GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College’s men’s track and field team is ranked 10th in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s first South/Southeast Region Poll of the spring season. McMurry College ranked first overall while Guilford’s league rivals Lynchburg College earned the second-place position and Washington and Lee University is eighth.
The Quakers have competed in four meets this spring and produced some of the region’s top marks. At the season-opening Wake Forest Open Mar. 18, freshman Johnathan Smith (Conyers, Ga./Salem) ran the 100-meter dash in 10.75 seconds, which is the second-fastest Division III time in the region. His performance stands sixth nationally in Division III and is a provisional qualifier for next month’s national championships. Smith also ran the region’s second-fastest time in the 200 (22.12) at the same meet.
Guilford junior Derick Kosgei (Eldoret, Kenya/Kipkabus Central (East Central)) posted a school-record time of 14 minutes, 59.16 seconds in the 5000 meters Mar. 25 at the Raleigh Relays, which ranks third in the region. Freshman Chad Norton (Walled Lake, Mich./Walled Lake) ran the region’s third-best 10,000 time (32:44.06) Mar. 18 at the Wake Forest Open. Classmate David Cason (Clemmons, N.C./West Forsyth) delivered a 9:45.81 in the Wake Forest Open’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, the South’s second-fastest time so far this year.
The Quakers, who were also 10th in the final 2011 regional indoor poll, return to action this weekend at the Lynchburg College Track and Field Classic.