JONESBORO (12/5/09) – The Rhodes Men's Track & Field Team opened their indoor season with an excellent showing at the Arkansas State University Kickoff Klassic. Competing primarily against Division I and II schools, the Lynx posted very strong marks in the sprinting, jumping and throwing events, highlighting the best debut performance ever at this meet and proving hard summer workouts and fall training does pay dividends.
In the first contested running event of day, sophomore Kevin Stechler (Westborough, MA) posted a career best time in the 55m dash of 6.70 seconds; junior teammate Greg Palm (Merrimack, NH) and senior Cory Dardenne (Kingwood, TX) followed in 6.82 and 6.89 seconds respectively. Also competing in the short sprinting events was junior Jon Mervine (Stafford, VA) in the 55m hurdlers. His time of 8.39 seconds, good for 13th place, was only .29 seconds away from qualifying for the 10-man final held later that afternoon.
In what turned out to be a very precarious race with several competitors in the 400m stumbling or falling coming off of the third curve, senior captain Greg Cook (Bellaire, TX) not only manage to remain on his feet, but won his heat, crossing the line in a time of 51.35 seconds. His fellow senior co-captain Anson Purdy (Wesfield, NJ) unfortunately did not fare so well, having to sidestep and hurdle two fallen runners costing him precious tenths of a second; but he finished strong and still was able to post a solid time of 53.58 seconds. Also competing in the 400m were freshmen Dan Sutherland (Highland Park, TX) and Josh Blount (Austin, TX) who, in their first collegiate race, posted times of 53.14 and 55.49 seconds respectively.
In a very competitive 200m dash, Rhodes demonstrated great depth, with all four runners finishing within .14 seconds of one another. Leading the way was Mervine in 23.47 seconds, followed by Stechler – 23.52 seconds, Palm – 23.55 seconds, and Dardenne – 23.61 seconds.
In the last event of the day, the 4x400m relay turned into a head-to-head battle with city rival the University of Memphis. The Rhodes team of Dardenne, Mervin, Purdy and Cook placed an impressive 7th overall finish with at time of 3:29.91 – snatching the heat victory away from the Memphis team on the home straightaway of the anchor leg. Also in the race, and posting a very solid time of 3:36.89 was a second Rhodes team comprised of Palm, Sutherland, Blount and senior Jeremy Moye (Ooltewah, TN).
The field event competitors had an equally successful day. Standout thrower, junior Andrew Maryott (East Dennis, MA), bested his performance from last year by several feet in the weight throw, throwing an impressive 48'1.75” with the 35lb implement. Also competing in the shot put, his throw of 41'9.75” placed him 12th overall in a field in which he was the lone Division III competitor. In the jumping events, Moye, in perhaps the most competitive event contested at the meet – the pole vault – nearly cleared the opening height of 13'00” on his last attempt. His long jump of 19'1.25” which equaled his personal best sets him up for a very promising foray into the decathlon come the outdoor track season. Also competing in the long jump was sophomore Alex Lippincott (Brookline, MA) whose distance of 20'11.75” placed him 2nd in his flight and 8th overall. His successful day continued in the high jump, where he placed an outstanding 5th with a jump of 6'4.75”. Rounding out the field events was Cook in the triple jump; his mark of 42'7.5”, good for 7th place, was a very good performance in what was a very competitive field.
As per tradition, the Kickoff Klassic is a non-scoring meet, but regardless, the individual performances from all the athletes made the first meet of the year a very successful one. With such strong showings across the board, the 2010 track season promises to be exciting and the team, with continued training and improvement, looks to be a strong contender for the SCAC Championship. The season takes a hiatus for winter break, but look for the Lynx to be back in action when they travel to Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN for the Engineer Invitational on January 30th.
RESULTS
