Central Michigan University Athletics
Men's Track Heads To Michigan
5/8/2000 12:00:00 AM | MTF
May 8, 2000
THE TEAM--The Central Michigan University men's track and field team competes at the Paddock Invitational at the University of Michigan on May 12-13.
THE COACHING STAFF--The CMU men's track and field program is headed up by head coach Jim Knapp, assistant coach Craig Fuller and graduate assistant Greg Halberg. Knapp, who is in his 15th season, led the Chippewas to second-place finishes at both the indoor and outdoor Mid-American Conference championships in 1999 and was named MAC "Coach of the Year" for both seasons. Since 1986, he has coached 31 individual MAC champions and four All-Americans including Greg Richardson and Richie Brinker in 1999. Fuller, who also serves as the Chippewas' head cross country coach, led Central to the MAC cross country championship in 1999. He has helped four CMU athletes to All-American status including Richie Brinker (1997-98) and Ryan Watson (1998). Halberg is in his first season with the Chippewas.
LAST WEEKEND--The Chippewas took third place at the Central Collegiate Championships hosted by Western Michigan on Saturday afternoon.
Eastern Michigan won the meet with 202.5 points and was followed by Western Michigan (201), CMU (194.5), Michigan State (66), Detroit (65), DePaul (25) and Bradley (3).
Greg Richardson (Lansing/Sr.) led the Chippewas with an NCAA provisional qualifying performance in the 110m hurdles. Richardson took top honors with a season-best time of 13.90. This marks the second straight week that Richardson has posted an NCAA provisional qualifying mark - he had a time of 13.95 at the Drake Relays last weekend.
Tom Kessel (Redford/Sr.), Jared Biniecki (Canton/Jr.) and Matt Loughead (Clinton Township/Sr.) all posted in first-place finishes.
Kessel won the 800m (1:54.91), Biniecki the steeplechase (9:14.61) and Loughead the javelin (213-1).
Other top performances were turned in by: Ryan Watson (Cedar Springs/Sr.) who finished second in the 5,000m (15:01.02), Luke Humphrey (Sidney/Fr.) second in the 10,000m (31:32.96), Ronnie Zatkoff (Clinton Township/So.) second in the high jump (6-10 1/4) and Nathan Parker (Fowlerville/Sr.) second in the javelin (187-7).
KNAPP ON THE PADDOCK INVITE--"We are looking at this meet as fine tuning for the MAC championships. We are always trying to find the best way to get athletes ready for the conference championships."
KNAPP ON LAST WEEK--"We were more competitive than we have been all spring at the Central Collegiates. We hope to build on that for the MAC championships. It was frustrating in that we were so close to finishing at the top."
IRON MAN--Senior Nathan Parker placed in four events at the Central Collegiates. He took third in the long jump (22-11 1/4), third in the javelin (187-7), fifth in the 100m (11.15) and fifth in the high jump (6-8).
PROVISIONAL QUALIFIER - AGAIN--Senior Greg Richardson posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 110m hurdles for the second week in a row at the Central Collegiates. He won the event with a season-best time of 13.90. The NCAA championships are set for June 1-3 at Durham, NC.
UPCOMING--The Chippewas compete at the MAC championships on May 18-20 at the University at Buffalo.
