Season Outlook
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| Dan Hudson |
The Yellow Jacket men's track and field squad faces the same primary dilemma as the women and that's a lack of depth. However, the athletes that head coach Paul Orchard does have in place could put several school records in jeopardy.
"We have some excellent people competing for us," declared the sixth year mentor. "We just don't have overwhelming numbers in many areas. Potentially, a number of our school marks could go down, but we'll just have to wait and see. As a team, the men are going to face some powerful programs in the NCCAA and AMC alone. That will provide some excellent competition."
Cedarville's best chances for NAIA All-America honors will come from fellow seniors Nate Freeman and Jon McGinnis. Freeman, who owns the outdoor school record in the high jump at 6'10 3/4", has already earned All-America recognition once each indoors and outdoors. McGinnis has accomplished the same in the pole vault.
Senior thrower Dan Hudson has been an NCCAA All-American in the javelin and discus and could do the same at the NAIA level where he has national meet experience. Sophomore Eddie Nehus, who won the NCCAA 800 last spring, leads the middle distance contingent along with newcomer Matt Hadler.
Rounding out the senior class are Jason Alexander, who won the conference pole vault title last year, Greg Havens (throws), Todd Hintz (middle distance), Joel Peterson (distance), Lee Reinhard (sprints, long jump), and Ben Thompson (distance). Sophomore Cliff Reynolds, who ran in the NAIA Nationals as a rookie, will compete in the hurldes and sprints, along with classmate Bamidele Ajayi. Other notable freshmen include former Ohio state champion 400 meter performer David Dingeman and Andy Paugh, who put together a solid indoor season in the high jump.
The Yellow Jackets have been the NCCAA runner-up in five of the past six years. They will host the first-ever championship meet in the American Mideast Conference, formerly known as the Mid-Ohio Conference, where they placed second last spring.