Season Outlook

Sprinters

By: Josh Chaffin

As track season inches closer, it’s time to switch gears from football and volleyball games to the track. For many spectators of Malone Track and Field the season will begin on December 7^th at Kent State in the Pioneers first race of the year. However, ask any member of the track team and you will soon find out that the athlete’s season started back in September. Practice started for the members of the track team shortly after classes did. This early start will surely help the Pioneers gain an advantage on opposing teams.

The sprinters are looking to build on an impressive year last year. With no losses to graduation, the 100, 200, and 400 areas look to improve greatly. Senior Chris Cruise led the way last year with a trip to NAIA Nationals in the 400-meter dash. His experience will be important if the team is to send a relay team to Nationals. Both the 4x4 and 4x1 teams seemed to gel towards the end of the season but because of a key injury to Junior Jeb Ford those teams were not able to qualify. This year Jeb decided to hang up his football spikes in order to concentrate more on track. That decision could prove crucial for a National appearance. Sophomores Bryan Krieger and Dustin Craig are back to improve upon their performances last year and help the team in any way they can. Juniors Eric Nichols and Josh Chaffin will also be looking to provide depth at an already competitive area for the Pioneers. ‘Somewhat’ of an addition to the sprint area is Seniors Tyler Lunn and Josh Gortney. Josh decided to focus on Pole Vault last year but has decided to broaden his duties this year. Tyler Lunn, after a year hiatus, has decided to rejoin the team and both Lunn and Gortney should be great additions. Incoming freshmen Steven Young and junior Greg Johnston, also long and triple jumpers, will be giving their best to a very solid spring group.

As you see the sky is the limit for this group of guys. With hard work and determination, the Malone College Track and Field team will be able to add a few more sprinters to its already long list of National Qualifiers from recent years. Good luck to all Malone College Athletics this coming year.

WOMEN SPRINTS by Tanya Finney

The women’s sprinters welcome back two familiar faces, Juniors Vallie Scott and Holly Motter. Last season Scott was the NCCAA national champ in the 400m-dash which also qualified her to the NAIA meet in Fresno, Calif. Scott was also joined by Holly Motter as part of the AMC meet champs in the 4X100m relay. This season they look to add two new faces to the women’s sprinters; freshmen Samantha Mobilian from Jackson High School and Destanie Morgan from McKinley High School. Further contributions to the sprint area may also include the multi-event athletes returning senior Laura McElrath and freshman additions Beth Costello, Amy Gladd, Bailey Teague and Lori Ickes.

Multi-events by Brady West and Laura McElrath

Track season for 2007-2008 is looking great for the men’s decathletes. With three returning from last year, experience alone is going to show great improvements. With two sophomores, Shane McLaughlin and Trent Gardner and the lone senior Brady West there is a lot of high expectations. Both Gardner and McLaughlin qualified and placed respectably, fourth and fifth in the decathlon at the NCCAA National meet last year to help the team win the meet. Brady West was also in on the action placing second behind last year’s senior Chris Hare and then finishing the season with All American status by placing 6^th at the NAIA National meet in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

The decathletes, also known as “multi’s”, are looking forward to another great track season this year with even higher goals. Meets to watch for great decathlon scores will be the Wake Forest and Wheeling Jesuit Invitationals, Sea Ray Relays, the NCCAA and NAIA national meets. They are looking to once again help lead the team to an AMC Conference Victory, another NCCAA National Team Championship and qualify for the NAIA National meet to hopefully repeat some All Americans from last year.

There are some new faces that will be representing the womens multi group for the 2007-2008 year. There is one returning senior, Laura McElrath, who qualified for both the NAIA indoor and outdoor national meets last year where she placed 6^th in the pentathlon and 10^th in the heptathlon. There are 4 freshmen who will join her. Amy Gladd, who has a PR of 2:21 in the 800 and qualified for the state meet last year. Lori Ickes, who has thrown the disc 130 feet and cleared 5’2” in the high jump. Beth Costello, who has long jumped 16’1”, a PR of 2:30 in the 800, and advanced to the regional meet in the 4x800. Bailey Teague, who has a PR of 16.6 in the 100 meter hurdles and has ran a 49.7 in the 300 meter hurdles.

