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Connery, Johnson train for 2012 Boston Marathon
J.P. Bartmess- Sports Editor
2/10/12
Twenty-six and two-tenths miles in less than three hours and 40 minutes. That is the time to beat in order to qualify for the 2012 Boston Marathon for women in the age range of 18-34. To put this in perspective, that is running a mile every eight and half minutes and doing that 26.2 times. In this race, there will be runners from all over the world. And this year, two women from William Jewell College will be there.
Jess Connery, junior, and Jessie Johnson, sophomore, are members of the Jewell cross country and track and field teams. How they both got to the point this past November to begin training for the 2012 Boston Marathon is a simple story which both are eager to share.
“Last December [2010], we both ran in a half-marathon. We did well and then ran a full one last May at [NAIA] Track Nationals. Our times qualified us for the Boston Marathon so we submitted them and got a high enough ranking to be accepted,” Johnson said.
While qualifying for the Boston Marathon is no joke, Johnson admitted that they were doing the full and half-marathon races just for fun. However, having qualified for the race, which is about two months away, both women have increased their training.
“We have been running about twice a day since November. We didn’t train as much for our last full marathon so we learned from that and have increased our work load. I can see us getting a lot faster in training and in our [track and field] meets,” Johnson said.
While there are hundreds of marathons put on every year in the United States, not many get as much attention as the Boston Marathon. Celebrities such as Will Ferrell, Shia LaBeouf and Drew Carey have participated in this race as well as Olympic athletes, some of whom will be participating in this summer’s London 2012 Games.
“We really don’t know how big or what to expect with this. I think it will hit us when we’re there. Boston is a cool town with a lot of history, so the whole experience itself will be memorable, especially getting to do it with Jessie,” Connery said.
The 2011 Boston Marathon men and women champions Geoffrey Mutai and Caroline Kilel of Kenya are coming back for the 116th running of the race on April 16, along with eight men and women runners who finished in the top 10 of the race last year. On the women’s side, the time to beat is expected to be below two hours and 20 minutes. Kilel ran it in 2:22:36 for the win last year.
In two months, one might see that only time will tell if this training was worth it. However, both of these women made it clear that no matter what happens one thing will stay true to them.
“To be honest, I just want to finish, do my best and have fun. This is such a big event to be a part of, and it is easy to get trapped in it all. This is a cool opportunity for both of us to be running in this, and I hope we enjoy every moment of it,” Connery said.
Cardinals face road obstacles in final two weeks of season
Kyler Wooldridge- Staff Writer
2/10/12
Last week the William Jewell College men’s and women’s basketball teams engaged two conference foes at home, the Maryville University Saints and the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tritons.
The women’s team came into these games with an 11-6 mark overall and a 5-5 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The Lady Cardinals took on the Saints on Feb. 2, at the Mabee Center.
Jewell held a slight lead for most of the early part of the contest. Around the 13-minutes mark, however, Maryville took the lead, and for the rest of the first half the Saints put more and more distance between themselves and Jewell, with their biggest lead being 18 points. The score at halftime was 42-26, Maryville. The Lady Cardinals never regained the lead in the second half, although twice they were able to cut the deficit to only nine. That was the final margin of victory for the Saints as Jewell fell 61-52.
On Saturday afternoon the Lady Cardinals returned to their home court to take on the Tritons of UMSL. This was their second meeting against the Tritons this season, the first of which ended in a 59-43 Cardinals win. In the rematch, Jewell took the lead at around the 17-minute mark and held on to it for the rest of a very defensive first frame, hitting the locker room with a 29-21 lead. The Lady Cardinals went on a 7-2 run to start the second half without looking back, establishing a 15-point lead in about three minutes. Jewell would never surrender that lead on the way to a 62-54 win. Holly Switzer, junior, and Cassy Nicolay, sophomore, tied for the team lead in points with 14 each. Aerial Smith, first-year, also added 12 points on the night.
The men’s team entered its recent contests with a 6-11 overall mark and a 3-8 record in GLVC play. In their first matchup of the season the Saints defeated the Cardinals 67-52. This time, the Cardinals played excellent defense in the first half, holding Maryville to only 12 points as the Saints shot only 23 percent from the field. Jewell ran the table in the first half, establishing a 19-point lead with a minute remaining in the period.
The Cardinals continued to smash their way through the Saints’ defenses throughout the second half, establishing a 26-point lead with about six minutes left. The Cardinals’ lead never fell under 20 for the rest of the game, and they won 62-41. Nick Larson, senior, and Craig Mattson, junior, had double doubles for the night with 23 points and 17 rebounds and 13 points and 10 rebounds, respectively. Nate Kroeker, junior, led the team with five assists and two steals.
The Cardinals did not have such an easy road in their next game against UMSL. The Cardinals and Tritons played a close game in the first half, with UMSL leading the first quarter of the game and the Cardinals leading the second, with Jewell up 27-24 at the break.
