CLARION TRACK AND FIELD TEAMS READY FOR SEASON

            Ready, get set, Go! The 2006 Clarion University men’s and women’s track and field teams are set to begin their outdoor seasons Saturday at Slippery Rock.

            “We’re ready to go,” Clarion’s second-year head coach Daniel Caulfield said. “We had a solid indoor season, and we’ve been training hard. We are ready to start competing.”

EAGLE WOMEN LOOKING TO CONTINUE MOMENTUM FROM INDOORS

            The Clarion women’s team is looking to continue the momentum it built during the indoor season when the Golden Eagles finished sixth at the PSAC’s.

            “Our goals, as always, are for each team member to set personal records and with those come greater team successes,” Caulfield said. “This year, we’ve already had our most successful indoor season ever. We had conference titles, numerous all-conference awards and for NCAA provisional qualifiers. The team is intent on carrying on this success outdoors.”

            Clarion is probably strongest in the middle to longer distances outdoors where indoor NCAA qualifier Holly Urban (Jr., Doylestown/Central Bucks East) leads the way in the 800.

            Urban finished second in the PSAC indoor 800 this year while qualifying for the national meet. The school record holder in the event indoors, she is a 2-time qualifier in the 800 but missed last year’s outdoor meet with an injury.

            “Holly can be an All-America,” Caulfield said

            Erin Richard (So., Erie/McDowell), who was Clarion’s top performer at the PSAC Indoor meet with a hand in 28 team points, will run all the events from the 1,500 to the 5,000. She was the PSAC Indoor champion in the 3,000 in February while taking second in the Mile and running a leg of Clarion’s PSAC Champion Distance Medley Relay Team.

            Richard was a PSAC Outdoor Qualifier last year in both the 800 and 1,500 and holds the school record indoors in the 3,000, 5,000 and mile.

            “Erin is a conference champion (indoors) who has a chance to be an All-America (outdoors),” Caulfield said. “She will be very tough in everything from the 1,500 to the 5K.”       

            Tasha Wheatley (Jr., Saltsburg/Kiski Area), who earned Clarion’s lone point in the outdoor meet last year, is expected to be strong in the steeplechase and can run the 3,000 and 5,000. Last year she was sixth at the outdoor PSAC’s in the steeplechase and finished second in the 5,000 and seventh in the 3,000 at this year’s indoor competition.

            “I expect Tasha to make the national meet,” Caulfield said.

            Senior Katie Jarzab (Oil City/Oil City) will give Clarion someone to watch in the 10,000. She finished sixth in the indoor 5,000 in February.

            Keisha Perry (Sr., Sharon Hill/Academy Park) will give the Eagles solid work in the 400 and 800 after being a member of the PSAC Indoor Championship DMR this year.

            In the sprints, Clarion will look towards Sonya Swanson (Jr., St. Marys/St. Marys) to lead the way. Swanson, a PSAC Qualifier in the 100 and 200 last year, holds the school record in the indoor 200.  

            Freshman Andrea Strickenberger (Leeper/North Clarion) is worth watching the hurdles after qualifying for the indoor PSAC’s in the 55 hurdles.

            In the field, freshman Diane Kress (Pittsburgh/North Hills) has the potential to make the NCAA’s in the triple jump according to Caulfield. Kress was an NCAA provisional qualifier indoors in the event and was the WPIAL champion in the triple jump her senior season.

ALL-AMERICA PATTON TO LEAD THE MEN’S TEAM

            NCAA All-America Dan Patton will lead the Eagle men’s team this year.

            Patton (Jr., Lucinda/Clarion) finished seventh in the decathlon at last year’s outdoor NCAA’s to earn the All-America honor. He is the school-record holder in the event while also holding school record in the indoor 55 and 400. He was a member of Clarion’s eighth place 4x800-meter relay team at indoor PSAC’s this year while finishing fourth in the 55 at the 2005 PSAC Indoors.

            “The biggest key for Dan to be successful this year is staying healthy,” Caulfield said. “Dan had a bad run of luck in the previous year, so initially our goal was to keep him healthy, which he wasn’t when he placed at NCAA’s. I believed we’ve been successful in that first goal, and Dan is much fitter and better prepared than last season. Our next goal is for Dan to arrive at the national meet prepared to reach the Top 3.”

            Patton will pace a men’s team that will focus on the idea that individual success will breed team success.

            “Accomplishing individual goals lead’s to team success in track,” Caulfield said. “So our goals are for each team member to set personal records and with those will come greater team success just like with the women’s team. Our goal is for everyone to improve.”

            Caulfield said because of the size of the team, Clarion fewer than 30 athletes, the Golden Eagles will participate in a limited number of events.

            “We intend to be competitive in the evens we do participate in,” Caulfield said.

            Chris Clark (So., Hadley/Commodore Perry) will be one of those athletes expected to be competitive.

            Clark scored seven of Clarion’s 11 points at the PSAC Indoors helping the Eagles to a 12^th place finish. He finished fourth in the 3,000 and seventh in the 5,000.

            Last year, Clark was a PSAC Outdoor Qualifier in the 1,500 and 5,000, and he continued that success during the Cross Country campaign in the fall when he became the first Eagle men’s runner to earn All-PSAC honors since 1999 and the first to finish in the Top 10 since 1986 when he finished 10^th. He holds the school record in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000

            “He was all-conference in Cross County and Indoor Track and Field,” Caulfield said. “I believe he can qualify for the national meet.”

            Caulfield also believes senior Jarrett Williams (Verona/Penn Hills) has a chance at earning All-Conference honors outdoors in the 100.

            Williams is a 3-time PSAC Outdoor Qualifier in the 100 and 4x400 relay and a 2-time qualifier in the 200 and 4x100 relay. The team MVP in 2003, he took sixth in the 55 at Indoors while running a leg on the eighth place 4x400 relay team.

            “Jarrett is looking to get his first outdoor All-Conference award after making the 55 final indoors,” Caulfield said.

            Two local Clarion High products Ben Bevevino (Jr., Clarion/Clarion) and B.J. Roth (Jr., Clarion/Clarion) will also be looking for their first outdoor All-Conference awards.

            Bevevino, the son of former Clarion All-America diver D.J. Bevevino and the grandson of Clarion Hall of Fame football player David “Red” Bevevino, is carrying on the family tradition for the Golden Eagles. He holds the school record indoors in both the 55 and 300 hurdles and the 4x400 relay and is a 3-time PSAC Indoor qualifier in the long jump while qualifying for the 2004 PSAC Outdoor meet in the 400 hurdles, long jump and 1,600 relay. 

            Roth holds the school indoor record in the high jump and the 4x400 relay and was a PSAC qualifier in the 400 hurdles last year. His focus is the 400 and 800 this year.

            Sean McFarland (Fr., Macungie/Upper Perkiomen) is expected to be a top competitor in the middle to longer distances outdoors after winning his mile heat at the indoor championships.

            “Sean will be much more of a contender outdoors since he is only a freshman,” Caulfield said.

            GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES – Clarion’s women finished 12^th in the PSAC Outdoors with one point while the men didn’t score a point… After the Slippery Rock meet, Clarion will be at Carnegie Mellon April 1 and at a PSAC-West meet April 8 at California before heading out west to the state of California for three meets April 12-15… PSAC’s will be May 4-6 at Cal (PA) and NCAA’s are May 17-20 in Emporia, Kansas.