The first outdoor track and field season in more than 30 years at John Brown University will have to wait another year.
The Golden Eagles men's and women's teams were scheduled to attend their first outdoor meet of the season at the Central Arkansas Spring Opener in Conway on March 14.
Just days before the event, JBU made the decision to pull out of attending the event over concerns of the covid-19 pandemic, according to head coach Scott Schochler.
The UCA meet, along with every other outdoor meet on JBU's schedule, wound up getting canceled after that. It would have been JBU's first outdoor season since the late 1980s, according to JBU Sports Information.
JBU also moved to online classes and the Sooner Athletic Conference suspended practices and competitions for the rest of the semester, effectively ending JBU's track season.
"The disappointment for most of our athletes was pretty high," Schochler said of the lost season. "For some it was a little bit of a relief to get home, because I think some of them were a little nervous about the situation. Certainly for me and the rest of our coaching staff at JBU and our volunteer coaches at JBU in track and field, I don't know if it was mourning or type of grief of losing what we were hoping to see."
John Brown got a small glimpse of its track and field athletes during the indoor season in February and early March.
A group of Golden Eagles competed at the Missouri Southern State Lion Invite on Feb. 7-8 in Joplin, and JBU also participated at the Pittsburg State Indoor Gorilla Classic in Pittsburg, Kan.
Through her performances in those meets, sophomore Allika Pearson qualified for the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships, which were held March 5-7 in Brookings, S.D.
Those indoor events led JBU into its outdoor season, which started with the Central Arkansas Spring Opener on March 14 and included the Southwest Baptist (Mo.) Bearcat Invite on April 4, the William Jewell College (Mo.) Darrel Gourley Open on April 11, the Baker (Kan.) Zach Kindler Wildcat Invite on April 25 and the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships on May 21-23 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
Schochler said he was looking forward to watching the Golden Eagles compete and highlighted a few of the athletes who were beginning to make strides.
Freshman long jumper Will Vail had run well during indoor season and was "really starting to look great in practice," Schochler said.
Junior Aaron Capehart, a Siloam Springs graduate, was coming around, he said.
"We were hopeful he was going to put up some strong numbers," Schochler said.
Sophomore Taylor Stone had made strides in the 400-meter hurdles, he said.
"She was starting to look good," he said.
Desi Meek, of Decatur, was getting healthy and the coaches "were starting to see some good things in practice."
"The excitement level was building," he said. "The weather was starting to turn nicer."
Pearson, who was slowed at the national indoor meet by a rib injury, had returned to form, Schochler said.
"She was looking like a world beater again in workouts," he said. "We were expecting big things from her"
Schochler said the distance runners were impressive, including Ben Martin, who dealt with a foot injury during cross country season.
Schochler said the athlete he was most disappointed for in losing the season was senior Nathan Pearson.
"This was going to be his first real outdoor season," Schochler said. "He got to train through cross country and outdoor season. He was looking to put up some real solid performances, maybe hitting a qualifying mark in the 5K or 10K."
Nathan Pearson and his cousin, former Siloam Springs standout Elliott Pearson and Nate Wertjes are the only men's seniors on either track and field team. On the girls side, Schochler said Clancie Sorrell is graduating this May.
Schochler said on the Saturday morning after the season had been canceled, the JBU track athletes all met together on their own at Glenn W. Black Stadium and "competed" against each other in all their events.
"(They) gave the seniors their 'senior day' with no prompting or input from any of the coaches," Schochler said.
Schochler said JBU had around 30 athletes participating this year in outdoor track and field and next year that number should increase to around 50.
"We'll be able to compete in almost every event at a track meet next year," Schochler said. "This year it would have been about half or two-thirds of the events."
He said the distance runners have already transitioned into training for cross country in the fall. Personally, like many, Schochler said he's spent his time working on things at home that he might not normally get to do this time of year along with recruiting for next year.
"For track and field, recruiting never stops," he said. "We've got some really good recruits coming in next year and hopefully we'll pick up a few more. Next year will be our first year of official competition and we will have a pretty full roster. It will look like a well-established team as far as numbers and events we're covering."
Sports on 04/08/2020