Coach Jason Scott Headed to USA Indoor Nationals

Assistant XC/Track & Field Coach Jason Scott

With the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships looming next week, Assistant XC/Track & Field Coach Jason Scott is heading to Albuquerque, New Mexico to compete at the USA Indoor National Championship meet on Saturday, February 27. Coach Scott has qualified in the pole vault where his current season best mark of 5.41m (17'9") ranks him 10th nationally heading into an event that will include multiple US Olympians.

RunHLG took some time to talk with Coach Scott as he prepares to return to the Indoor National meet, where he took home 4th place honors in 2009.

Describe your mindset as you get set to compete at USA Indoor Nationals: I want to put together everything I have been working on and focus on what I need to do and, most importantly, be a great witness and glorify the Lord.

How has competing in last year's championships prepared you for this year's event? It has helped to build my confidence that I can compete with the best and that anything can happen.

What are your goals/expectations for this year's championship meet? Stay focused and get on my big poles and, Lord willing, vault over 18 feet.

You will be competing at an altitude of around 5000 feet. How does that affect your preparation? I will need to try to limit my warm-up and keep my heart rate stable. I just need to keep things light until I make the necessary adjustments.

You are known for your interesting uniforms, which often contain Scripture references. What is the motive behind your competition apparel and how has it been received? I know that I can't do anything without the Lord's help and want others to see that as well. The only reason I am out there vaulting is to glorify Him and use the talents He has given me.

Describe your experience at HLG so far: It has been a great atmosphere to both coach and train. The team has been really fun to work with along with having a great coach that gives me the flexibility to pursue my dreams. I feel like we are a big family and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the season has in store.

Trio Headed to Indoor Nationals

Carissa Eichmeyer, Philiph Tonui, and Cara Grinde

Even though the HLG track team concluded its second ever indoor track season, the work is not done for a trio of athletes who have become the school's first ever qualifiers for the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, which take place March 4-6 in Johnson City, TN.

Junior Cara Grinde became the first field event athlete to ever qualify for nationals and will represent HLG in the pole vault. Cara boasts a season best of 11'3" and that mark ranks her 15th in the nation heading into the national meet.

Junior Carissa Eichmeyer set an automatic qualifying standard in the 3,000m race walk, with a season best effort of 18:04.22. That time has Carissa ranked 14th in the nation in the event.

Sophomore Philiph Tonui became the last Trojan track athlete to qualify for indoor nationals and he did so in style, qualifying for two events at last weekend's AMC Indoor Championships. Philiph, who became HLG's first ever cross country national qualifier back in the fall, will compete in both the 5,000m and mile events. Philiph's 5K time qualifying time was 15:13.45 while his mark in the mile was 4:22.47.

Coach Comments: We are absolutely stoked and feel very blessed to have Carissa, Cara, and Philiph earn the right to compete at Indoor Nationals. While our track program is still young and developing, we have some tremendous talent and it is great to see their hard work pay off. I truly believe that this will be the beginning of many national qualifiers to come for our team and I know that this group will go to Tennessee and represent Hannibal-LaGrange very well.

Stay tuned to the blog as we will give frequent recaps throughout the event.

Women 2nd, Men 4th at Inaugural AMC Indoor Meet

RESULTS

The Hannibal-LaGrange track & field team traveled to Columbia, MO on Friday to compete in the inaugural American Midwest Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship meet, which was held in conjunction with the Missouri Collegiate Challenge on the campus of the University of Missouri. There was plenty to celebrate if you were a fan of the Trojans as the day was filled with outstanding performances.

THE WOMEN
Despite the fact that this is only the second year that HLG has sponsored indoor track & field, the women's team stepped up to the challenge of a tough conference field to take home a second place team finish. On the track, the team was led by the runner-up finishes of Jasman Edmond in the 60m dash and Heather Dixon in the 5,000m run. Sindy Chavez made her track debut and took home third place in the 60 meter hurdles. Samantha Schettler took home a third place finish in the 1,000m run and the team of Sarah Erickson, Amanda Miller, Holland McCoy, and Heather Dixon raced to a third place finish in the Distance Medley Relay.

The team shined in the field events where Cara Grinde took home conference champion honors in the pole vault, with a mark of 3.30m. Teammates Amanda Miller and Danielle Sturgeon took home 2nd and 3rd in that event, respectively, to also earn All-Conference recognition. Jocelyn Bright had a great day in the jumps finishing as the runner-up in both the long jump (4.41m) and triple jump (10.08m), with the latter being a new personal best. Brittni Bastean finished 3rd in the high jump and Abbie Herrold placed second in the weight throw to claim All-Conference honors in those events. Caitlin McCoy had a great overall day, with 4 top-5 finishes on the day.

