seventh. The women's 4x1 improved its seasonal best and qualified for provisional's. Lacey Hibbs, elementary education freshman, had a career best in the discus. Mike Kirkland, head women's track coach, said, "There was good solid performance from the 100 meter girls." The team had a meet the following day at KU. For the men, Helmer said, "Despite rain on Thursday and very cold, windy conditions Friday, overall our men's team had an excellent KU Relays with a number of outstanding performances. NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and junior colleges all compete together in the same division, so for our athletes to place in any event and finish as high as we did in several events are a great accomplishment." Dan Joiner, secondary education senior, ran a personal best time of 4:07.75 in the 400 meter run. Running his first collegiate 10,000 meter run, Andrew Topham, biology freshman, made it a memorable one. Helmer said, "He had an outstanding race." Topham finished fifth out of 37 runners in the race, got the qualifying standard for the national outdoor championships by 12 seconds, is currently ranked eleventh in the nation with that time, and is now the fifth fastest all-time in the 10,000 meter run in Southwestern track and field history. Sarah Morton, digital arts senior, said, "We are all starting to peak at the right time with how practices are going and how we are competing at the meet. I feel we will be ready for the KCAC championships." The 4x200 relay ran the eighth fastest time in school history. The 4x400 relay had the second fastest time of the year and missed the finals by less than a second. The 2-mile relay ran the fifth fastest time in school history and got the automatic national qualifying mark. Kirkland said, "Overall we're in a position that if we get some good weather the team is ready to step it up and ready to have some great performances." Amy Pierson, nursing freshman, and Alyssa Carter, psychology sophomore, both had a career best in the 1500 run. Ericka Franklin, biology junior, placed fourth in the steeplechase. She has the second fastest time at Southwestern. Audry Anderson, psychology senior, had a 30 second career best in the 5000 meter run. She is a provisional qualifier. The women's 4x400 relay hit a seasonal best and improved by three seconds. Kate Topham, biology junior, improved in the 10,000 meter run by four minutes and placed a career best. The 2 mile relay hit their fastest time all year with a time of 9:42.76. Korie Hawkins is a freshman majoring in journalism. You may e-mail her at korie.hawkins@sckans.edu.

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