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MAY
12 — Leafs
Ink Two-Time Kansas State Champion
Newton
(Kan.) standout Houser to make immediate
impact in 2005-2006 |
Newton, KS — With a trio of
current Goshen College women’s track and field athletes training
hard to compete in the NAIA National Championships in just two
weeks, Goshen head coach Rick Clark has been working to ensure
that the future of the program will continue that trend. The Leafs
announced Thursday that 2005 Newton High School (Newton, Kan.)
graduate Abri Houser has signed a letter of intent to attend and
continue her track career at Goshen College beginning this fall,
giving Goshen a two-time Kansas state champion in one of the program’s
biggest signings in recent memory.
“I am extremely excited to have Abri Houser coming to Goshen
College,” Clark
said. “She is a quality individual who has excelled on the
track and in the classroom and I look forward to her doing the
same thing at the collegiate level. She certainly will be a significant
addition to our women’s track program and I have no doubt
that she will be a key contributor to our entire campus community
at Goshen College.”
Houser has compiled one of the most decorated careers in Kansas
high school track history over the past four years, winning the
state title in the 100-meter hurdles as a sophomore and taking
the 300-meter hurdle state championship in her junior season. She
also finished as the state runner-up in the 300 hurdles as a sophomore
and in the 100 hurdles as a junior. She competed in four events
at the Kansas state championships as a sophomore and in five as
a junior, while it was apparent early on that Houser was destined
for greatness on the track: As a freshman, she qualified for both
the 300-meter and 100-meter hurdle state championships, finishing
third and fourth, respectively. All of this, and Houser hasn’t
even finished her high school career yet. She has again qualified
for the Kansas state championships in the 300-meter and 100-meter
hurdle competitions as a senior, and will compete in those championships
in the upcoming weeks.
“Abri is already running times in the hurdles that can translate
into national level performances in the NAIA with personal bests
of :14.47 in the 100 hurdles and :44.70 in the 300 hurdles,” Clark
said. “She has also displayed interest in working at the
heptathlon at the collegiate level.”
Houser has been equally as impressive off the track, maintaining
an exceptional academic record in the classroom while serving her
school of 1,130 students as well. Houser is currently Newton High
School’s student-body president, serves as a member of student
council and participates in the National Honor Society and German
Honor Society. She is on a leadership team within Netwon’s
Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization, and is co-coordinator
of the annual “Blood Mobile,” a blood drive put on
by Newton High School. Houser plans on majoring in communications
once at Goshen.
“Abri is the type of person that offers a positive influence
in whatever she participates in,” Clark said. “Her
extra curricular activities in high school only begin to demonstrate
the type of balance and maturity that she has in place.”
Houser will only help to bolster a Leafs’ women’s squad
that has been limited only in overall roster numbers. Senior Melissa
Lehman (10,000-meter run and marathon), junior Erin Williams (pole
vault),
sophomore Petrana Petkova (5,000-meter run and 10,000-meter run)
will all participate in the 2005 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field
Championships May 26-28, helping add to Goshen’s storied
program. Clark has led the Leafs’ track and field program
to unparalleled levels of success during his 11-year tenure as
Goshen’s head coach, taking 16 different athletes to indoor
or outdoor NAIA National Championship meets over the past five
years. Clark has coached six All-American finishers, and boasted
a two-time national champion in the men’s 400-meter hurdles.
Houser joins Penn High School (Mishawaka, Ind.) standout Betsy
Freeman (click here for
Freeman article) as the Leafs’ two
signed recruits to date. Check back to this website for complete
recruiting information throughout the summer months. For a complete
look at current Goshen women’s track and field news, click here.
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  Abri
Houser
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