The Malone College men's golf team, under the direction of veteran coach Ken Hyland, finished tenth out of 28 teams at the 56th annual NAIA National Golf Championships hosted by the Indiana National Golf Club in Plymouth, Indiana May 22-25.  Senior Scotty Jones (East Palestine H.S.) finished 21st overall  at the event and could earn NAIA All-American accolades for his efforts (voting has not been released yet).  If he does so (i.e., earns above the Honorable Mention honor), he would become just the second two-time NAIA All-American recipient in the history of Pioneer men's golf (Ed Snyder received All-America honors in both 2000 and 2001).

 

Malone ended day one of the tournament tied for 11th place after shooting a 299 but then struggled with a 309 on day two to fall into a tie for 18th place.  With the day three cut looming (when the 28-team field is reduced to 17 teams), the Pioneers rallied to post a round of 299, avoiding the cut in 14th place. The squad's strong play then continued on the final day of competition as Malone carded a 300 to finish the tournament in tenth place with a total four-day score of 1207 (+55).  The Pioneers had the fifth-best team score for each of the final two rounds (299 & 300) to climb eight spots on the leader board over the final two days of the tournament.

 

Oklahoma City University won the team title at 1154 (+2).  Wayland Baptist (TX) University was second at 1172, Oklahoma Christian University took third at 1184, Johnson & Wales (FL) University placed fourth at 1195 and Berry (GA) College rounded out the top five at 1196.

 

Jones paced Malone with a four-day score of 298 (73-79-74-72) as he rose from a 42nd place tie after day three to finish in a tie for 21st place with the final round score of 72.  Freshman Ben Smith (Carrollton H.S.) finished in a tie for 47th at 304 (75-75-81-73) while senior Jordan Grubb (Lake H.S.) followed in a tie for 54th at 306 (75-79-75-77).  Senior Grant Gates (River Valley H.S.) finished in a tie for 64th at 309 (76-78-76-79) while junior Darren Phipps (Lake H.S.) was also among those tied for 64th at 309 (80-77-74-78). 

 

 

The Malone College men's and women's track & field teams sent 37 athletes (20 men, 17 women) to the NAIA Outdoor National Championships in Fresno, California last Thursday through Saturday as the men's squad finished in a tie for 12th place among 65 teams that scored points, while the women's team finished in a tie for 36th place among 61 teams.  In addition, five Pioneer men's athletes earned NAIA All-America honors while one Malone women's athlete also received the prestigious All-America recognition.

 

The Pioneer men tallied 26 meet points to finish in a tie with Olivet Nazarene (IL) University for 12th place.  Oklahoma Baptist University claimed the men's national title with 77 points, followed by Dickinson State (ND) University with 58 and Azusa Pacific (CA) University with 51. 

 

In the women's competition, Malone posted six meet points to finish in a six-way tie for 36th place.  Azusa Pacific won the women's national championship after accumulating 73 points.  Fellow American Mideast Conference member Cedarville University finished second with 58 points and Oklahoma Baptist took third place with 55 points.

 

For the Pioneer men, junior Ryan Kienzle (GlenOak H.S.) recorded the top individual finish as he placed second in the 5000 meters to earn All-America honors with a time of 14:49.84.

 

The other All-America honorees for the men's squad included junior Justin Baum (Kenston H.S.) who finished fifth in the 10,000 meters in a time of 31:23.69, sophomore Chris Diaz (McAllen, TX) who placed fifth in the 5,000 meter race walk at 26:07.82, freshman Chris Sinick (Field H.S.) who took fifth in the 1500 meters in 3:49.08, and senior Brady West (West Muskingum H.S.) who placed sixth in the decathlon with a total of 6,309 points.  West's marks and point totals for the various decathlon events were as follows: 100 meters (12.12; 628), long jump (21' 6"; 709), shot put (40' 6.75"; 628), high jump (5' 10"; 610), 400 meters (52.7; 694), 110-meter hurdles (16.8; 645), discus (110' 7"; 538),  pole vault (13' 3.5"; 631), javelin (166' 2"; 598), 1500 meters ( 4:48.48; 628).

