|
Marion, IN — As program records have continuously fallen this season for the Goshen College women’s track and field squad, perhaps the team’s lack of depth has been the only real hindrance of any nature.
When it comes to team scoring in the sport, quantity can matter almost as much as quality.
Goshen had plenty of the latter at this weekend’s Mid-Central Conference Championships at Indiana Wesleyan University, taking four first-place finishes while setting three new program records and two new MCC records in the process. Three athletes earned All-MCC honors, while another three hit NAIA National qualifying marks in varying events. Unfortunately for the 10-athlete squad, depth was a factor, as Goshen could only muster a fifth-place team finish (97 points) in a top-heavy overall breakdown.
“Any time you’re in a meet this size and this competitive, you’ve got to try to spread out your athletes to get as many (team) points as possible when you have the team size that we do,” said Rick Clark, Goshen head coach. “Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn’t. What we had this year were several tremendous performances, but we lost some points in certain areas due to fatigue or a lack of recovery time. It was still a very successful conference meet for us, as the team scoring was very competitive near the top.”
Indiana Wesleyan won the team championship with 195.5 points, causing a spread of just 98.5 points from first to fifth place. On the men’s side, 147 points separated first from fifth (click here for related article). Understanding that every point was critical, Goshen received powerhouse performances from three all-conference performers in senior Petrana Petkova and sophomores Deanna Kronk and Abri Houser.
“It was good to see our three all-conference athletes perform the way that they did,” Clark said. “I know Petrana would have liked to finish first in (both of her events), but Deanna and Abri more than made up for that with some incredible finishes in their events.”
Kronk was literally a one-woman wrecking crew over the weekend, taking first place in the hammer throw and the discus while setting new school records in both and a new conference record in the hammer. Kronk registered a distance of 156 feet, 9 inches in that event, absolutely shattering her old program record set earlier this season — 140 feet, 10 inches — while smashing a two-year old MCC record as well. Kronk’s mark bested that of 154 feet, 6 inches set in 2005 by an Indiana Wesleyan athlete, while her blue-ribbon heave of 133 feet, 11 inches in the discus broke her old school record of 129 feet, 11 inches as well.
Add on a fourth-place finish in the shot put — 36 feet, 5 and ¼ inches — and Kronk’s name literally dominated the weekend’s throwing events.
“Deanna’s winning throw in the hammer was an absolute monster,” Clark said. “It not only set a new school record, but it established a new MCC standard while also hitting the automatic qualifying mark for the NAIA outdoor nationals. Her winning throw in the discus was also impressive. She has literally rewritten record after record this year.”
Houser was not far behind her classmate, winning the 100-meter hurdles in a school- and MCC-record time :14.98, the first sub-fifteen second time that Houser has ever recorded. The clip was so fast that it broke a 14-year old MCC mark of :15.04 set by a Huntington athlete in 1993. Houser’s mark was also an automatic NAIA qualifier, while the fleet-footed sophomore finished second in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:06.14, just .52 seconds off the winning time in that race.
Houser’s winning time in the 100 hurdles was even closer — Indiana Wesleyan’s Ashley Ruffer finished in second place, just one hundredth of a second behind in :14.99.
“Abri’s win in the 100-meter hurdles was incredible, as both she and Ruffer were spectacular,” Clark said. “Later in the meet she came back to finish runner-up in the 400 hurdles. Needless to say, it was a very solid weekend for Abri Houser.”
Goshen leaned on Petkova in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs, but the All-American could register only one first-place tally, coming in the form of a 17:59.09 clip in the 5,000. That time was good for automatic NAIA Nationals qualification, while she took runner-up in the 10,000 (36:55.31) behind Taylor University’s Lolly York (36:31.49).
“Petrana won the 5,000 meters after being outkicked in the 10,000 where she had to settle for second,” Clark said. “(Senior) Laura Herr provided team depth with third place finishes in both of the long distance events, however.”
Herr’s times of 18:41.99 in the 5,000 and 37:36.45 in the 10,000 were the Leafs’ best finishes after Kronk’s, Houser’s and Petkova’s efforts, while sophomore Laura Harnish finished third in the 1,500-meter run (4:54.51). Freshman Rachael Baker took home fourth place in that event in a time of 4:56.96, while classmate Whitney Turner finished off the scoring positions in eighth place in a 5:00.48 clip.
Sophomore Rachel Versluis added a team point in the pole vault, registering a height of 9 feet event. Versluis joined Houser, Baker and Harnish for a fifth-place effort in the 4 X 400 relay team (4:12.80), while Goshen’s 4 X 800 relay squad of Baker, Harnish, Turner and freshman Tina Peters finished fourth in a clip of 9:43.81.
For a complete list of individual and team finishes and results at the MCC Championships, click here.
Goshen will next compete in the University of Toledo Rocket Open, a meet scheduled to take place Friday afternoon. The Leafs will then travel to Butler University on Saturday for the Butler University Twilight Meet.
|
Sophomore Deanna Kronk 