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Right
On Track...And Field
By Lindsay Goodier
 If
anyone knows about developing the whole person, its the track team.
Yeah, they obviously have the body part down. But they're smart, too.
"The women's team last year had the highest GPA (3.56) for any
women's NCAA Division I track team in the nation. And we definitely
plan to keep that up this year," junior distance runner Miley
Turnbull said.
Most importantly, this team realizes that their spirits must be cultivated
before the other two areas of their lives can truly prosper.
For now the team must contend with the indoors, until the outdoor
track season starts in late March. This season alone, the team has
already set three new school records.
The first was set by senior shot putter Tiffany Crowl, who threw a
distance of 44 feet, 11.75 inches.
 Sophomore
sprinter Marsha Dawkins is another reason for these feats. On Jan.
26, at the Mid-Continent Conference in Colorado Springs, she led the
women to a fourth place finish out of 12 teams by breaking the ORU
record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.55 seconds.
She also contributed to the 4x400-meter relay (another school record),
finishing with an overall time of three minutes, 53.15 seconds. Dawkins
is from St. Catherine, Jamaica, and was recruited to join the track
team last fall.
"Track is much different here than it is in Jamaica," Dawkins
said. "Here, we have two separate seasons: indoor and outdoor,
because of the cold weather. In Jamaica, we only run outdoors. It
s been hard getting used to running indoors, especially on the 200-meter
because of the sharp turns on the shorter track."
Although she is already brought the team much recognition, Dawkins
is not about to stop now. My goal for this year is to make it to the
NCAA and represent ORU and Jamaica well.
Dawkins and everyone else agree that the team's success largely depends
on the head: their coach. Men's and women's head coach Joe Dial's
philosophy is "If you work hard, you'll end up doing well."
"All the kids are working hard at every event so I know we will
have great success this year," he said.
Dial says this year s teams may be the best conference teams ever.
Like always, our goals are winning the conference champs in both men's
and women's divisions, both indoor and outdoor.
Unlike other sports where athletes only come in contact with one opposing
team at a time, the track team is often competing against dozens of
other teams at a single meet.
The best part about running for ORU is the controversy that it causes
among people from other schools. "Being an authentic representation
of ORU, we get so many opportunities to explain the purpose of our
school," junior pole-vaulter Shaun Shaefer said.
"When other teams look at us and realize that we've got something
good going on, it opens up the door for us to inspire them with the
spirit, mind and body principle," junior distance runner Deidre
Emerson said.
The life of a student athlete, especially that of a runner, is not
as glamorous as one might imagine. Junior distance runner Rajiv Maina
wouldn't give up track for anything, but he also realizes that his
life is much different from that of a non-athlete. It's tough. We
go to school all day and the teachers expect us to have all our homework
done. And then we go to practices and the coaches expect us to perform
our very best. Then we are gone almost every weekend for meets.
With so much on their plates, the members of the track team find strength
and encouragement in each other. Sophomore distance runner Janae Davis
said, "The best part about running track for ORU is being around
fellow teammates. We are truly are team, and were always there to
encourage each other."
With a clear vision and an intricate balance between body, mind and
spirit, the track and field team will have no problems staying on
top this season. In the words of freshman decathlete and hurdler B.J.
Blocker: "God is going to do great things this year."
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