LOTS OF EXCITEMENT WITH OUR T&F AND XC Life
has really been great lately as we follow the Capital Comet athletes.
Join Mike Hout as we cheer them on to more and more great marks.
There is a lot of good information on the Capital University website
under athletics.

OAC CHAMPIONSHIPS IN MUSKIE LAND  It is with a tear
in the eye that I get to write about some seniors and their races at
the recent league meet.  There were a lot of great results especially
in the the men’s hammer, the 400, the steeple, the discus, the women’s
4x100 and both the men’s and women’s 4x400.  I was especially
moved by a near championship by Chip Smith who ran a fantastic
1500 personal record.  This was all done in his very last OAC
race.  He joins others who had personal records in their final OAC
like Red Trego (LJ), Joe Dobos (440H), Tim Berger (4x440), Aaron
Folsom (3 mile), Ted Rust (4x440), Chuck Renner (6 mile) and even
little old Mike Hout (440 hurdles).  Great job, Chip!!!  Maria Da
Cunha also had a personal best in her final OAC meet.  Her 400
hurdle time was not only a pr but it was also a new school record
as she brought home the championship.  The previous record was
held by Erica Basinger for twenty years.  Erica was a heck of an
athlete and is on Capital’s top ten list in five different events.  Great
work, Maria.  Below is part of a message I tried to send to her before
the meet.....

Capital has had the privilege of welcoming some amazing one lap
hurdlers on campus.  Edwin Moses did not qualify for the state
meet when he was in high school but received a full academic
scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta.  He grew some
after high school and also recovered from an injury.  His training
went well and he opened up his freshman year by running the
fastest time in the world over the 400 hurdles.  Talk about amazing
progress.  He was also a division 3 athlete and had some fantastic
races at nationals including some big come from behind anchor
legs to help his three teammates become All-American with him.
     Edwin was also the owner of a streak of over 100 wins.  In the
middle of that streak (my memory is that he was around 60 wins) he
came to the Capital campus and gave a speech during Black History
month in the Huntington Recital Hall.
     Years before Moses was on the Capital campus I met him at the
Florida Relays and had a conversation with him that was my pride
and joy.  He came walking by me on the infield and said “Hey man.
Got the time?”
     I also made a nice connection with a young hurdler at the 2016
Olympic trials.  I yelled something to her about riding the unicycle
and she waved “hi” back at me.  Sydney McLaughlin (yes, she is
a unicyclist and a juggler) went on to shock everyone (including
herself) by making the 2016 Olympic team and now has a 400
hurdle time that is substationally faster than my 400 time without
hurdles!!!  She was never on Capital’s campus but a guy named
Baum was to see his girlfriend who went to Cap.
     As I trained more and more for the decathlon, I got to meet
some interesting folks.  One was Jim Baum from Ashland.  At the
time, he was national runner-up in the decathlon and spent time
training with me, which helped in so many ways.  I always
admired what he did at nationals his senior year.  He did all he
could to help his team bring home the championship and that
included winning the decathlon, coming back and running all
the heats in the 400 hurdles and finishing third in the final and
then running a leg on the 4x400 team which finished second.  I
barely finished the decathlon and laid around in agony for
several days while he was still running.
     Women running the 400 hurdles was something no one could
envision on the college level.  People kept talking about how
women were just not strong enough for this.  Ha ha!!!  Of course,
men in our conference were not even considered to be strong
enough to do this until the mid 1960’s.  Before that the longest
hurdle race was the 330 yard hurdles and that was considered a
killer event.  We had few takers for the full lap race over barriers
and those that tried it kept falling apart toward the finish.  One who
worked hard at it was Joe Dobos.  He was fabulous and so great
out of the blocks that he won the indoor OAC championship in
the 60 highs.  Outdoor he broke the 400 hurdle record and I
ended up chasing it for many many races.  I was not very sure
I would ever get it.  Eventually, in my final race in college I was
able to barely break the record.  I remember my wonderful and
supportive teammates coming out of the stands and gathering
around me as I laid on the infield.  They were the greatest and
kept congratulating me.  I finally could not take it any more and
my first words after the race were “Air.  I need air.”  Then I
motioned for them to back up.  I was a mess!!!

2026 INDOOR OAC CHAMPIONSHIPS  Maybe we don’t
have a lot of men hurdling, or high jumping.  And maybe our
women’s squad is still thin in some places but Capital University
made some terrifice statements at this year’s indoor league meet.
As a team, both the men and the women moved up the rankings.
The men’s 4x200 set an OAC record!!!  We had the most valuable
female sprinter after her many wins.  Our distance squad made
some news including winning the Distance Medley Relay.  All our
relays looked fabulous.  Who is that great thrower for Capital?  Wow,
what a great meet for the Comets.

ALUMNI MEETS  Our new coach has kept the tradition of an alumni
meet alive and we have had several of them.  It seems like we should be
able to get more alumni involved.  Here is a possible contact list:
1960’s-Jim Demo
1970’s-Joe Schleppi
1980’s-Mike Ramseyer
2000’s-Rachel Barends
2010’s-Elizabeth Stanton