By: Chris Parker, freshman
4/10/2008

Competitor.

That word sums up senior Keymo Pearson when it comes to track and field. 

The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference is very aware of this fact about Pearson. He has dominated the jumps in conference since he showed up on the Friends University campus.

Pearson is a two-time national qualifier in indoor track; he holds four school records and was good enough at the Friends home track meet April 5 to tie for first place in the high jump with a bad knee. 

Pearson was not always a standout track athlete though. He had to work hard to get where he is today.

Pearson, a Dade City, Fla., native, admits that when he started track, his performances left much to be desired. 

“I wasn’t good; I was terrible,” Pearson said.

Fortunately for Friends, Pearson never had any quit in him and was always striving to improve. Pearson never settled for being “terrible.” 

“I was always hungry and wanted to get better,” Pearson said.

Thanks to his drive and the help of his high school track coach, Raven Lewis, Pearson did improve and began to excel in high school.

His favorite memory of track comes from his senior season when his team took second at conference with only five guys on the team. 

“We all just loaded up events and went out and competed," Pearson said. "Everyone on that team was a competitor. We scored 120 or 130 points.”

After high school Pearson decided to attend junior college in Independence, Kan. 

It may seem weird for an athlete to leave sunny Florida for schizophrenic Kansas, but it is not as uncommon as it may seem. Pearson pointed out that Florida does not have a junior college program for track and field and football, so many Florida athletes come to Kansas to be athletes in the Jayhawk conference, which Pearson referred to as a “powerhouse.”

After two years at Independence Community College, Pearson decided to come to Friends University, and the program and its record books have never been the same. 

“Keymo is one of those athletes who could make it anywhere, but to have him at Friends is a boost to the entire track and field program,” head track and field coach Winston Kenton said.

Pearson’s specialties are the high jump and triple jump, but he does not have a preference. 

"It depends on the day,” Pearson said. “It just depends on whether I feel like going out or up.”

Earlier this semester, Pearson got the chance to go out and up at the indoor national meet in early March. Pearson took seventh in the triple jump and 10th in the high jump. 

With jumps of 6'6" in the high jump and 46'4" in the triple jump, Pearson has already hit the “B” standard for outdoor track and field, which puts him in position for a possible spot at nationals. To be guaranteed a spot, he will need to hit the “A” standard -- 6'8" in the high jump and 47' in the triple jump. He also hopes to qualify in the long jump and 400-meter relay team.

Pearson hopes to continue his track connection after graduation. He is a physical education major and hopes to coach track wherever he takes a teaching job. 

He wants to come back next year and coach the Friends jumpers and jump unattached at some meets. An athlete who competes unattached does not jump for a team.

The future is great to think about, but Pearson is in the moment now and hopes to set more records in his final season at Friends. Pearson cited the 400-meter relay school record as a goal. Pearson runs the third leg on the team. 

The conference track meet will be on the Friends campus May 2-3 and will provide Pearson one last chance to experience one of his favorite parts of track.

“I love the crowd,” he said, “and knowing I have a team depending on me for points.