Track and field compete Saturday in conference championship meet

Patriots’ senior Ben Donnan runs in the 800-meter race at Stephen F. Austin’s Dogwood Invitational on March 21 in Nacogdoches. Donnan will be trying to qualify Saturday for the national meet in the 800-meter race. Photo by Christy Grant

The Patriots track and field teams travel to Clinton, Miss on Saturday to participate in the 2009 American Southwest Conference meet.

This is the second conference meet ever for the program and coach Bob Hepler said he hopes this meet will not only bring experience to the team, but give some players a chance to qualify for the national meet in May.

“We have legitimate long-distance runners on the men’s side that have a great chance to win some races at the conference meet. These runners are the strength of this entire program,” Hepler said. “Also, our throwers and jumpers on both men and women are really coming along and doing well here lately.”

The main focus of the upcoming meet is getting senior Ben Donnan qualified for the national meet, Hepler said.

Donnan has a provisional qualifying time in the 800-meter race after winning the event at Trinity University on April 9 with a time of 1:52.92.

The provisional time does not guarantee a spot in the national meet but he can be chosen as an at-large bid in the national meet not already met by automatic qualifiers.

To get an automatic spot in the race, he must finish the race in 1:51 or faster.

“For Ben and the program, getting him to nationals is the most important goal because that can help our recruiting and the future of the program,” Hepler said. “We hope we can send more to nationals but we really are focused on getting Ben there because he is so close to qualifying.”

Warren Brown is the other top runner for the men’s team and he owns the school record for the 5,000 and 10,000-meter race. Brown also has three first-place finishes on the season.

Patriots’ senior track and field runner Warren Brown runs down the stretch of the 800-meter race at Stephen F. Austin State University’s Dogwood Invitational on March 21 in Nacogdoches. Brown, who owns the school record in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter race, has three first-place finishes this season. Photo by Christy Grant

“What Warren has done this year has been amazing considering all the things he is involved in on top of going to school full-time,” Hepler said.

Both Donnan and Brown have one more year of eligibility in track and field despite already using up their eligibility in cross country

Other highlights for the men going into the conference meet include sprinter Cameron Strother; Marc Randle in the triple jump; Chris Stonestreet, Kasey Calbow and Josh Twine all in the throwing competitions.

Hepler said going in that the men have an outside chance at winning the conference meet if everything falls right, but McMurry University (defending national champion) and Mississippi College are the two favorites.

Last season at the conference meet, the men finished in third place behind McMurry (284 points) and Mississippi (173 points) with 70 points.

“This year had really been our first full season of track and field and to this point of the program, I would say the men are probably ahead of schedule and the women are right where they should be for the first full season,” Hepler said.

On the women’s team, Hepler said the strength of the team is the throwers. Natalie Wade in the discuss, Cristy Meredith in the shot put and Ashton Wells in the shot put and the hammer throw all highlight the throwers.

Also, Sarah Hankla in the 5,000-meter race could hit the top three while Leah Solomon, who is a Patriots soccer player, has a good shot at winning the 100-meter hurdles, Hepler said.

“Competing all season long in the NCAA Division I meets that we been going to has really toughened our team up,” Hepler said. “With the experience we got in those meets and some runners winning a couple of the events, it has everyone excited for the conference meet.”

After the conference meet, there will be a “last-chance meet” for those who want one more opportunity to try and qualify automatically in their respective event for the national meet, which is May 21-23 in Marietta, Ohio.

By Jeremy Cotham Sports Editor