Oklahoma Wesleyan University Track and Cross Country teams were both very productive during the 2009/2010 season.
Led by Micah Jenner’s National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) qualifying performance, the Lady Eagles cross country team won their first women’s cross country conference championship in St. Louis, Mo., on Nov. 7.Jenner also went on to represent the school at the NAIA Cross Country Nationals.
The men’s team finished third at conference, with several individuals, including David Rannabarger receiving honors.
On the track, Alica Efron delivered an All-American second place heave of 11.84m at the NCCAA Indoor National Championships to finish third place in the women’s Shot Put. She also finished 8th in the Weight Throw. The Lady Eagles finished 12th place overall.
OKWU’s track team experienced even more success during the outdoor season. Rich Brown tallied a school record 5366pts at the NCCAA Outdoor National Championships to take second place in the men’s decathlon and ended his collegiate career in style. “Rich has worked hard throughout his college years and I was delighted to see him going out as an All-American,” said head coach Gary Smith.
Jentry Blain, who threw a massive 52.44m (172-00) for 5th in the men’s Javelin Throw was also another excellent contributor to men’s team that finished 13th out of 28 contesting schools.
Rannabarger, Devon Arredondo and freshman Alex Bryan were also busy sizzling on the track.
The women’s team finished 15th with Efron and freshman star hurdler Mandy Muncy leading the way. Muncy, who started the season with a time of 18.30secs, ran a school record 15.95seconds in the finals of the 100m hurdles – improving on the 16.29secs she ran in the qualifying round. Efron was again in good form at Shot Put, finishing 6th with a seasonal best of 11.84. Other good performances on the women side came from freshman Kinzi Roth and Leslie Smith who led the women’s 4×100m which shaved off two-seconds from the school record at nationals.
Head Coach Gary Smith had this to say about the season, “Overall the team experienced great success and I was thrilled to be their coach. I look forward to continue to build on what we established this past season”