Park University had the top women’s athlete and the top men’s newcomer in the American Midwest Conference this Indoor Track and Field season.
Senior Jerosan Fletcher was named the AMC Athlete of the Year for her performance at the league championship in Elsah, Ill., where she won three conference titles. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native finished with 38 total points after winning the 60-, 200-dashes and 400-meter run and was second in the long jump.
Odail Todd, a sophomore transfer from G.C. Foster College in Jamaica, was named the newcomer of the year after scoring 18 points for the Pirates. He won the 60-meter dash and was on the winning 4x400-meter relay and took second in the 200-meter dash.
Park University senior Jerosan Fletcher (right) was named the American Midwest Conference Women’s Athlete of the Year following her performance at the league’s Indoor Track and Field Championships in Elsah, Ill.
Park’s men’s distance medley won, while Aaliyah Brown and Michaela Lemons finished 1-2 in the women’s shot put. Brown, a senior from St. Louis, threw 12.29 meters, while Lemons, a freshman from Independence, Mo., threw 12.1 meters.
Morgan Lindgren won the women’s 5,000-meter run, while Todd was joined Johnathan Hair, William Henry and Danny Tucker on the winning 4x400 squad.
The Pirates took third on the women’s side, while the men took fourth in a meet swept by Columbia College.
Other runners-up finishes went to Areka Hanson in the 600-meter run and the 4x800-meter relay team of Nicholas Rotich, Henry, Sebastian Keditukei and Brendan Briody — a Park Hill South product.
Women’s b-ball adds 2 recruits
Pirates basketball coach Kenneth Cooper has signed a pair of Missouri recruits for the 2018-19 season. Joining the team is Emilyn Richardson from Kansas City North and AnJanae Williams from Sedalia, Mo.
Richardson, who plays at Staley, is a 5-foot-5 shooting guard. Williams is a two-time all-conference performer at Sedalia Sacred Heart, where she has hit more than 50 percent of her 3-pointers.
Men’s golf adds recruit
Wichita golfer Ben Spicer, from Kapuan Mount Carmel High School has signed with the Pirates.
Spicer took 33rd in the Class 5A championship last year as his team took fifth. He was 10th at regionals last spring, helping KMC win the regional title.
The year prior, he finished tied for 26th and helped the squad finish as the runners-up.
The senior has also qualified to play in the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships held in July at PGA Nationals Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Park CC honored
The Park men’s and women’s cross country teams were recognized for their collective academic achievements by earning All-Academic status by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
In order to the earn the inaugural recognition by the coaches’ group, a team had to post a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. The Pirates were one of just 21 total programs to have both its men’s and women’s programs recognized with the academic honor.
The Park men posted a team GPA of 3.58 and had both senior William Henry and sophomore Christian Skinner recognized as NAIA All-Academic individuals.
The women’s team had a 3.51 cumulative GPA.
Park was also one of just two AMC programs to achieve the academic recognition.