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Men's Track looking for sweep at NAIA Outdoor Championships
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MARION, Ind. – They have already proven that they are the best NAIA indoor track team in the nation.
As far as the Shorter University Hawks are concerned, it's the outdoor crown that will cement their place as the best of the best.
"Outdoor track is what you are measured by. There are no indoor Olympics," Shorter head coach Scott Byrd said as his team, this year's NAIA national indoor champion, attempts to make it a track sweep when the Hawks open competition at the 60th Annual NAIA Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Championship that begin Thursday and run through Saturday in Marion, Ind.
"Teams in this part of the country, at any level, are not known as indoor powers," the coach added. "Most colleges, like us, just don't have the facilities so it was a huge win for us this year.
"But this meet, the national outdoor meet, is the one everybody remembers. This is what we've been working for."
Shorter's rise to prominence, one traced back to dedication, determination and a blue-collar work ethic, comes in just the fifth year of the program's existence.
Yet there is, however, a clear difference in what the Hawks take to this year's meet than they have in past trips – depth, and a lot of it.
"It's huge and, even better, we're balanced from sprints to distances," Byrd said. "This year we could get 40 points in the sprints and 40 in the distances. We've never had that ability to challenge in so many events."
Shorter's depth will be most evident when the Hawks line up in the sprint starting blocks.
Leading the charge over the short distance at the national meet is sophomore Travis Benton, a transfer from Kennesaw State who joined Shorter's program this year and enters that national meet ranked No. 4 in the NAIA in the 100 meters with a blistering time of 10.33 seconds. Benton is also ranked No. 5 in the 200 meters, having been clocked at 21.09.
It is in the 100, however, where Shorter has the best chance to load up the points in the race for the title.
Joining Benton as possible threats are junior Albert Huntley, a three-time All-American who is ranked No. 7 (10.36); sophomore Allen Huntley (No. 27, 10.65); junior transfer Nigel Talton (No. 31, 10.66); and senior veteran Shaun Kennedy (No. 44, 10.74), who is primed to close out his stellar career on a winning note.
The Hawks are also looking for points from Randall Dameron, a sophomore that has become a clear threat in the 400 where he has run a 47.42 and is ranked No. 7 in the NAIA.
Not surprisingly, the depth Shorter has in the sprints has led to the Hawks laying claim to the nation's top-ranked 4x100 relay team, heading into the showdown with a blistering top time of 40.21 seconds.
Eager to leave the meet the same way they entered it – No. 1 – are Benton, Albert Huntley, Kennedy and senior Nick Dodson, who will end his career at Shorter trying to add to his amazing collection of 10 NAIA All-America honors.
In addition to going out helping the Hawks capture the national title, Dodson has a huge agenda of his own – winning the individual national championship in his specialty, the 400 hurdles.
The top-ranked runner in the event (51.99), Dodson is determined to end the string of three straight runner-up finishes he's has to settle for at the national meet, and Byrd is clearly his biggest fan.
"I told him I would jump in the ice bath if he won," the coach said.
Shorter's third and final senior, who like Kennedy and Dodson are the last members of the Hawks' inaugural team, already has a national title under his belt – high jumper Montagious Brown.
The 2008 national indoor champion, Brown is focused on doing his part in the overall team quest and heads to the pit having cleared the bar at 6 feet, 9.5 inches this season, which ranks No. 8.
Two Shorter freshmen double the Hawks' chances of collecting points in the long jump. Hoping to make an impact in their first national outdoor meets are former Rockmart High star Trebor Holmes, ranked No. 6 with a leap of 24 feet, 9.25 inches, and Braylon Williams, who started out as a high jumper, but has shifted his attention to the long jump where he was gone 23 feet, 3.25 inches and is ranked 29th.
"They want it," Byrd said of the first-year Hawks.
While Shorter boasts plenty of speed and leaping ability, depth in the distance events makes Shorter a top favorite in Marion.
That group includes freshman sensation Paul Chelimo, who after earning All-America honors this past fall with a third place finish at the NAIA Cross Country National Championship, has emerged as the premier long-distance man in the nation.
A three-time NAIA Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week selection this spring, Chelimo, who won the national indoor 3,000 title in March, will have two chances to secure points for the team by way of his No. 2 ranking in the 5,000 (14:03.36) and a No. 18 rating in the 10,000.
Sophomore teammate Oscar Ogwaro will join Chelimo in doubling up for the literal long haul, as he is ranked No. 6 in the 5,000 (14:18.36) and No. 40 in the 10,000 (31:29.97).
Junior All-American Peter Limo returns to the meet as the Hawks' hopeful in the 1,500, having covered the distance in 3:55.13 (No. 37) while junior Eliud Ng'etich gives Shorter a point threat in the 3,000 steeplechase where he is ranked No. 8 with a time of 9:13.75.
"Those guys could account for a lot of points," said Byrd.
"All of the guys know what they have to do," the coach said. "They know what this meet means."