All in all, the women had 15 All-Conference performances to go along with 6 new school records.

THE MEN
The men's team was the smallest to take part in the meet, but represented HLG very well. The team was led by standout Philiph Tonui, who took home second-place honors in both the 5,000m run (15:13.45) and the mile (4:22.47). Both times met the qualifying standard for the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships. Philiph also anchored the 4x400m relay team that finished 3rd and took home All-Conference honors. John Anderson had a solid day finishing 4th in the 60m Hurdles (9.50) while leading off the 3rd place finishing 4x400m relay squad.

In the field events, Scott Siemsen proved to be a standout placing second in the pole vault, 3rd in the long jump, and 4th in the high jump, in addition to being part of the 4x400m relay team. Brett Jones took home conference championship honors in the pole vault and also competed on the 4x400m team.

The men solidified 6 All-Conference honors along with 2 new school record performances.

2010 AMC Indoor Conference Champion - Women
Cara Grinde - Pole Vault

2010 AMC Indoor All-Conference - Women
Jasman Edmond - 60m
Sindy Chavez - 60m Hurdles
Samantha Schettler - 1,000m
Carissa Eichmeyer - 3,000m Racewalk
Heather Dixon - 5,000m & DMR
Amanda Miller - Pole Vault & DMR
Caitlin McCoy - Triple Jump & DMR
Sarah Erickson - DMR
Holland McCoy - DMR
Jocelyn Bright - Triple Jump & Long Jump
Eva Knowles - Long Jump
Danielle Sturgeon - Pole Vault
Abbie Herrold - Weight Throw
Brittni Bastean - High Jump

2010 AMC Indoor Conference Champion - Men
Brett Jones - Pole Vault

2010 AMC Indoor All-Conference - Men
Philiph Tonui - 5,000m, mile, & 4x400m
Scott Siemsen - Long Jump, Pole Vault, 4x400m
Brett Jones - 4x400m
John Anderson - 4x400m

Great Performances highlight weekend for HLG Track & Field

Led by the national qualifying effort of Carissa Eichmeyer, a small group of Hannibal-LaGrange track & field athletes put out some tremendous performances over the past weekend.

A trio of Trojans travelled to Ames, IA to compete in the Iowa State Classic, a meet that was filled with elite-level talent. Sophomore Philiph Tonui stood out at the meet, setting three new personal records and just missing on setting several national qualifying standards. On Friday, Philiph, took 8th in the 3,000m race with a time of 8:54.47. The following day, Philiph came out and ran a 4:23.86 in the mile, placing 22nd with a time that is less than a second under the indoor national qualifying standard. Less than an hour later, he took to the track once again in the 800meter race and set his third school record with a gutsy effort of 1:59.10.

Sophomore Jasman Edmond competed in the 60 meter sprint and, despite stumbling out of the blocks, raced to a school record time of 8.22 seconds. Cara Grinde competed in the pole vault, finishing 23rd with a vault of 3.20m (10'6")

Down in Marshall, MO, Carissa Eichmeyer got the Missouri Valley Invite running events started right as she sliced nearly a minute off her 3,000m racewalk time, posting a time of 18:04.22. That mark is an automatic qualifying time for the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National meet and ranks her 13th in the nation in the event.

More personal best efforts came later in the meet as Jocelyn Bright triple jumped to a mark of 9.82m, good for 4th place. Scott Siemsen set a new indoor team record in the high jump with a leap of 1.75m and his mark of 5.58m in the long jump was a new personal best. Gheron Dorsett had a solid day in the throwing event finishing 9th in the shot put with a new school record mark of 11.53m, while taking 8th in the weight throw with a toss of 11.98m.

The team will head to the University of Missouri on Friday to compete in the American Midwest Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship meet.

Trojans Show Improvement at Illinois College

The HLG Trojan track & field team returned to Illinois College on Saturday for the Jim Green Classic. The team's effort was highlighted by 8 new team records and 15 personal best finishes.

On the men's side, Gheron Dorsett matched last weekend's school records in the weight throw with a new school record performance in the shot put. His toss of 11.30m placed 16th in the event. Brett Jones continued his improvement in the pole vault, taking 7th in the event with a new personal best of 3.80m.

