Mike Hermann knew there was only one way for Kansas Wesleyan to become proficient at staging a track meet.
"You can't get that experience except by doing it," said Hermann, KWU's Director of Athletics.
Hermann, his staff and an army of volunteers did just that when Wesleyan played host for the Kansas Conference Outdoor Championships on May 2-3 at Graves Family Sports Complex and the newly constructed Bieber-Doherty-Scofield Throws Venue.
It was the first track event at KWU in 51 years, and by all accounts was a successful endeavor.
"One of our goals that was to run a meet that was efficient and allowed student-athletes to perform at their peak potential," Hermann said. "I think we achieved that through the help of some terrific officials, a good group of volunteers and some organization that was put in place."
The event was certainly a success in terms of competition. Nine meet records were set – six women and three men. There also were 33 A-standard and 19 B-standard NAIA national qualifying performances and included 19 marks that ranked among the NAIA's top 10 performances for 2019.
The meet records were:
Women's 400 meters: Amy Braimbridge, McPherson, 54.84 seconds in the preliminaries.
Women's 400 meters: Braimbridge, 54.78 in the finals.
Women's 100 meters: Adia Vaughn, Ottawa, 11.81.
Women's 800 meters: Tenka Stringer, Avila, 2:13.48.
Women's 3,200 meter relay: Avila, 9:25.25.
Women's 1,600 meter relay: Friends, 3:52.36.
Men's shot put: Kyle Wilson, Bethel, 17.15m (56 feet, 3¼ inches).
Men's 400 meters: Mason Held, York, 46.98 seconds.
Men's discus: Dylan Templeman, McPherson, 52.04m (170-9).
"The last few years, the overall caliber of the KCAC has improved so much," said meet announcer Carol Swenson, who worked his 12th KCAC meet. "Right now everybody is in the hunt and everybody has athletes, it seems like.
"Friends (women) and Saint Mary (men) won by comfortable margins but they both knew they were in a competition all the way through."
Preparations weren't without some last-minute drama. Construction on the throws venue went down to the wire and rain the night before rendered the grounds muddy, but didn't hinder competition either day.
"I talked to a lot of the athletes that participated from most of the schools that were here and they thought it to be a great venue," Hermann said. "I think the javelin venue is one of the best in the conference, I think our discus/hammer cage turned out great and I was really pleased with the shot put venue.
"I think we have a really fine throws venue over there now. That's something that's going to really move our program forward."
Jeff Bieber, a KWU pole vaulter from 1969-71 and member of the university's Board of Trustees, said having a throws venue was a necessity.
"When we built the football stadium we put in a beautiful track and had a great opportunity to host tournaments but without the throws venue we couldn't do that and couldn't do the KCAC," he said. "So that gave everybody the impetus to say 'let's see if we can do this' and we did get it put together.
"I think it's great the city worked with us to allow us to use that acreage. Otherwise we wouldn't have had these grounds."
Doherty was a sprinter at KWU and graduated in 1947. He was inducted into the Coyote Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998 and is the Hall's oldest living member.
"Track and field was my major sport and when I got into coaching I realized that tournaments are important," he said. "Kansas Wesleyan couldn't have a tournament as long as they didn't have a facility for those throwing sports. It was a natural thing for me to be interested in seeing them develop that venue.
"It's the kind of thing that almost has to be on its own site because of the space requirements. (The venue) makes the facility complete and that's great."
Swenson agrees.
"The distance from the stadium was a little bit of a distraction but having all those weight events over there together was better than having maybe one or two," he said. "Weight coaches could basically locate over there. Overall I thought (KWU) did a real nice job for not having hosted a meet for 50 years."
Hermann said KWU's experience hosting several postseason events earlier in the school year helped.
"You look at the amount of events we had this year – two postseason basketball games, seven postseason soccer games and three football games," he said. "That's been a thrill and it's given us great experience that not only will carry over into some of our regular-season operations but will also prepare us the next time we host a championship-level event, whenever that might be."
Volunteers did much of the heavy lifting for the track meet and included considerable student help.
"I go back to some of the success we've had in community service, finishing in the top three in the country in terms of community service per student and to be able to put this on as well," Hermann said. "Our staff leads by example. You see (volleyball coach) Jessica Cleveland out there with the high jump, (women's soccer coach) Kat Benton helping with the javelin throw and (tennis coach) Josh Molino running the throws venue. Everybody stepped up in important ways.
"That's what happens at Kansas Wesleyan, that's the Coyote way, if you will, and this event really illustrated that."
The KCAC meet rotates alphabetically each year among conference schools. Wesleyan passed on its turn two years ago, trading dates with McPherson. KWU's scheduled to be the host again in 2030, but it could be sooner if a school passes on the event.
Hermann said there are plans in the works to use the track facilities during the 2019-20 school year – a college meet and a high school meet in conjunction with Sacred Heart.
"Some of the old-timers shared stories about the Wesleyan Relays and they want to bring that back as a high school meet," he said. "Really use it as an opportunity for small schools in Kansas – the (Class) 3As, 2As, 1As – and invite them to our campus and participate here at an event where they can showcase their skills."
Hermann and his staff will rely on the experience gained last week.
"We got a lot of positive comments from coaches who participated," he said. "I was very pleased with track meet that we ended up with."