Jewell went on a run at the beginning of the second half, eventually establishing a 17-point lead. However, the Tritons battled back, tying the game with 1:42 remaining on the clock. UMSL took the lead and emerged victorious, 67-62. The Cardinals turned the ball over eight more times than the Tritons in the contest. In the loss, Larson put up another big game for the Cardinals with 23 points and 19 rebounds. Chris Uz, senior, added 14 points of his own, 12 of which came from beyond the arc.
Swimming ends successful first season
Jared Speckman- Staff Writer
2/10/12
The men’s and women’s swimming teams ended their seasons last weekend at Minnesota State-Mankato. The meet in Minnesota also ended the swimming team’s inaugural season after more than a two-decade hiatus.
On the women’s side, Maggie Metz, first-year, finished first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.24, beating the second-place competitor by more than three seconds. Metz also finished second in the 100-yard backstroke. She finished less than one second out of first place.
Josh Sawers, first-year, took second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.96. Austin Andrews, first-year, took third in the same event with a time of 56.56.
“It went really well. Unfortunately, we had less time to prepare for our last meet as we would usually have, but it was a good meet and a good season,” Mark Gole, head men’s and women’s swimming coach, said.
Normally, both swimming teams now would spend two weeks preparing for the upcoming conference championships, but because of the transition to NCAA Division II and no current conference affiliation, they are not eligible for the post-season this year.
Before their meet at Mankato, they were at the University of Minnesota for the Minnesota Challenge. The Minnesota Challenge was a meet against 18 other schools of various sizes.
The men’s 200-yard freestyle relay team took 13th out of 29 relay squads. That team was Sam Blacksher, Matthew Luton, Andrews, and Sawers, all first-years. The men’s 800-yard relay team of Ben Plank, first-year, Sawers, Blacksher and Luton finished sixth out of 20 relay teams. Luton also took seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle.
Metz was spectacular against the competition as she took 10th out of 93 in the 500-yard freestyle, took second in the 400-yard Individual Medley, and took third in the 1650-yard freestyle.
The teams will continue to work toward improving their times by quickly getting back into the pool for practice.
“We’re going to take advantage of every opportunity. While other teams are backing off of their athletes in preparation we’ll be working hard to improve, and we can go a little harder in our practices because of that,” Gole said.
The teams hope to break more school records next year. This year they set and broke 11 records. Metz also achieved three NCAA B qualifying standards. The “B” standard would not automatically qualify her for the NCAA Championships, but it would give her a chance to compete if the Cardinals were eligible for postseason competition, according to Gole.
For now, this new team will look to make its second season even more impressive than the first.
“I’ve loved every second of this, and I know I made the right decision. I love my teammates, and I’m excited for next season. I’ll be going back to my club team in the meantime while we’re in the school offseason,” Luton said.
Swimming wraps up 2011-2012 season this weekend
J.P. Bartmess- Sports Editor
2/3/12
After a 21 year hiatus, the William Jewell College swim team heads north to Minnesota for the Minnesota Challenge and finishes up its 2011-12 swim season.
“It has been a great experience for my team and [me] this season. We have improved and competed that has met my expectations for this season. I am excited for the future of this program and seeing it improve for next season,” Mark Gole, head swim coach, said.
Last week, the teams traveled to Springfield to take on Missouri State University in a dual-swim meet. Although the team did not win any races, they had some personal best times. In the Women’s 200 Free, Kelly Moore, first-year, swam a time of 2:05.64 which was her season-best time. Rachel Beranek, first-year, swam her best unrested, unshaved time in the women’s 200 Fly, and Maggie Metz, first-year, swam a season best in the women’s 200 IM. In the Men’s 500 Free Matt Luton, first year, had his best unrested and unshaved time in the men’s 500 free and a second place finish with a 4:55.35 time.
“The team was very tired after our Florida trip and winter training. I didn’t expect us to win, but wish we could have competed better. If we want to be the best in [NCAA] Division II, we need to beat Missouri State, and they are coming to Jewell next year for a race,” Gole said.
In a 22-day stretch over winter break, the swimming team trained and practiced 20 of those days in Florida and the others at the Mabee Center. They had two two-hour practices each day, bringing them to 24-25 hours of practice each week. The training consisted of swimming, 15 miles of running, push-ups and medicine ball work. Gole mentioned that they had no training limitations over this break and were not confined to a maximum number of hours they could practice within a given week.
“I felt this stretch brought our team closer together. We kept on building momentum where the last three days of training were the best days of the entire stretch. This will make them stronger and tougher as we finish this season and prepare for next season,” he said.
Both teams have been preparing for this weekend’s trip to Minnesota at the Minnesota Challenge which is hosted at the University of Minnesota today and tomorrow. They will also compete against Minnesota State-Mankato on Sunday. They are using this as their national qualifying tournament, even though the team cannot compete in the NCAA Division-II National Championships due to the College being in a transition year into the NCAA.
“All the schools that are there are trying to get their swimmers to get national qualifying times for the national meet. For some, this is their last chance. The competition will be the best we have seen all year, so I’m excited to see what our swimmers can do and see where they stand,” Gole said.
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