The Omnibus

Issue date: 5/9/08 Section: In the Spotlight

Media Credit: Kelly Flowers Sophomore Shawn Etzenhouser passes UCM's Kyle Brown to win the MIAA Championship at 800 meters in one minute, 53.38 seconds.

After years of single-digit scoring and last-place finishes at the MIAA Outdoor Championships, the Southwest Baptist men's track and field team showed the rest of the conference that there is a new team to deal with in the MIAA.
Junior Michael Pierce and sophomore Jeremy Glassmaker started things off Saturday for the Bearcats by easily qualifying for finals in the 1,500-meter run.
With two runners through in the 1,500, it was time for junior Jeff Weseloh to try to qualify in the 400-meter dash. Coming into the race Weseloh was ranked eighth and only eight runners qualify for finals. Weseloh answered the call as he turned in a personal-best time of 49.74 seconds to place him fifth heading into the finals on Sunday.
Having secured at least a point in the 400, the 'Cats next turned to the 800-meter run where they had three runners, junior Vince Tichenor, sophomore Shawn Etzenhouser and freshman Nathaniel Rogers, who had a legitimate chance to qualify for Sunday. After a fast and tightly contested first heat (in which SBU had no runners), it was obvious that it would take a strong performance to qualify in the 800. In the second heat, Etzenhouser showed why he placed ninth in the nation during the indoor season as he breezed to a heat victory in one minute, 55.01 seconds. Coming in behind Etzenhouser was Rogers with a time of 1:56.24. Rogers took fourth in the heat and had to wait on the third heat to see his fate. In the third heat, the Bearcats picked up a surprise performance from Tichenor as he pounded the rest of his heat by over a second (1:57.07) to pick up the heat victory and qualify to Sunday. Unfortunately for the 'Cats, Etzenhouser and Tichenor were the only runners to qualify as Rogers missed the cut by less than four-tenths of a second.
The last event on the docket for Saturday night was the 10,000-meter run and the first chance for SBU to score points. Sophomore Michael McCampbell latched onto the second group of runners from the first lap on as the Missouri Southern duo of Ryan Arthur and Brennan Benkert broke away from the pack at the gun. Nearly half way through the grueling 6.2-mile race, one of the Central Missouri runners in the front of the second pack tripped and went to the track. Directly behind the UCM runner, McCampbell hurdled the fallen athlete and was able to keep contact with the leaders of the pack. It was at this point in the race that McCampbell, along with three others, separated themselves from the rest of the second group. Although the second group never caught the pair of Missouri Southern runners, McCampbell was able to take care of two of the three runners in his group and take fourth place, earning five points for the Bearcats. McCampbell's time of 31 minutes, 38.69 seconds also shattered the SBU school record set in 2002 by Mark Stenbeck by over 16 seconds.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools