The end of the 2013 spring track season is fast approaching for the Harding men’s track team as they have been making a strong push over the past few weeks preparing themselves for the Lone Star Conference Championship early next month.
It has been a busy month for the men’s track team as coach Steve Guymon and his team has been putting on a strong performance weekend after weekend. This past weekend the Bisons were in Conway competing in the Hendrix Invitational on Saturday where the team raked in five different event victories, including one that broke a school record and another that posted as an NCAA provisional time.
Harding’s provisional time was posted when the 4×400 relay team stepped out on the track as they defeated four other schools represented in the event, posting a time of 3 minutes, 13.84 seconds. The time was the 27th fastest time in the NCAA Division II this season, but only the top 20 times of the season receive invitations to the National Championship.
“We still have work to do to get where we want to be, but seeing how we have competed this year makes me excited about the rest of the season,” junior Andrew Evans said.
Evans posted the team’s first provisional time of the season for the 3,000-meter steeple-chase two weekends ago at the Ole Miss Invitational for the 21st fastest time in Division II this season which also puts Evans on the edge regarding whether or not he will receive an invitation to the national meet.
Freshman Jacob McDonald also had a strong weekend performance as he broke the Harding record in the hammer throw as his throw of 147 feet, 2 inches broke the previous record of 131 feet, 1 inch set earlier this year by his teammate sophomore Eric Rapp.
Three other event victories came from senior Landon Belcher in the 400, freshman Kenny Duong in the shot put and junior Kyle Kinser in the discus throw.
“We feel great,” junior Ryan Cagle said. “We all have to perform when the time comes and if we do that, we’ll be all right.”
Harding sent three other athletes to the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn., as sophomore Logan Green finished seventh in the 5,000 and sophomore Lajos Farkas finished 21st in the same event. Cagle finished ninth in the shot put with a throw more than 46 feet.
Harding will have one more event this weekend at the Red Wolves Invitational in Jonesboro before the Lone Star Conference Championships on May 2-4 in Canyon, Texas.
