By Jim Fryar
jfryar@joplinglobe.com
His coach is asking a lot from Phillip Horn in the next three days.
In fact, said Tom Rutledge, it might be easier to ask: “What am I not asking him to do?”
Horn, a Missouri Southern senior, will compete in the heptathlon today to start the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Central Missouri in Warrensburg.
After seven heptathlon events in two days, Horn will also compete in four open events for the Lions.
“We’re going to do everything we can to win,” Rutledge said, using Horn as a primary example. “I’m loading up my veterans to squeeze every point I can.”
Horn is one of those veterans who will be pushed to the limit. He’s a national qualifier in the heptathlon, with the second-best score in among Division II athletes.
“We’re asking him to win the heptathlon, then turn right around (on Saturday) and place high in the high jump and qualify (for Sunday’s finals) in the hurdles,” Rutledge said. “Then we want him to come back Sunday and hopefully score in the long jump, hurdles and pole vault.”
It’s that kind of commitment the Southern coaches ask from their athletes entering the conference meet.
“That’s what we have always challenged our athletes to do, to compete well and compete hard in the conference championships and hopefully come out with some personal bests,” said Patty Vavra, Southern women’s coach.
“If you don’t do that in the conference meet, you can plan on everybody else running right by you. Everybody shows up with their ‘A’ game.”
The approach worked out well for the Lions last winter. The Southern women won the MIAA indoor championship on their way to collecting a rare triple crown (including cross country and the outdoor track title in the same academic year). In the men’s team race, Southern finished second, behind perennial contender Central Missouri.
Neither Southern team appears as strong, at least on paper, this season.
“It’s not going to be easy, but you never know,” Rutledge said. “We won by one point one time when we went in ranked fifth. If we can score 130 points, we will have a chance to win it. ... It’s going to be tough to score 130. That’s performing to the best of our ability.”
The Lions don’t return an individual MIAA champion on the men’s team.
Sophomore Aki Nummela was second in the mile a year ago. Jarkko Jarvenpaa (3,000 meters), Horn (hurdles) and Seager Wilson (pole vault) all placed third. A trio of runners — Kevin Wright, Derek Wright and Nummela — all return from the third-place distance medley relay team.
The Lions will again pin their hopes on the strengths of the distances and the pole vault. High jumper Chris Brown, Nummela (in the mile) and the DMR team are all ranked second in the conference.
“We’re going to score our share,” Rutledge said. “We have some people in position. But we’re going to have to depend on some freshmen.”
The Southern women scored 118 points to win the meet a year ago. Something in the neighborhood of 40 fewer points seems more reasonable this season, Vavra admitted. The Lions graduated three conference champions, including a double winner in Jessica Selby-Tallman.
Courtney Waltbillig, Carita Riuta and Kara Eckard formed three-quarters of the winning DMR team last season. Junior Kimi Shank was the runner-up in both the 3,000 and 5,000 races last season and has the top qualifying times this winter. Eckard was third in the mile and Cortney Vie was third in the weight throw last season.
Emilie Mieseler enters the MIAA meet as the favorite in the weight throw and Nicole Green has the No. 2 effort in the shot put.
“But I can’t see anybody beating (conference newcomer) Nebraska-Omaha and its sprinters,” Vavra said. “Central Missouri obviously has depth as well.
“I would hope we could potentially pull in there in the third, fourth or fifth spot. ... We’ll score every point we can.”
But it’s been a season riddled with injuries and illness, capped when Shank was slowed by a touch of the flu.
“That’s the way the sport is,” Vavra said. “But we’re still looking forward to showing up and competing.”
