BRADENTON, Florida – A group of 18 Ashland University track and field athletes are in the Sunshine State preparing to compete in the 2017 Outdoor NCAA Division II Championships.
Fifteen men and three women are representing the Eagles at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida at the event which runs Thursday, May 25, through Sunday, May 27.
Coach Jud Logan and his team arrived in Florida on Sunday and after enjoying the ocean and some sun on Monday, the team got down to practicing and preparing for competition.
The AU men head into the championships as the No. 1 ranked team in Division II.
“The kids seem to be really locked in,” Logan said. “There’s a lot of pressure when you’re the No. 1 ranked team and everyone’s asking if you’re going to win the national championship. But preparation has been good and the kids are in a good spot. They just need to relax and have fun and remember why they chose the sport of track and field.”
The coach said there are a lot of good teams in contention for the title but he likes his team’s chances.
“Sometimes you just have to see what happens over the course of three days. There’s going to be unbelievable performances and there’s going to be disappointments. The ones that have the most toward what they did to get here are the teams that are going to win,” Logan said.
The AU men’s team went into the Indoor Championships ranked No. 1 and left with a No. 2 finish, a finish Logan said he was happy with. For this week’s championships, he hopes to see great results from his athletes but his goals are not all about wimning.
“Our expectations are to come out here and do everything you can do until you can’t do anymore,” Logan said. “We’ll keep fighting wherever the points are. As long as our kids compete with passion and give effort there is no such thing as failure with this team. It’s just not in our tradition. It’s not in our DNA. We’re going to give everything that we’ve got and we’ll see where we are.
“The tradition is steeped so high here at Ashland that I think the expectations are high every year. This team is focused, we’ve got a lot of kids that like each other and are pulling for each other and it’s a special time to be a coach at Ashland University right now.”
AU has a strong legacy in the men’s throwing events and that continues this year with five men in the hammer throw, one in the shot put and three in the discus.
That legacy in part is due to their head coach. Logan, in his 12th year as head coach at AU and 23rd year overall, has competed in the Olympics four times after a stellar career at Kent State.
“I share a lot with my kids about my trials, my tribulations and what it’s like to be a thrower, and I’ve got a pretty good road map on the type of kid I want to recruit and how to progress them over the years,” Logan said. “We’ve had 39 national champions in just the throws since I’ve been here. So it’s an area we focus on but I’m smart enough as a head coach to realize that we need help. We need Myles Pringle. We need people like the relays and the distance program. If we’re ever going to win this thing we’ve got to do it together.”
Ashland has the top three men in the hammer throw in Division II: senior Jordan Crayon, junior Daniel Roberts and senior Bryn Campbell. Also throwing the hammer for AU are redshirt freshman Nick Zak and sophomore Stephen Pop.
Throwing discus are redshirt freshman Alex Hill, senior Jason Zahn and Roberts. Junior Elijah Talk is the No. 3 ranked shot putter in Division II men’s track and field.
Sophomore Pringle is battling back issues but will compete in three events at the Outdoor Championships: the 400-meter dash, the high jump and the 4×100 relay. Pringle won the 400-meter dash at the indoor national championships and hopes to repeat outdoors in spite of his health issues.
“He’s just going to lay it all on the line,” Logan said. “He’s going to take some down time after this is over and try to get healed up.”
Other members of the relay team are sophomores Brandon Wilson and Devin Snowden and senior Brandon Freeman.
Senior Nick Hall (1,500 run), freshman Steven Kapes (10,000 run), Snowden (400 hurdles) and freshman Arthur Greenlee IV (110 hurdles) round out the men’s team national qualifiers.
On the women’s side, sophomore Natalie Helenthal from Ashland and sophomore Mackenzie Leigh will take part in the hammer throw. Junior Hannah Bartlome will compete in the high jump.
Although the women’s team is not a well represented as the men’s at this year’s nationals, Logan is optimistic about the team’s future.
“This recruiting class we have coming in next year is the best one we’ve had,” Logan said. “Give them two years. I tell people watch out for this team in two years.”
With athletes representing all four classes competing in nationals, Logan is optimistic about the team’s future.
“We’ve got some young kids getting some great exposure so hopefully with the recruiting class we’ve got coming in, if we’re in the conversation trying to win a national title every year, we’re doing the right thing. Whether we get that one or it takes a year, we want to keep this excellence going,” Logan said.
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