 

Senior Chris Hare (Coopersville, MI) also competed in the decathlon and finished eighth with 6,192 points.  His marks and point totals for each of the events were as follows: 100 meters (12.14; 624), long jump (19' 8"; 584), shot put (39' 8.5"; 612), high jump (5' 7.75"; 560), 400 meters (53.18; 674), 110-meter hurdles (16.11; 720), discus (124' 8"; 624), pole vault (13' 7.25"; 659), javelin (141' 2"; 486), 1500 meters (4:45.07; 649).

 

In the 10,000 meter run, freshman Paul Robinson (Field H.S.) placed 8th with a time of 32:15.93 and freshman Evan Gaynor (Delta H.S.) took 20th at 33:57.23.

 

In the 5000-meter race walk, senior Joe Carmany (New Middletown Springfield H.S.) finished 8th in a time of 26:42.09.

 

In the 1500 meter run, sophomore Nik Schweikert (Beavercreek H.S.) placed 10th in 4:03.11 as junior Mike Coates (Sandy Valley H.S.) narrowly missed out on qualifying for the finals after posting a time of 3:55.26 in the preliminaries.

 

Sophomore Justin Jump (Wellington H.S.) finished 20th in the discus with a toss of 147' 4" while senior Chad Armstrong (Ashtabula H.S.) took 24th in the hammer throw with a heave of 157' 11".

 

Junior Chris Cruise (Field H.S.) posted a time of 48.56 in the 400-meter semifinals and Baum ran 15:31.04 in the 5000-meter preliminaries.  In addition, Schweikert, Coates, sophomore Jon Easterling (Ashtabula H.S.) and junior Jay Brueckner (Crestview H.S.) posted a time of 8:04.87 in the preliminaries of the 4 x 800-meter relay.

 

Other men's competitors included senior Brad Sinick (Field H.S.) and junior Mike Wright (N. Canton Hoover H.S.) in the 5000-meter race walk, junior Tyler Davis (Teays Valley H.S.) in the high jump, and junior Josh Gortney (Sandy Valley H.S.) in the pole vault.

 

For the women, senior Ashley Currence (East Canton H.S.) earned the lone All-America honor for the squad as she took fifth place in the triple jump with a leap of 39' 1.75".  Currence also competed in the long jump, finishing tenth at 18' 0.5".

 

Senior Brooke Gasser (Norwayne H.S.) placed eighth in both the javelin (135' 5") and heptathlon (4,548 points) competitions.  Her marks and point totals for the various heptathlon events were as follows: 100-meter hurdles (16.34; 673), high jump (4' 9.75"; 588), shot put (34' 1.25"; 555), 200 meters (25.82; 813), long jump (16' 7.25"; 576), javelin (127' 11"; 648), 800 meters (2:29.87; 695). 

 

Junior Laura McElrath (Tallmadge H.S.) also competed in the heptathlon, finishing in tenth place with 4,325 points.  McElrath's marks and point totals were as follows: 100-meter hurdles (15.19; 817), high jump (5' 0.25"; 655), shot put (27' 4"; 421), 200 meters (26.49; 755), long jump (16' 3.75"; 551), javelin (88' 10"; 422), 800 meters (2:29.12; 704).

 

In the 10,000 meter run, freshman Kalie Hauenstein (Ashland H.S.) placed 11th (38:38.14) and sophomore Rebekah Genter (Crestview H.S.) took 14th.

 

The Pioneers' 4 x 400 meter relay team of senior Brittany Davies (Cedarville H.S.) and sophomores Megan Patton (Perry H.S.), Vallie Scott (West Branch H.S.) and Kim Winton (Medina H.S.) finished ninth in a time of 3:57.07.

 

In the 3000-meter race walk, Senior Brittani Lyons (Elizabeth City, NC) claimed ninth place in a time of 19:21.24 and senior Lacey Watkins (Lockport, NY) also competed in the event. 

 

Three Malone athletes earned 15th-place finishes in their respective field events including Senior Faith Nicholson (McMurray, PA)  in the high jump (5' 3"), sophomore Holly Motter (Mount Union, PA) in the triple jump (36' 7.75"), and freshman Emily Alderfer (Urbana H.S.) in the shot put (42' 0.75").

 

Also competing for the Pioneers was freshman Sarah Hines (Northmor H.S.), who posted a time of 11:57.36 in the preliminaries of the 3,000 meter steeplechase and Katie Bagley (So., Crestview H.S.), who recorded a time of 19:04.09 in the prelims of the 5000 meters.