O n The Right Track

St was ayearofvastimprovement for the1979 Liberty Baptist College Track team. In only itsthird year,theFlames went 9-1 in dualmeetsascompared toa 4-5 season in1978. And for the first time theTrack team was abletoholda home meet using E.C Glass High School's track asthe location

Coached by Jake Matthes,along with the assistance ofLCA Head FootballCoach Harry Betts, theFlames broke 22 records,testimony to the progressive quality achieved this year over the firsttwoseasons.As practice progressed Coach Matthes said, "It was exciting towatch a bunch of men molding together asa team, tosee the finished product." Thefinished product was a good onewith only oneloss in dual meets during the regular season, a first place in theNCCAA District II meet, andfinally,theultimate — The NCCAA National Track Championship!

MEN'S TRACK TEAM: (front row) Rod Dalton, Mike Manna, Robert Holter, Robert Kelly, David Pigg Marty Frisk, (second row) Jim Martin Robert Bracken, Greg Smith, Mike Phillips, Bill Blackford, Randy Long, Robert Deal, (back row) Coach Jake Matthes manager Steve Buie, Curt Grenier, Greg Turner, Tim Black Odrey Rasmussen Glen Draeger Greg Bowman Doug Stephens, David Scarborough Coach Harry Betts any people were not aware that there was also a Women's Track team along with the Men's team. Doubling in size, the team showed vast improvement over last year when the program was begun by-you guessed itJack Matthes. Because theteam was still in its embryonic stage,themain emphasis was placed on the NCCAA District II meet held at Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania, on April 21. (There isno National Meet forWomen's Track.) Here the team was able to place second with some outstanding efforts by Kim Brownfield, who was voted the Most Valuable Runner during the meet with wins in the 100 and200 meter dashes,asecond inthe long-jump,a third inthehigh jump, anda fourth inthe400 meter relay team along with Julia Smiley, Karen Herr, and Beth Hoffsmith

Others who placed were Karen Herr, second in the high-jump; Elaine Fisher, second inthe1500 and3000 meter;Julie Smiley, Sandra LaClair, Cindy Steffen, and Elaine Fisher, second in the 1600 meter relay;Karen Herr,third in the longjump; Julia Smiley,third inthe 400meter; Sandra LeClair, third inthe 1500meter; Cindy Steffen, third in the 3000 meter; Beth Hoffsmith, fourth inthe400 meter; and JuliaSmiley, fourthinthe 1500meter.

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AWOMEN'S TRACK TEAM: (front row) Elaine Fisher, Kim Brownfield, Sandra LeClair (second row) Gloria Moulder, Pearl Jackson Karen Herr, Beth Hoffsmith (back row) Head Coach Jake Matthes, Coach Harry Belts