PVCC Puma Press: March 2005

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	(Photo by Kassandra Zukowski)
	Daniel Kanyaruhuru leads fellow runners Victor Mendoza, Cory Romine, Jimmy Dueling and Santos Castro during a rainy practice.
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The spring semester is again upon us and the 2005 spring sports season is underway as the men and women’s Puma track and field teams are poised and ready to surpass last year’s output.

Coming off a successful season where valuable experience was gained, the men’s team returns 13 sophomores, led by distance medley relay All-American candidate Daniel Kanyaruhuru. The team introduces 17 freshmen to junior college competition with hopes of forming a team chemistry that can lead the program to new heights.

The sprinters and hurdlers for the men’s team have been preparing long and hard for the upcoming season, striving to meet team and individual goals. Conference tested sprinter Cardell Glover is the lone sophomore in the six-man sprint group. Sophomore Dustin Imdieke and freshman Laszlo Vandracsek make up the team’s hurdlers.

There will be eight jumpers to this year’s men’s team following the direction of 2004 National Pole Vault Collegiate Coach of the Year, Todd Lehman. The jumpers train five days a week for two-to-three hours a day, practicing their jumps twice a week. In a typical practice, jumpers will make anywhere from 10 to 30 jumps, working specifically on technique and form.

Coach Lehman commented on what it’s going to take to become an individual national champion saying, “It’s going to take a perfect balance of technique, speed and power.” Men’s high jumper and 2003 national high jump champion, Rafaell Thompson, a transfer from Central Arizona Community College, currently leads the nation in men’s high jump with a jump of 7-feet,1/4-inch.

Led by Head Coach Dave Barney, the team will be paced this season by a strong group of distance runners, as they work to send multiple members to Charleston, Ill., this March to compete at nationals. The runners will be led by Kanyaruhuru and middle distance runner Luis Adame, with freshmen Victor Mendoza and Ryan Nelson looking to make an immediate impact.

“Our goal is to qualify as many athletes for Nationals as we possibly can, while finishing as high as we can as a team,” says Barney. “We’ve seen some of our highest scores ever so far, and we have a bunch of kids already qualified for nationals,” adds Coach Barney.

The women’s team has a positive outlook for the 2005 season, hoping to improve on a productive 2004 season. They return eight conference-tested sophomores led by All-American candidate Sereena Harmon. Seven newcomers join the team, looking to blend in and make for a balance of experience and youth.

Freshmen Larissa Bratt, Winslow High School; and Perisha Hinton, Apollo High School, make up the two-woman Puma sprint team.

One group in which the Puma women’s team won’t be lacking participants is the jump events, as seven ladies will all look to do their best and qualify for Nationals.

Britney Rogers currently sits fourth in the nation in the triple jump with a leap of 48-feet, 9-inches, and Freshman Carmen Hill is second in the nation in the pole vault with a vault of 11-feet 1 1⁄2-inch.

Assistant Coach Lehman says, “These jump events are tough because the strongest and fastest athlete doesn’t always win. Sometimes you just have to have the luck of hitting ‘your jump’ on the right day.”

Another strong group for the Puma women’s team this semester is the distance runners with three sophomores and three freshmen completing the makeup of the group. Harmon, Stephanie Willard and Monica Wright will provide leadership for first-year
performers Angela Petersen, Nicole Dodgen and Chrysten Baca. Coach Barney doesn’t mind having so many athletes in each group as he points out, “The more athletes we qualify, the better our chance is of winning (Nationals).”

Throwers Sterling White, Jared Saunders and Brian Korn round out the remainder of the team and will give the Puma’s valuable event participants.

Both teams’ have practiced and trained religiously while preparing for the season. The men train six to seven days a week, running up to 18 miles, while the ladies run up to 15 miles per week.

While both the men and women’s teams look to be the best squads in the nation, they know that in order to achieve their goals, they’re going to have to go through some tough competition. Regional foes Central Arizona and Mesa will prepare the Pumas for Nationals, giving them a taste of what lies ahead. The Pumas will have to outperform perennial powerhouse track and field programs Butler County, Barton County and Johnson County at Nationals to become champions. “These could be our best teams’ yet,” says Barney.