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Johnson City, TN — For the last 13 years, Goshen head track and field coach Rick Clark has worked to slowly build the Leafs’ program to an elite level.
In 2001, Clark witnessed Goshen’s first All-American performance, as 2002 graduate Ann Christenson claimed the honor in the shot put.
Given the program’s results in the years’ following Christenson’s feat — including this weekend’s performances at the 2007 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships — it’s safe to say the floodgates have opened.
Taking a program-record nine athletes to East Tennessee State University’s Memorial Center for the 26th annual national championships this weekend, Goshen boasted a pair of national championship performances, including an 11th-place team finish, the best result in program history. Freshman Tina Peters and senior Petrana Petkova became Goshen’s second and third NAIA National Champions in any sport, claiming wins in the 3,000-meter racewalk and 5,000-meter run, respectively.
Peters and Petkova are the school’s first female national champions, as they join former Goshen track great John Karanja, who won the outdoor national title in the 400-meter hurdles in both 2002 and 2003, as the Leafs’ elite.
The weekend results were as routine as they were impressive for Clark, however, who has now led his program to three national championship performances and 21 All-American efforts in the last seven years.
“First of all, the most exciting thing about this is how I feel about the kids,” Clark said following this weekend’s title meet. “They have worked extremely hard, and now they have the honor of being called national champions. For us to be blessed with two national champions in the same meet and highly competitive performances by our other competing athletes is very satisfying. Our athletes and our coaching staff have worked very, very hard. This was really an outstanding weekend for our entire program.”
Petkova’s win in the 5,000-meter event was the latest blip in what has been an incredible career as a collegian, as the senior from Bulgaria won the race in a time of 17:44.99, slightly off her program-record clip of 17:19.53 she set last year. Petkova narrowly edged Westmont College’s Anna Stumbo for the title, as Stumbo turned in a clip of 17:46.03, finishing just off Petkova’s heels.
The national title was Petkova’s first in either track and field or cross country, while she added to her collection of 12 combined All-American honors in the sports, the most of any athlete in Goshen College history.
Petkova, who actually qualified for five different events in this weekend’s national championships, was urged by Clark to only participate in the 5,000-meter run, in order to focus more intently on — what Clark calls — her forte event.
A national title later, and that appeared to be the correct decision.
“Petrana waited until the final 600 meters to take command in what was a slowly-paced race up to that point,” Clark said. “She took runner-up honors in the indoor 5,000 and the outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 last year, so this win was especially satisfying in her final indoor meet ever. I couldn’t be happier for her.”
While Clark will savor Petkova’s talents for only a few more months — Goshen’s outdoor season begins in two weeks — a potentially mind-boggling three and a half years could be in store for Peters, the Leafs’ first female freshman to lay claim to a national title. Perhaps the only thing more impressive than Peters’ winning of the national championship was in the manner in which she did it: Peters finished the 3,000-meter racewalk in a time of 14:50.35, over 20 seconds better than the runner up, senior Amanda Sullivan of Roberts Wesleyan University (15:10.47).
“Petrana may have waited until the end of her race to take control, but it was a different story in the racewalk on Friday,” Clark said. “Tina took over after the 1K mark and moved decidedly away from the field to earn her first national championship and All-American honor. Her final time was a bit slower than her previous season-best, as she waited to see if someone was going to lead the field early. It was a very smart race from Tina.”
With Petkova and Peters winning titles in their respective events, a slew of brilliant performances from Goshen’s other competing athletes did not go unnoticed. Sophomores Abri Houser and Laura Harnish turned in a pair of eighth-place efforts — just two slots away from All-American honors in NAIA indoor track and field — in the pentathlon and 1,000-meter run, respectively. Houser garnered 3083 points in the pentathlon, capping her first season of competing in the event. Harnish, meanwhile, finished the 1,000-meter run in a time of 3:03.87, just 3.51 seconds off the sixth-place clip. Harnish’s pace was also just 2.23 seconds off the Leafs’ school-record clip of 3:01.64, set by Petkova earlier this season.
Harnish advanced to Saturday’s finals after posting a 3:02.98 clip in Friday’s preliminary second-heat. Houser — who also participated in the 60-meter hurdle event — finished 12th overall after qualifying for the finals.
“Both Abri and Laura just missed scoring, and they would have had this been outdoors where the top eight achieve All-Amercian status,” Clark said. “Abri put in a very solid performance in her first attempt at the multi-event pentathlon with a personal-best performance. She had personal bests in the shot put and 800-meter run during the competition. Abri had enough energy left to come back the next day and make it through two rounds of the 60-meter hurdles. She is a fighter.
“Laura, meanwhile, had very determined runs in the 1,000 where she ran her two best times ever in the event,” Clark continued. “She knew she would have to have that in order to be competitive, and she really was. It was good to see her compete in the manner that she did.”
Senior Laura Herr and sophomore Deanna Kronk rounded off Goshen’s individual performers at the meet, as Herr finished 13th in the 5,000-meter run (18:54.13) and Kronk 18th in the weight throw (46 feet, 10 inches). While both marks were not career bests for either, Clark said he was pleased with their results.
“Laura Herr and Deanna Kronk put up very solid results in their first indoor national championships experience,” Clark said. “Herr ran her third-best time in the slow-paced race while Kronk had her second-best meet of her career in the weight throw.”
Perhaps the squad’s only bitter moment of the weekend came in Thursday’s distance medley relay event, as Goshen’s unit of Petkova, Harnish, freshman Rachael Baker and freshman Whitney Turner suffered a dropped baton during one of the exchanges. That resulted in a 12th-place, 12:52.80 finish, far off the group’s 12:33.83 school-record set earlier this season.
With the event’s 5,000-meter run trimmed into a single event — there were no prelims after a last-second drop out — Petkova replaced sophomore Rachel Versluis in the Leafs’ DMR squad, as Versluis has been battling lower leg issues for the better part of two weeks.
“The dropped baton in the trials of the distance medley relay was really the only down side of the meet for us,” Clark said. “That deterred our efforts to get into the finals, but it was still a great, great weekend for our program.”
Oklahoma Baptist University won the women’s team title, securing 53.33 points in edging out Wayland Baptist University, which finished with 51 total points. Goshen’s 20 points helped the team to a program-record 11th-place final result, finishing just one place behind 2006 National Champion Missouri Baptist University (30 points).
For complete results of the 2007 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, click here. For detailed information regarding the weekend’s meet, click here.
Goshen will now return to training for the better part of the next two weeks, as the squad will open the outdoor portion of its schedule on Saturday, Mar. 24 at the Dick Small Invite on the campus of Defiance College.
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Freshman Tina Peters
