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Fort Hays throws itself a win in quadrangular
4/5/2008
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net.
Andreas Maheras, the Fort Hays State University throwing coach for the track and field program, has worked heavily with the Tiger throwers on their technique in recent weeks.
"Technique is a vehicle, the way I see it, to have quick improvements," he said.
Helped by Maheras, several of the Tiger throwers improved from last Saturday's Alex Francis Classic, the first meet of the spring season. The better marks helped Fort Hays win five out of eight throwing events against Pittsburg State University, Chadron State (Neb.) College and University of Nebraska-Kearney, and capture the FHSU Quadrangular on Saturday at Lewis Field Stadium.
In daul meet scoring, the Fort Hays women finished with the two highest point totals. On the men's side, only Pittsburg State finished higher.
Senior Brady Maska, a four-time All-American, and the prohibitive favorite to win the national championship in the discus this spring, took home three gold medals in the shot put (15.97 meters), hammer throw (57.92) and the discus (54.50 meters). He improved his discus and hammer throws from last week.
Junior Lindsay McCormick, the runner-up in Div. II last season in the javelin, won the event for the second consecutive week with a throw of 42.76 meters, the second best of her career.
"It is really early in the season and Lindsay only has room to go up from now on," Maheras said.
Sophomore Garrett Edgar also won the javelin for the second straight week (61.75 meters).
"He has definitely improved from last year," Maheras said. "He is using his penultimate step way more efficiently. He gives a lot more opportunity to whip the javelin instead of just throwing the javelin. That is a big improvement."
The Tigers finished 1-2-3 in the men's javelin with Edgar, senior Kevin Jilka and freshman Adam Capps. In the women's javelin, they also went 1-2-3 with McCormick, and freshmen Amy Wilson, and junior Jayci Peters.
Sophomore Christa Bergmann was third in the shot put, hammer throw and discus.
"Everyone is improving technique-wise and that makes them throw further," Maheras said.
On the track, Fort Hays was led by junior Bryan Haynes. He won the 100 meters (10.43 seconds) and was the anchor leg in the Tigers' gold medal winning time in the 400-meter relay. However, Haynes, the national champion in the indoor 200 meters in March, was bothered by his chronic hamstring problems and finished second in the 200 on Saturday.
Freshman ShaRonda Law won the 100 meters (12.31 seconds) and junior Jay Lindal helped the Tigers go 1-2-3 in the 5,000-meter run.
Lindal, who was neck-and-neck with teammate Aaron Yoder, won the race in 15 minutes and 42.90 seconds, nearly four seconds faster than Yoder.
Haynes, who has already qualified for nationals in the 100 and 200 meters, wasn't concerned with his second place finish to Chadron's Mike Smith. Smith, who Haynes beat in Arizona high school track and field meets, ran 20.98 seconds to Haynes' 21.14.
"This is kind of like a rivalry," Haynes said with a smile. "He is pretty pumped right now."
Saturday, though, was a stepping stone to the Div. II Challenge in Emporia, a meet that will feature Smith and Emporia State freshman Kenton Lonberger, who beat Haynes at the indoor conference championships.
On Saturday, Haynes focused on improving his start - "the drive phase" - in the 100 meters and running the curve in the 200 meters.
"I wanted to work on technique stuff this week," he said. "If I get first or second or a good time, it doesn't matter. Next week, the Div. II challenge, that is the big meet."
McCormick has fought a cold and a nagging cough that has bothered her the last few weeks and during the competition.
"I can't get rid of it," she said.
She was behind after the first throw to Kearney's Kristen Poljansek.
Between the first and second throw, she talked with Maheras and uncorked her winning toss.
"He was wanting me to not throw early and stay back," McCormick said.
The toss was more than a meter better than her winning throw and NCAA provisional mark last week at the Alex Francis Classic.
"It was a good performance, yes," Maheras said.
And an improvement -- just like many of the Fort Hays' throwers did on Saturday.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| BB | 5/11 | Central Missouri | L 4-2 |
| BB | 5/10 | Missouri Western | W 4-3 |
| BB | 5/09 | Emporia State | L 6-5 |
| BB | 5/04 | Pittsburg State | W 17-5 |
| BB | 5/04 | Pittsburg State | L 4-3 |
| BB | 5/03 | Pittsburg State | L 15-7 |
| BB | 5/03 | Pittsburg State | L 5-4 |
| SB | 5/02 | Central Missouri | L 3-1 |
| SB | 5/02 | Missouri Western | W 3-2 |
| SB | 5/01 | Pittsburg State | W 6-0 |
