Personal Bests Highlight Track Performance at Regionals

The Pratt Community College Track and Field Team braved the snow and ice all the way to Manhattan Sunday morning to compete in the 2010 Region VI/KJCCC Indoor Championships. The weather was cold outside but the action inside was hot. The Beavers put up several season or personal bests on the day, but couldn’t keep pace with traditional powers Barton, Butler, Cowley and Coffeyville.
The Beaver men placed 13th out of 14 schools on the day, and the women’s team failed to score although they are working with a very small squad. Colt Tomlin was the highest placer for PCC. Tomlin ran a personal best 1:25.46 in the 600m run to place 8th in the Region and 5th in the Jayhawk West, as well as just missing nationals by a little over one second. For the women, Breona Martinez just missed a school record in the 200m dash by .31 seconds, Martinez ran a 29.91.
Other Beavers with personal bests on the day were Alando Williams (400M- 54.37), Chad Yeargin (60m-7.34), Bruce Blackshear (600m-1:26.45), Mark Jones (60H-9.57). And Terry Roberson (400m- 54.18) and Colt Tomlin (200m- 23.44) both had season bests in their respective events.
“Overall, I’m proud of our efforts,” said Head Coach Cyrus Hall. “We aren’t giving up or backing down from anyone. We led half of the 4x400m relay against great competition. However, we are far more talented than we have shown in any meet this year. We have several people really close to qualifying for nationals, but we can’t quite get over the hump.”
Pratt will be out of action for the next couple weeks, and will return to the track Saturday, March 13 at McPherson College for their first outdoor action of the season.
“I’m looking forward to outdoor season,” said Hall. “I think we’re starting to finally get to the point where we’re in shape and now we can start adding speed to our runners and distance to our throwers. And, we’re ready for some good weather. The cold nasty snowy weather has really hurt our training schedule the last few weeks. We’re starting to get some cabin fever.”