It will be an exciting year for the womens multis during the 2007-2008 season. For the freshman, it will be a year of growth as they learn the new events and work hard for the chance to qualify for nationals. Laura McElrath, is again, looking to qualify for the national meets and hit All-American status.

JUMPERS by Tanya Finney

Returning this year to the jumps area are Holly Motter (JR), Josh Gortney (SR), and Tyler Davis (SR). Motter will look to lead the way for the women’s jumpers as she competes in the long and triple jump. Last year she showed determination and strength as she qualified to both indoor and outdoor NAIA meets and competed in the triple jump at the NAIA national meet in Fresno, California on an injured heel. Davis contributed to the men’s team in the triple jump, long jump and high jump, placing 2^nd at the NCCAA national meet and qualifying to the NAIA meet in the high jump. Gortney led the men’s pole vaulters to the height of his career thus far. He put up a vault of 15’5 ¾ “ last season and qualified to the NAIA meet. With the experience of these returning athletes, they will lead the way for several new faces this season. The women add some exciting talents to this area. Rebecca Rospotynski (SO), a pole vaulter from Copley High School comes with a career high vault of 11’11.75” and Destanie Morgan (FR), a jumper from McKinley HS, will compete in the long, triple and high jumps. Steven Young (FR) from North Kansas City HS, Philip Heese (FR) from Highland HS and Greg Johnston (JR) from Pittsburg, PA will compete this season in the long and triple jumps. Also contributing to the jumps area include multi-eventers Laura McElrath, Amy Gladd, Beth Costello, Lori Ickes, Bailey Teague, Brady West, Shane McLaughlin, and Trent Gardner.

Throwers by Aubree Horning

With new facilities and new faces, the Malone Throws will be a new group this year. It is an end of an era for Malone throwers to trek over the hill with hammers and discus in hand to practice almost everyday. The throwing facilities will all be contained inside the track; including the hammer ring, discus ring, shot put ring and javelin runway. We have some top performers returning plus a lot of new faces to add depth to our group. The top returnees are Emily Alderfer (sophomore), Justin Jump (junior), Aubree Horning (senior), Katie Murphy (junior), Caleb Malburger (sophomore), Rick Berning (senior) and Roger Berning (sophomore). Emily was a NAIA outdoor championship qualifier (42’), AMC championship winner (40’ 4”) in the shot but also competes in the hammer and discus. Justin Jump was a NAIA outdoor championship qualifier (147’) in the discus also placed 4th at Conference (141’) and NCCAA Outdoor Christian Nationals (147’); he also competes in the hammer as well. Aubree and Katie both placed rather high in the shot at both AMC championship (38’ and 37’ respectively) and at NCCAA Outdoor Christian Nationals (37’ and 38’ respectively); both girls throw the hammer. Caleb competed in the shot last year and did fairly well. Rick and Roger competed only in the javelin last year but will compete in other events this year. Along with all of our returnees we have four new faces including Branden Johnson, Paul Henderson, Katlyn Szadkowski, and Lori Ickes. Branden Johnson is a 120-foot discus thrower and a 45-foot shot put thrower from Springfield. Paul Henderson is a 136-foot discus thrower and a 43-foot shot putter from Berlin Center Western Reserve. Katlyn Szadkowski is a 32-foot shot putter and a 115-foot discus thrower from Perry. Lori Ickes is a 130-foot discus thrower from Smithville, Ohio. This group is focused on challenging each other and holding each member of the group accountable for success of the group. Although we focus on technique and conditioning, we still have a lot of fun in our group. Through our work as a group we plan on learning dedication, hard work, cohesion, team building, goal setting, and in result of everything we expect better performances in the end.

