Goshen, IN — As May-term classes finished last week and the general population of Goshen College departed campus for the summer, five Goshen College athletes stayed behind with one destination engrained in their thoughts:

Fresno, California, site of the 2006 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships.

Juniors Petrana Petkova and Laura Herr along with freshman Abri Houser joined male teammates Jason Young (junior) and Jake Gillette (sophomore) as Goshen’s five qualifiers for the national championship meet, as the group boarded a westward plane this morning for the weekend’s three-day event held at Fresno Pacific University’s Cockerham Track complex. The five-some is the largest group of athletes Goshen has taken to the outdoor championships since the 2003 season, when three women and two men made the trip to Olathe, Kansas. In that run, then-sophomore John Karanja successfully defended his national title in the 400-meter hurdles, leading three of the five athletes to All-American status (click here for a 2003 national championship recap).

Three years later, Goshen again has five athletes primed for success, led by Petkova’s attempt to become a three-time All-American in the outdoor event for her 10th All-American honor overall. While extraordinary, it all has become old-hat to 12th-year head coach Rick Clark, who has coached athletes to 90 national championship events and turned out 15 All-American performers and a two-time national champ (Karanja) during his tenure as the Leafs’ program leader.

“(Going to the national meet) is a lot of fun for our kids,” Clark said before heading to California Monday morning to serve on the NAIA Track & Field Coaches Association Outdoor Games Committee. “With it being in central California this year, it makes it even more enjoyable from a travel perspective. Competitively, it’s just another level. It’s always a challenge to try and prepare our first-time athletes for just what they’ll experience once they step on the track in a meet of this size and magnitude.”

Petkova is the only of this year’s qualifiers to not fall into that category, as the most decorated athlete in Goshen track and field history looks for her fourth outdoor All-American honor — and 10th overall — this weekend. After finishing third in the 10,000-meter race at last year’s outdoor championships, Clark said that Petkova hopes to better that mark this year. Petkova will also run in the 5,000-meter run this weekend, an event that she has been training hard at, according to Clark.

“Petrana is our lone veteran for outdoor nationals and has been All-American the last two years,” Clark said. “She has worked on her distance speed and tempo this year and we feel she has herself ready to perform at personal best levels which should amount to being in the top of the competition in both races. Her experience and dedicated training certainly has her ready.”

Ranked in the nation’s top 10 in both the 5,000-meter and the 10,000-meter event this season, Petkova looks to add to her incredible collegiate resume this weekend. Running in the 10.000-meter finals at 8:35 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) Thursday night and the 5,000-meter semis Friday night at 6:40 and the possible finals Saturday night at 5:10 p.m., Petkova looks to add her 10th and 11th All-American honors overall. After picking up cross country, indoor track and outdoor trackAll-American honors at Central Methodist University as a freshman, Petkova has since added two in cross country, two in indoor track and two in outdoor track as a Maple Leaf athlete, the most honors in Goshen history for a male or female performer. Her 17:38.20 clip in the 5,000 and her 36:17.20 time in the 10,000 stand as Goshen program records.

“Petrana’s experience not only helps herself for this meet, but our other athletes as well,” Clark said. “She has talked with our other athletes about what to expect (at the meet) and how to get the most out of yourself despite all of the hype and hoopla going on around the meet.”

Houser — the program’s lone freshman qualifier — has been outstanding this season, leading to hype and hoopla in her own right. Smashing the school records in both the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles events this year, Houser will run in both races this weekend. Her best time in the 400-meter hurdles (1:05.76) has her ranked 18th in the nation in the event. Her school-record clip of :15.30 in the 100-meter hurdles was enough to qualify her in that race as well.

“Abri has made very good progress this season and has worked hard on correcting some small technical aspects in her races,” Clark said. “This will be a very good experience for her and although she competed at indoor nationals this year, outdoors is a different type of event. It will be exciting to see how she handles it. We are looking forward to a very positive experience.”

Junior Laura Herr makes the trip as the Leafs’ final female qualifier, competing in the women’s marathon along with sophomore Jake Gillette (competing in the men’s marathon). Herr currently ranks sixth in the nation in the event, while Gillette looks to add to the family legacy: 2005 Goshen graduate and older brother Justin Gillette was a three-time All-American in the marathon event at outdoor track and field championships, finishing among the nation’s best in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

“Laura and Jake are both as ready as they can be for the marathon,” Clark said. “They have both gained a tremendous amount of distance strength since last year and they have done the proper physical and mental preparation needed for this race. We look for both of them to run a smart race which should make them competitive within the field. We are hoping that heat and weather conditions won't play a role in their performance and since it is run early in the morning (6:00 am Pacific Standard Time) and we feel that they should be prepared to deal with the situation. Laura is currently ranked sixth in the marathon field although there are others who have qualified by running a half-marathon so it is always difficult to tell how strong some of those athletes will be over the entire distance.”

Junior Jason Young makes his first outdoor national appearance in the 400-meter race after qualifying and participating at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships this February in the same event. Young’s season-best time of :48.61 came at this year’s Mid-Central Conference Championships, leading to a runner-up finish and a pace just off that of the Goshen record books (Joe Company holds the program mark with a :48.52 clip set in 1996).

“Jason will be competing in the 400-meter dash and that is always a fast and furious race at the nationals,” Clark said. “Jason had a very good indoor season where he qualified for indoor nationals for the first time, so he has that experience to draw from. He ran a bit tired during the first part of the outdoor season but came on strong at the conference meet where he had a tremendous finishing kick to barely finish runner-up. If he runs with that type of intensity then he will compete well in Fresno.”

All-five Goshen athletes will arrive in California on Tuesday night, and return to Goshen Sunday evening following the three-day event at Fresno Pacific. Clark said that while they will attempt to enjoy the Pacific valley as much as possible, the time will be limited.

“That’s the thing about this event,” Clark said. “It really is time consuming. We’ll try to give the kids some time to see the sights, but most of our time will be spent training, attending luncheons and meetings and then competing in the events. In all, this trip is a great way to finish up what has been a really good season for us. Hopefully we can compete at the very top of our competitive range.”

Check back to this website for updates and results following the national championship meet. For detailed information surrounding the meet, click here.

Goshen College 2006 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Itinerary
(All times listed are Pacific Standard Time)
(Complete, detailed meet information can be viewed by clicking here)

Thursday, May 25
2:25 p.m. — Women’s 100-meter hurdles trials (Houser)
3:25 p.m. — Men’s 400-meter trials (Young)
5:10 p.m. — Women’s 400-meter hurdles trials (Houser)
8:35 p.m. — Women’s 10,000-meter finals (Petkova)

Friday, May 26
1:20 p.m. — Women’s 100-meter hurdles semifinals (Houser)
3:10 p.m. — Men’s 400-meter semifinals (Young)
4:25 p.m. — Women’s 100-meter hurdles finals (Houser)
5:15 p.m. — Women’s 400-meter hurdles finals (Houser)
6:40 p.m. — Women’s 5,000-meter semifinals (Petkova)

Saturday, May 27
6:00 a.m. — Women’s and Men’s marathon (Herr, Gillette)
3:50 p.m. — Women’s 400-meter hurdles finals (Houser)
4:20 p.m. — Men’s 400-meter finals (Young)
5:10 p.m. — Women’s 5,000-meter finals (Petkova)