For Head Track and Field Coach Winston Kenton, the thought of this year’s senior class throwing, vaulting or running out the door is on his mind. Seven Falcons are seniors this year.

“Fortunately, we’re actually pretty young,” Kenton said. “Unfortunately, I'll lose great athletes like Naomi Hightower, Austin Young and Dan Kontz to graduation. All three of these seniors are members of our pole vault squad, and they have been tremendous role models for their younger teammates and have set a shining example of how to lead.”

Among those leaders is Hightower who said out of the many things she will miss is Kenton yelling, “Go Neo!”

“Most of all, I will miss the family feeling Friends track team has given me,” she said.

As a pole vaulter, the low of her career at Friends was not being able to get off the ground for a whole season, she said, but the high of her career was breaking her own school record.

Kenton said Hightower has made the most of her season by qualifying for the NAIA National track and field meet in May. She has also had several first-place finishes during this season.

 “My reasoning for coming to Friends was for the education,” Hightower said. “Doing the sport that I love was just a perk but, I loved every bit of it.”

Kenton said he will also lose three quality individuals who have competed on the track in running events: Nic Means, David Weaver and Chris Dalton.

“Nic has long been a leader on this team just through his work ethic as a runner and relay member,” Kenton said. “His determination and effort inspires all those around him.”

But he said it pains him the most to lose Weaver and Dalton.

“We have been together through thick and thin, from cross country through track season, year round,” Kenton said. “They will be hard to replace both as athletes and as leaders of my distance squads.”

On the flip said, he said it looks as though senior All-American shot and discus thrower Heather Harris will be back to join the team for one more season of outdoor track and field eligibility because she was medically red-shirted a year ago.

“And the good news is, she’s throwing better than ever this season,” Kenton said. “She will continue to provide good leadership amongst our young female throwing corps.”

Harris was one of nine Falcons athletes who placed first in their event at the Tabor Invitational April 19, with a throw of 45 feet, 9 ½ inches in the shot put. She also placed second in the discus.

Other top performances included Hightower whose pole vault of 11 feet, 4 inches qualified her for nationals and helped her earn a first place finish at the Tabor Invitational.

Junior Omar Humphrey broke his own school record by almost 10 feet in the hammer throw with a distance of 174 feet, 2 inches. Sophomore Ebony Phillips took first in the long jump as well as the 100 and 200 meter dash, and broke the school record in the 200 with a time of 26.35 at the Tabor Invitational as well.

The women’s team placed second out of 14 teams and the men’s team placed fourth out of 17.

The Friends University track and field teams also competed at the KT Woodman Track Classic April 15 at Wichita State University. Many athletes qualified for nationals in a new event or improved their national qualifying marks.

Humphrey broke the men’s discus record at KT Woodman and qualified for nationals in the discus throw. Harris is now qualified for nationals in both the discus throw and shot put. Phillips improved her qualifying time to 12.27 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

The Falcons competed not only against conference teams, but Division 1 institutions as well.

“We have one more home meet this weekend in which to fine tune our abilities before we give it all we have at the KCAC championships,” Kenton said.

“I feel especially good about our team strengths coming into conference this year,” he said. “I won’t make any promises, but don’t be surprised if this team turns in some outstanding individual and overall team performances.”

Top individual performances for the women at the Tabor Invitational included:

•   Sophomore Ebony Phillips, first place, 100-meter dash, time of 12.60.

•   Freshman Brittany McFadden, second place, 100-meter dash, time of 13.20.

•   Phillips, first place, 200-meter dash, time of 26.35.

•   Sophomore Beth Rutherford, fifth place, 400-meter dash, time of 1:05.61.

•   Sophomore Kendra Chambers, fifth place, 1500-meter run, time of 5:19.72.

•   Sophomore Jessica Owens, third place, 3,000-meter steeplechase, time of 13:17.73.

•   Women’s 4x100 meter relay, third place, time of 52.86.

•   Senior Naomi Hightower, first place, pole vault, height of 11 feet, 4 inches.

•   Rutherford, tie for second place, pole vault, height of 10 feet.

•   Phillips, first place, long jump, distance of 16 feet, 10 ½ inches.

•   Senior Heather Harris, first place, shot put, distance of 45 feet, 9 ½ inches.

•   Harris, second place, discus throw, distance of 138 feet, 3 inches.

•   Freshman Rachel Strickland, fourth place, javelin throw, distance of 110 feet, 2 inches.

Top individual performances for the men at the Tabor Invitational included:

•   Junior Martel Mott, second place, 100-meter dash, time of 11.33.

•   Mott, first place, 200-meter dash, time of 22.49.

•   Sophomore Nick Kreutzer, fourth place, 200-meter dash, time of 22.80.

•   Men’s 4x100 meter relay, first place, time of 43.79.

•   Freshman Nick Freund, fifth place, pole vault, height of 13 feet, 6 inches.

•   Freshman Kenyard Jackson, fourth place, shot put, distance of 45 feet, 8 inches.

•   Junior Omar Humphrey, first place, hammer throw, distance of 174 feet, 2 inches.

•   Sophomore Derek Cargile, first place, javelin throw, distance of 179 feet, 8 inches.

Top performers on the women’s side at KT Woodman included:

•   Phillips, fifth place, 100-meter dash, time of 12.27 seconds.

•   Sophomore Jessica Owens, third place, 3,000-meter steeplechase, time of 13:01.97.

•   Hightower, fifth place, pole vault, height of 10 feet, 6 inches.

•   Harris, fifth place, shot put, distance of 43 feet, 5 ¾ inches.

•   Harris, sixth place, discus throw, distance of 144 feet, 1 inch.

And on the men’s side at KT Woodman:

•   Sophomore Ryan Waterson, fifth place, long jump, distance of 21 feet, 8 inches.

•   Humphrey, discus throw, fourth place, 156 feet, 2 inches.

Up next for the Falcons:

•   April 29 – Friends Tri/Quadrangular (10 a.m.)

•   May 5-6 – KCAC Championships at Bethany College

•   May 11 – Bethany Last Chance Meet

•   May 24-27 – NAIA Nationals, Fresno, Calif.