Head coach
(From Jan. 29)
Two weeks ago we held the Akron Duals here at Kent State and we had some pretty strong performances. Obviously our women’s team did a great job. Our men also had a strong performance even with a few guys who had been out making their way back. It was a good weekend for us.
Going to Indiana this past weekend for the Gladstein Invitational was also great for us. We had several athletes really move forward. I was extremely happy with Mike King, who had several PR’s this past week and also finished second in the shot put.
Our horizontal jumps are getting better. Jailyn Twitty and Donovan Tolbert had lifetime PR’s in the triple jump. And then Dylan Shirley had a breakthrough performance winning the long jump at at 7.14m, which is a lifetime PR.
We had great performances from Wayne Gordon in both the 60 and the 200. He has one of the top 200-meter times in the country. Freshman Riak Reese had a great day, too.
Of course, Will Barnes added a lifetime PR with a great performance and was named the Mid-American Conference’s Track Athlete of the Week after finishing second in the 60-meter hurdles. That lifetime PR was a 7.93 which is fourth best in the Kent State record books and the second best time in the MAC and 28th in the nation this season.
We have a lot of kids making moves in the right direction on the men’s side. You add Miles Dunlap, who took the conference lead in the 400 two weeks ago at the Akron Dual. Overall, I’m really excited about the men’s side and the possibilities of having a great championship performance when we host the Mid-American Conference Championship at the Field House Feb. 28-March 1.
The men’s team looks to be very strong moving forward. Our relays are strong, our sprints are good, our throws are good. I think the guys are doing a very good job.
And things are exciting on the women’s side as well where you have student-athletes like Dior Delophont, who has the second best high jump in the nation and leads the MAC in both the high jump and the triple jump. Dior took first in the triple jump with a jump of 41' 6.03" at Indiana. The week before, she claimed victory in the high jump and triple jump, winning the first with a 6-00.50 effort and the latter with a 40-06.25.
Joh’Vonnie Mosley is one of the top 10 shot putters in the country, ranked in the top five now nationally with a 54-7 throw that is second best all time at Kent State.
Our women’s throwing has been fantastic with Mosley, Danniel Thomas and Jackie Leppelmeier. They are doing a great job.
Roseanne Erickson is having a fantastic season in the long jump and the sprints, and Ann Marie Duffus is doing a great job in the hurdles and the long jump.
Add it all together and I think the overall strength of the women’s team is in good position to repeat and defend its championship title.
It’s exciting. The men are much improved and the women are still strong. We have several meets ahead of us to keep getting better and then we are very excited to host the MAC Championships.
This is going to be an off week (Jan. 31-Feb. 1) for several of our student-athletes. We will take a limited roster to the Findlay Open. That is an elite throwing meet so coach Fangler will be taking the bulk of the kids and we’ll have a couple of other athletes go who live in the region. But overall it will be a very small group.
For the rest, this will be a weekend where we train through. We’ll heal up some nagging injuries and get a couple of extra training days. We’ll get in three hard workouts and get ready for the next weekend when we will send the majority of our athletes to the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame (Feb. 7-8).
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