News

May 5, 2010

RMAC TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

CHADRON - The Chadron State College men’s track and field team expects to make a strong bid for top honors during the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Meet in Pueblo, Colo. The competition will begin on Sunday with the multi events and run through Tuesday afternoon.

The CSC men have never placed higher than fourth in the final outdoor team standings, but first-year head coach Ryan Baily believes the Eagles can place much higher this year and possibly win the title.

“We plan to give it a good run,” Baily said. “We’re not the favorite, but we should score lots of points and challenge for the top spot. The athletes are excited about it. We had a great indoor meet and we expect to do well again outdoors.”

The Eagles’ men placed second at the RMAC Indoor Meet in February with 121 points, 61 more than they scored the previous year. Adams State won the championship with 189 points, but the Grizzlies have had a few injuries, are redshirting their long jumper who won the event at indoor meet and two distance runners who were champions at the National Indoor Meet have concluded their eligibility.

Baily said his pre-meet calculations using the current rankings in each event have Nebraska-Kearney in the lead with about 30 points more than the Eagles. CSC is second and Adams State ranks third.  He hopes the Eagles can hold off the Grizzlies and have enough surprises to catch the Lopers.

A bulk of CSC points will have to come from the sprints, hurdles, jumps and relays. The Eagles probably won’t score in the middle distances or distances. The Colorado schools will dominate the latter events and UNK will earn a bulk of its points in the throws.

The Eagles have the best marks in six events entering the conference showdown. Individually, Jake Gruver, who won both the 60 and 200 meters during the indoor meet, has the lead in both 100 and 200; Karl McFarlane leads a 1-2-4 placing in the high hurdles; Lincoln Proud has the best time in the 400 hurdles; and Brandon Harrington is the pacesetter in the triple jump. CSC also has the fastest time in the 4x100 relay and hopes to put together an excellent 4x400 relay entry.

Several Eagles are second in the conference rankings. They include Lanar Newman in the long jump, Cody Hunt in the shot put, Glen Clinton in the pole vault and Harrington in the high hurdles. Harrington also is third in the long jump entering the conference meet.

Baily said a number of the Eagles will enter from four to six events. The only limits at the conference meet are number of participants. Each school is allowed to enter 34 men and 34 women, but each athlete can compete in as many events as he or she can endure.

The CSC women, who scored 28 points and finished seventh at the RMAC Indoor Meet, were shorthanded when the season started and have lost several of their top performers to injuries. Baily said.

They include Kate Jungck, Stacee Craig and Alyssa Norton. All three placed at the conference’s indoor meet, but are injured and are redshirting the outdoor season.  However, Julia Bayer, who is one of the RMAC leaders in the long and triple jumps and hurdles, will compete after missing the indoor meet when she had a foot injury.

Baily said he’s pleased with the performance by freshmen such as freshman Monique Fair, middle distance runner Ashley Riesen and jumper Ashley Fanelli. Each of them has consistently placed this spring.

Here are the Eagles’ top placings and in the conference and their top marks at the end of the regular season:

Here are the Eagles’ top placings in the conference and their top marks at the end of the regular season:

Men’s Track Events

100—1, Jake Gruver, 10.70

200—1, Jake Gruver, 21.79

400—4, Phil Rivera, 48.88

110 high hurdles—1, Karl McFarlane, 14.35; 2, Brandon Harrington, 14.37, 4, Lanar Newman, 15.01

400 hurdles—1, Lincoln Proud, 53.78

4x100 relay—1, Chadron State, 41.79.

Men’s Field Events

Shot put—2, Cody Hunt, 57- ¼

Javelin—3, Jake Gruver, 167-6, 4, Lance Steele, 159-10, 5, Boomer McLaughlin, 155-11

Long jump—2, Lanar Newman, 23-3 ½, 3, Brandon Harrington, 23- ¾; 4, Josh Brummer, 22-10 ½

Triple jump—1, Brandon Harrington, 49-7, 4, Riley Northrup, 47-2 ½

High jump—4, Boomer McLaughlin, 6-7, 5-6, Riley Northrup, 6-6 ¼

Pole vault—2, Glen Clinton, 16- ¾.

Women’s Track Events

100—6, Monique Fair, 12.32

200—5, Monique Fair, 25.56

800—8, Ashley Riesen, 2:18.58

1500—7, Ashley Riesen, 4:40.15

100 hurdles—6, Julia Bayer, 15.11

Women’s Field Events

Discus—6, Sadie Waugh, 132-2

Long jump—5, Julie Bayer, 17-11 ½, 6, Ashley Fanelli, 17-9

Triple jump—3, Julia Bayer, 37-4 ½, 6, Ashley Fanelli, 36-6 ¼

High jump—7, Ashley Fanielli, 5-1 ¼

Pole vault—4, Kalen Prentice, 11- ¼