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Tigers up to the Challenge
4/13/2008
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
As he walked to the infield after the 200 meters last Saturday at the FHSU Quadrangular, Fort Hays State University junior sprinter Bryan Haynes was already looking forward to this weekend's Div. II challenge at Emporia State University.
"It's going to be a big meet," he said.
Haynes, along with senior thrower Brady Maska and the Tigers' strong javelin teams, will lead Fort Hays into the Challenge. The competition at Emporia, which starts today for the Tigers, will feature all but two of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association schools, several Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squads, and Lincoln (Mo.) University, perennial national champs. Because of the weather, the meet was pushed back several days and Fort Hays was to travel east this morning.
"It is the biggest one at our level that we have gone to so far as far as competition level and high quality," Tiger coach Dennis Weber said.
Haynes, the 200-meter indoor champion and a national qualifier in the 100- and 200-meter dashes already this spring, will face several of the best runners in the country, including Emporia State freshman Kenton Lonberger, who defeated Haynes in the 60- and 200-meter dashes to win the MIAA indoor championships.
Chadron State (Neb.) College's Mike Smith, a high school rival of Haynes in Arizona, also will be at Emporia. Smith defeated Haynes to win the 200 last weekend at the Quadrangular. Haynes, who is the No. 1 ranked 100-meter sprinter according to times posted on trackshark.com, a collegiate track Web site, will only run the 200 this weekend.
Haynes is ranked No. 2 in the nation in the 200-meter dash (21.29 seconds), a tenth of a second behind Damein White, a junior from Cal State-Los Angeles. Lonberger also is ranked among the national leaders with a season-best time of 21.46 seconds.
Haynes must stay healthy, though, to have a chance at winning the meet. He has been bothered by chronic hamstring problems for months and finished a little slower in the 200 at the end of the Quadrangular. Haynes, one of Div. II's top kickoff returners, has been waking up before dawn to lift with the football team, going to school and then heading to track practice. It's a schedule that doesn't leave a lot of time for recovery.
"Right now, it is up to the football coaches," he said after the 200-meter dash last weekend. "I am kind of in their hands right now. Hopefully -- they are actually out here right now -- and they will kind of lighten up on my loads. ... It kind of wears and tears on the body, but it is all right, though."
Maska has a chance to win all three throwing events at the Challenge. A four-time All-American and a favorite to win the discus this spring, Maska has qualified automatically in all three events and also ranks in the top four nationally in the shot put, discus and hammer throw, according to trackshark.com. He is the only one in the nation that ranks in the top four in all three events. He will face Pittsburg State University's Braden Hayes, who finished second to Maska in the shot put and discus at the Quadrangular, again at the Challenge.
Dan Yoder, one of the Tigers' top distance runners, could use the Challenge to springboard into the national meet. Yoder, who took a medical redshirt in the indoor season after he missed a month because of a pulled muscle, finished fourth in the 800 and third in the 1,600 at the Quadrangular.
"Stepping stone in the right direction to be where I am at the end of the season," he said. "I am little behind, but it is coming back."
Sophomore Garrett Edgar and junior Lindsay McCormick lead the javelin teams that have swept every competition so far this season ¬-- but will face stiffer competition at the Challenge. Edgar, who won both the season-opening Alex Francis Classic/Fort Hays Invitational and the Quadrangular, is seventh in the nation. Kyle Jilka is ninth in the country and Adam Capps is 10th, and all three have already qualified for nationals. McCormick ranks seventh with a season-best throw of 42.76 meters and freshman Kendra Matteson also has qualified.
"We just want them to keep improving," Weber said.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| TS | 04/06 | Emporia State | L 8-1 |
| SB | 03/30 | Panhandle State | W 10-2 (5 inn.) |
| SB | 03/30 | Panhandle State | W 13-3 (5 inn.) |
| BB | 03/30 | Washburn | W 3-1 |
| BB | 03/30 | Washburn | W 3-1 |
| TS | 03/23 | Kansas Wesleyan | L 6-3 |
| BB | 03/23 | Metro State | W 20-8 |
| BB | 03/23 | Metro State | W 6-5 |
| SB | 03/19 | Nebraska-Omaha | L 4-2 |
| SB | 03/19 | Truman State | W 4-1 |
| SB | 03/18 | Mo. Western | L 6-2 |
| BB | 03/17 | Missouri S&T | W 2-1 (10) |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 6-1 |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 8-1 |
| BB | 03/16 | Misosuri S&T | L 13-4 |
| MB | 03/14 | Central Missouri | L 80-73 |
| BB | 3/13 | NW Missouri | W 13-10 |
| BB | 03/13 | NW Missouri | W 4-3 |
| MB | 03/13 | Central Oklahoma | W 80-64 |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |