May 5-6, 2012 -- Mason-Dixon Conference Championships - Men

Post date: Aug 4, 2012 4:21:12 PM

The men's seedings favored the Captains for a Mason-Dixon Title defense as CNU traveled a young, deep squad to Gwynedd Valley outside of Philadelphia. The upper-classmen did their job keeping the youngsters on task and led the Captains to their 11th Indoor-Outdoor sweep.

CNU Men Atop Mason-Dixon Again

Captains Claim 6 Event Titles and 38 All-Conference Honors

Unlike the women, the men's team entered the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Championships as heavy favorites for the second year in a row and the Captains never offered any reason to fear (or for the opponents to hope for) an upset. Twenty-one PRs and six All-Time Performances later, six event wins and thirty-eight scoring performances later, the Captains were Champions again scoring 162 points to host Gywnedd-Mercy's runner-up 115.

Nick Hedrick, Sam Martin

Most disheartening to the rest of the Conference may have been that CNU brought a very young squad - and the freshmen carried 84 of the team's point total. Big hits came from the mid-distance duo of Nick Hedrick (Falls Church, VA) and Samuel Martin (Rockville, MD) as the pair swept the 800m in a somewhat tactical 1:57.54-1:57.72. Hedrick got the edge after Martin set the pace for 600m. Martin had to pull back a late push by Keystone's Abdul Hamid with a final surge and lean at the line to prevail by just 0.08 seconds. It was a sweet turnabout for the rookie as he was clipped by 0.01 in the 1500m earlier on Saturday to lose the gold (4:01.80). Michael Hoy (Mechanicsville, VA) was just a couple steps out of scoring in the longer race with a PR 4:08.28.

In the Steeplechase, rookie Daniel Richard (Manassas, VA) led four Captains to points and PRs with a 20 second breakthrough of his own for silver (10:01.85). That ranks him #9 on the CNU All-Time List. Daniel Austin (Culpeper, VA) cut 8 seconds from his previous best to 10:15.86 in 4th place. Frosh Bradley Turner (Williamsburg, VA) improved his PR by 13 seconds for 5th (10:17.18) and junior Scott Wright (Oak Hill, VA) was 6th with a 10 second PR (10:29.08). Turner also scored in the other long hurdle event with a PR 58.82 in the 400m Hurdles for 6th behind senior Scott Teribury's (Woodbridge, VA) near best 56.84 in 4th.

Freshman sprinters produced a steady stream of points in the individual events. Robert Mayes (Culpeper, VA) cracked 50 seconds for the first time to take 4th in the 400m (49.75) with teammate Matt Gaddy (Stafford, VA) next across the line (50.57). Daulton Teaford (Boyce, VA) dropped his PR to 11.09 in the prelims of the 100m and followed up with a 6th place 11.22 (also under his previous best) in Saturday's final. Mayes came back in the 200m with another PR 22.45 for 5th in the 200m.

When they teamed up, they scored even bigger. The freshman trio and junior Nathan Joyce (Ft. Belvoir, VA) nearly reeled in the top seeded Gwynedd-Mercy in the 4x400m Relay on the strength of three 50-point splits and a breakthrough 49.1 anchor from Teaford (3:20.30). In the short relay, Teaford and Mayes handled the first half lap with Joyce carrying to Richard Roethel (Farmingville, NY), who brought home a convincing win for the Captains in 41.98.

For Roethel, it was another weekend full of golds that ultimately led to his selection as the Outstanding Field Athlete and 36 team points. He took the win in the High Jump Friday night with a modest 2.03m/6-8 clearance (Teaford was 5th at 1.83m/6-0). Taking a quick break from the Javelin, Roethel squeezed in a victorious 15.36 in the 110m Hurdles. In the Javelin, the Decathlete launched a 12' PR 59.10m/193-11 to win and get in the range of a National bid in yet another event. That makes him the #2 Javelin thrower in CNU History. Behind him, freshman Kendrick McMinn (Virginia Beach, VA) moved up to #4 on the CNU List and placed 5th in the meet with a PR 51.35m/168-6. Wilson Bever (Chantilly, VA) (42.24m/138-7) and Tony Harris (Gainesville, VA) (39.97m/131-2) also registered PRs.

Roethel added a bronze in the Long Jump (6.75m/22-1.75), but suffered a no-height in the Pole Vault in what was a disappointing meet for that group (Joseph Taylor (Prince George, VA) was the only scorer with a 3rd place 4.40m/14-5.25). The Triple Jumpers balanced the Vaulters with senior Kwarteng Asare (Fairfax, VA) holding his top seed with a winning 14.32m/46-11.75 effort and rookie Javan Walker (Woodbridge, VA) exploding to a 2' PR 13.43m/44-0.75 for 3rd place.

Senior Jonathon Wade (Rocky Mount, VA) shepherded his rookie teammates through the weekend on the concrete circles. He opened with a 3rd place 42.67m/140-0 in the Hammer. Nolan McDowell (Mt. Sidney, VA) grabbed a point with a long-awaited breakthrough 36.68m/120-4 just ahead of McMinn's PR 36.63m/120-2. The frosh are now #9 and #10 on the CNU All-Time List. McDowell earned another huge PR in the Shot Put (13.61m/44-8) for 4th and #8 in CNU History. McMinn added another PR (11.50m/37-8.75) and picked up a fourth for the meet in the Discus (35.22m/115-7). Newcomer Loren Farris (Suffolk, VA) ended his brief, post-basketball excursion into Track & Field with a PR 10.24m/33-7.25 in the Shot Put.

Book-ending the meet with the two longest events, Aaron Zook (Harrisonburg, VA) and Donovan Lewin (Cape Charles, VA) scored in both. Zook finished runner-up in the 10k at 33:03.16 and Lewin was 6th at 33:55.39. A day later, Lewin placed 4th in the 5k with a PR 16:05.78 to just edge Zook's 5th place 16:07.55.

Paired with their Indoor Title, the CNU Men completed their 11th Indoor-Outdoor Conference sweep in program history and brought the CNU TFXC grand total to 110 Team Championships since 1980.

Jonathon Wade