Philiph Tonui struggled with a side cramp throughout his 5000m race but still managed to finish 3rd with a time of 15:43.62. Philiph bounced back in the later in the day by taking home a 6th place finish in a very deep and talented 800m race. His time of 1:59.76 is a new school record for the event.

On the women's side there were numerous top-10 finishes, highlighted by Cara Grinde's victory in the pole vault (3.35m). Holland McCoy set a new personal best mark of 2.60m to finish second in the pole vault. Jocelyn Bright made great strides in both the long (4.46m) and triple (9.53m) jump, with 10th place finishes in both. Eva Knowles, competing in her first meet of the season, tied Jocelyn for 10th place in the long jump.

Abbie Herrold took 8th in the shot put with a mark of 9.96m and Jessica Curry made a big improvement in the weight throw, setting a new personal best with an effort of 11.00m, good for 13th in the competitive event.

Jasman Edmond had another good outing in the short sprints, placing 7th in the 55m dash with a time of 7.77. Sarah Erickson bounced back with a strong effort in the mile run, finishing 4th with a time of 5:53.46. Heather Dixon finished 5th in the 5000m race with a time of 20:59.61.

The women also competed in two relays for the first time in school history. The quartet of Amanda Miller, Jessica Curry, Holland McCoy, and Caitlin McCoy finished 3rd in the Sprint Medley Relay (1600m) with a time of 4:54.49. Shortly thereafter, Sarah Erickson, Liz Clute, Samantha Schettler, and Heather Dixon teamed up to place 3rd in the Distance Medley Relay with a time of 14:23.93.

This weekend a select group of athletes will be travelling for competition. Carissa Eichmeyer will compete in the 3000m race walk on Friday at Missouri Valley College, while the rest will journey to Ames, Iowa for a meet at Iowa State.

Solid Showing for HLG at IWU Titan Open

RESULTS

The Trojan track & field team travelled to Bloomington, Illinois over the weekend to take part in the Illinois Wesleyan Titan Open this past Saturday. Over the course of the day the team netted 13 top-10 finishes and 11 team record performances.

On the women's side, pole vaulter Cara Grinde had another solid outing, taking second with a mark of 3.35m (11'0"). This was Cara's third consecutive meet completing a vault above the NAIA qualifying mark for nationals and she currently ranks as the #12 pole vaulter in NAIA. Cara's vault teammate Amanda Miller took 4th in the event with a season best effort of 2.89m (9'6").

Jasman Edmond once again led the way in the sprints and edged ever so closer to attaining a qualifying mark in the 55m dash, where she ran to a 6th place finish in a time of 7.62. Jasman followed that race up with a 13th place finish (27.59) in a very competitive event.

Senior Heather Dixon had a great day in the distance events, setting school records in both the mile (5:49.21 - 8th place) and the 3000m (11:33.77 - 11th).

In the throwing events, Abbie Herrold had a great day in the shot put, placing 10th with a throw of 10.31m (33'10").

For the men, Philiph Tonui shined once again, as he produced a runner-up finish in a great mile race (4:27.36), which followed his 3rd place effort in the 5000m (15:36.20). Both times erased school records that he already owned.

John Anderson knocked half a second off of his best 55m Hurdle time, finishing 17th in 8.67 seconds.

The men's 4x400m relay team of John Anderson, Brett Jones, Philiph Tonui, and Ben Griffin broke the school record in that event, finishing 9th with a time of 3:36.36.

In the men's field events, Gheron Dorsett had a great effort in the men's weight throwt, throwing for a best of 12.28m (40'3.5"). Brett Jones set a new personal best in the pole vault, going 3.73m (12'3") which was good for 11th place.

Two members of the coaching staff also performed well on Saturday. Coach Jason Scott won the men's pole vault with a personal best mark of 5.41m (17'9"), a height that should qualify him for the USA Indoor National meet at the end of February. At last year's USA Indoors, Coach Scott finished 4th overall in that event. Also, Coach Beth Scott took part in the 800m race and finished 3rd with a time of 2:19.37.

The team will head back to the Land of Lincoln for a return trip to Illinois College for the Jim Green Classic this Saturday. Among the highlights will be a number of Trojans attempting to attain NAIA indoor qualifying standards including Philiph Tonui (5000m), Carissa Eichmeyer (3000m Racewalk), Jasman Edmond (55m), and Brittni Bastean (High Jump)