MID-DISTANCE by Tanya Finney

The mid-distance area graduated a few lead runners but with returning athletes and a strong freshman class, we anticipate an exciting season. Returning women include NAIA qualifiers in the 4x400m relay Megan Patton, Kim Winton, and Vallie Scott. Megan is a strong competitor in the 100m and 400m hurdles, while Kim shows fast improvements in the 400m distance and up. Vallie concluded her individual season as the 400m-dash champ at the NCCAA meet. The vision of these diverse athletes is not only a repeat appearance but a national ranking at the NAIA national meet. This vision is fueled by five new additions to the mid-distance team. Freshman girls Laura Scott from Westbranch HS, Amanda Theis from Seneca HS, Annie Thoman from Lakewood HS, Kaleigh Bildstein from Madison HS, and Megan Miller from Crestwood HS. Junior Kortney Sekulich, who was injured last season, is looking forward to competing in some longer distances focusing on the 3000m steeplechase.

Returning mid-distance men include juniors Jay Bruekner and Jon Easterling who showed great strength and leadership as they competed in the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m and 4x800m relays. Sophomores Garrett Oliver and Andy Preston were also strong competitors in the 100m high hurdles and the 400m hurdles. They will lead the way this season for incoming freshman Bryan McCanna (Smithville HS), Steven Nizursha (Teays Valley Christian HS), and Peter Muncy (Cedarville HS).

Distance by Ashley Mortenson

The Malone men approach the upcoming indoor and outdoor track seasons with high hopes and much anticipation. Coming off of a NAIA cross country national championship with four all-Americans, there is much to look forward to. Senior Ryan Kienzle comes off a 2^nd place finish at cross country nationals and looks to repeat his All-American performances in track this spring. Senior Justin Baum looks to pursue a repeat of his 10,000m all-American track performance of last spring, while considering the marathon as well. Junior Nik Schweikert will be a force in the middle distance events, after being a finalist in the 1500 at the outdoor national championships, and securing an all-American finish at cross country nationals. Sophomore Christopher Sinick returns from an all-American finish last spring in the 1500m, which he topped off this fall in cross country with another all-American finish. His continued improvement will be an asset to the team as they pursue another season. Senior Mike Coates comes off the national championship this fall and looks to round out his collegiate career this spring with a couple more nationals appearances. Sophomores Paul Robinson and Evan Gaynor look to return to the national track championships for another round after competing in the 10,000m last spring. Freshman Aaron Melhorn is continuing to look forward after a fourth place finish at cross country nationals and three Ohio state championships for division II. He looks to be a fierce competitor heading on to the track. James Zeuch, who placed third in the 3200m Division II, comes off the national championship with high hopes for national competition this spring.

Also competing for the pioneers this spring are Seniors Ian Miller and Joe Seibert, Juniors Keith Burns and Jon Easterling, Sophomores Dan McCracken and Brian Eckenfels, and Freshmen Matt Nichols (an OH State Champion at 3200m in 2007), Jon Walkup and Kyle Randolph.

Women’s distance by Tanya Finney

The women’s team also finished with a strong showing at the conclusion of their cross country season. Leading the women and earning All-American status were two time All-American junior Katie Bagley (18: placing 22^nd) and junior Rebekah Genter (18: placing 26^th). Returning sophomores include Kalie Hauenstein, Sarah Hines and Lexi Hartline who return this season as strong competitors in the 3000m and steeplechase respectively. This year we also introduce freshman Kristen Downing (Lake HS), Emily Grad (Field HS), Lindsey Pifher (Colonel Crawford HS), Danielle Wuensch (New London HS), Gabrielle Wuensch (New London HS), Alanna Seamon (St. Clairsville HS), and Emily Beam (Morgan HS) who look for continued improvements after the conclusion of a very successful cross-country season.

Race Walking by Tanya Finney

In the race walking area, many strong competitors graduated this past year. However, there are two returning athletes, seniors Brad Sinick and Michael Wright who made NAIA national appearances in 2007. Freshman Kelsey Gibbs is also training to compete in the walk this spring. Coach Johnson is always looking for potential walkers so this event area will soon grow!