Donnan falls short by less than 2 seconds at national time trials

MARIETTA, Ohio – Senior Ben Donnan of the Patriots men’s track and field team posted a time of 1:53.28 in the 800-meter time trails at the NCAA Division III National Championships on May 22 at Marietta College’s Don Drumm Stadium, but failed to qualify for Saturday’s final.

Donnan, a native of Paris, led for the majority of the race, but was unable to hold off the pack down the stretch.

The 800-meter defending national champion, Emmanuel Bofa of Whitworth, won the heat with a time of 1:50.71 and set a new stadium record in the process.

Senior Ben Donnan, right, runs around a turn in the 800 meter race at Stephen F. Austin University’s Dogwood Invitational on March 21 in Nacogdoches. Donnan ran in the same event at the national track and field meet in Ohio on May 22. Talon Photo by Christy Grant

Donnan’s national championship appearance on May 22 was the first-ever for a Patriot track and field athlete.

Earlier in the season, coach Bob Hepler said getting Donnan and any other runners qualified for this national meet was of the utmost importance for the program.

He said that he wanted Donnan to make this meet to help improve the status of the program and to draw future track and field athletes to the program.

Donnan was one of just 17 athletes chosen to compete in the event based on their best qualifying time from the season.

To get to the national meet, Donnan had to qualify for the race.

His best time in the 800-meter race during the season came on April 18 at Baylor’s Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco.

Donnan set a new school record at the meet with a time of 1:51.81.

While Donnan was 71 hundredths of a second short of reaching the automatic qualification time, his time did meet the provisional qualification standards.

Meeting the provisional standard meant Donnan was forced to wait until Sunday to finds out whether his time would be good enough to make the cut. Donnan tied with Peter Najem of Keene State for the final spot in the race.

The Wartburg (Iowa) College women scored all 52 of their points and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh men collected 32 of their 46 points on day three to claim the team titles Saturday (May 23) at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship.

During the season, Donnan was named American Southwest Conference Male Athlete of the Week twice while his teammate Warren Brown was named to the same award twice.

Donnan, however, became the first ever Patriot track and field athlete to receive such an award back on March 3.

Cowan

On June 4, graduate student R.J. Cowan of Whitehouse was named to his respective 2009 Men’s Cross Country and Track & Field Academic All-District team by the College Sports Information Directors of America and ESPN The Magazine.

This is the second-straight year that the two-sport standout has received the honor.
Cowan earned All-American Southwest Conference honors in both cross country and track during the 2008-2009 school year and was also named as the American Southwest Conference Distinguished Scholar-Athlete for each sport.

The health and kinesiology major finished his undergraduate work with a 3.81 GPA and has a 4.0 through two semesters of graduate school.

Cowan is now eligible to earn Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA, as well. He made Patriots history last year by being named to the Academic All-America second team to become the program’s first Academic All-American.
- Courtesy of UT Tyler Sports Information Office