ESU's Rossbach looking to win 3 events at MIAA championships
By Jesse Newell
Friday, February 29, 2008
No one can accuse Jonel Rossbach or Josh Honeycutt of setting their sights too low entering this weekend’s MIAA Championships in Joplin, Mo.
Neither of the Emporia State athletes says they’ll be happy with one championship.
Honeycutt’s going for two. And Rossbach says she won’t be satisfied without three.
Rossbach, in her final year of competition, says anything under a sweep of the long-distance races — the mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter — will be a disappointment.
“It’s not easy,” Rossbach said, “but I think you have to be mentally strong just as much as you are physically strong and just tell yourself you can do it.”
The senior came close to accomplishing the feat last year. She won the 3,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run but was outkicked by Pittsburg State’s Venessa Lee in the final 100 meters of the mile.
Lee is taking a redshirt this year, giving Rossbach perhaps a better chance of the three-event sweep, which would earn ESU 30 team points.
Honeycutt, meanwhile, hasn’t wasted any time setting lofty goals in his first conference championship.
The freshman wants to win both the men’s long jump and triple jump.
“Ever since high school, I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself — especially big meets,” Honeycutt said. “It’s something that helps me motivate myself.”
Honeycutt has the best MIAA mark in the high jump going in (23 feet, .5 inches) and the second-best showing in the triple jump (47 feet, 2.5 inches).
He still believed that it was going to take a personal record in both events to take the individual titles.
“I know I can do it,” Honeycutt said. “It’s just a matter of me going out and performing.”
Others Hornets to watch for include Brooke Kent, Jaclyn Sill, Skyler Delmott and Kenton Lonberger.
Kent comes in with the best mark in the long jump and the second-best showing in the 60-meter dash.
Sill has won the indoor 600-meter title the last two years.
Meanwhile, Skyler Delmott enters with the best time in the 5,000-meter run, and Lonberger has the top time in the 60-meter dash.
ESU’s Dustin Andrews, Alex Pyle and Craig Saalfeld also have the top three marks in the high jump.
Another former MIAA champion competing for ESU is Eric Wellman, who won the mile and 3,000-meter men’s titles back in 2006.
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