A surge of emotions struck the Lawrence track team as they competed in the MWC Track and Field Championships at Grinnell College in Iowa last weekend.
Lawrence’s athletes had to confront pathetic weather, malfunctioning timing systems, disqualifications and injuries, as well as the knowledge that this would be their last meet under the guidance of Coach Moira Ruhly.
Junior David Quinlan said, “So many little things that shouldn’t have happened did happen, because mentally we were drained. We’ve had to deal with a lot of adversity.”
Monmouth College dominated the meet on both the men’s and women’s sides. The Vikings were disappointed with the outcome of the event, yet some rays of light shown through the clouds, with a plethora of personal records being broken at the meet.
The women’s team finished seventh, a couple steps up from last year’s ninth-place finish. As captain Steph Kliethermes said, the team “peaked at the right time, which was shown by the number of PRs and that the points accumulated tripled last year’s meet.”
The women’s team saw outstanding performances by freshman Tatiana Bulat, who was second in the triple jump, and Joy Manweiler, who finished second in the 10,000-meter run.
The relay teams also cranked it up a notch, breaking the previous 4-by-400 meter time by an amazing 12 seconds.
Rebecca Glon broke her own school record in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet 2 inches, but was disappointed in not having helped the team in regard to point standings.
The men disappointed, finishing in last place, dropping from their fourth-place finish in the 2005 competition. Several Vikings did not meet their expectations – Chris McFarlane injured his hamstring, eliminating his hopes in the 100-meter dash; Phil Keith was disqualified from the steeplechase on a technicality; James Hahn, who ran the 400 hurdles with hopes of winning, finished in seventh place.
In contrast, freshman Derek Micke ran to third place in the 100-meter dash, while Russell Geisthardt ran the 800-meter run in 1:59.98 – meeting his season-long goal of breaking the two-minute mark in the event.
Performances aside, Lawrence won the event in one regard: as senior captain James Hahn put it, “We had the most fun of any team there.” The seniors, as well as Coach Ruhly, will be dearly missed in the seasons to come.
While most athletes are taking some time off to let their bodies recover, a few are taking advantage of the last-chance meets – opportunities to improve their times and
Track competes at Conference
