Sophomore Standouts Lead Men's Track
12/13/2003 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Dec. 13, 2003
By Seth Whitehead
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE - For one, it was expected.
For the other, it was a pleasant surprise.
But, for both, the final outcome was disappointing.
Southern Illinois University track and field athletes Ray Scotten and Felix Anderson both qualified for the prestigious NCAA Outdoor Championships last year.
But they also both failed to advance past the preliminaries in their respective events, ending tremendous seasons on down notes.
The good news: They both have three years left to make amends.
Just sophomores, Scotten and Anderson's futures are bright, and they should keep the SIU men's track program represented well at the national championships for the foreseeable future.
"Both those kids are special kids - good kids to build a program with," SIU head coach Cameron Wright said. "For those two kids to qualify for nationals as freshman was really something. We look for both of them to really improve."
Scotten, a former national-champion pole vaulter in high school, was an NCAA automatic-qualifier last year and is a legit candidate for a national-championship. He qualified for the NCAA meet early on in the outdoor season with a career-best and SIU-record vault of 17 feet, 9 inches. Some perspective: Last year's NCAA champion won with a vault of 17 feet, 10 inches.
"Last year was a down year as far as overall height," noted Scotten. "That was probably the lowest in a while. But I know I've got bigger vaults in me than 17-9 anyway."
Anderson, on the other hand, didn't even have SIU's best time in the 400-meters during the indoor season. But he put it all together in the outdoor season, peaking at the right time of the year by qualifying for the Mid-East regional in the next-to-last meet of the season with a time of 46.97.
He then went on to win Missouri Valley Conference championships in the 400 and 200-meters a week later, setting personal-bests in both events and conference and track-record in the 400 (45.7).
"It was big for me, it really was," Anderson said of the MVCs. "It was self-motivation. A lot of people were questioning, I think, me as a freshman. I was put out there and nobody thought I could do it. I was seeded 12th in the 200 and, what, fifth in the 400. Nobody thought I could do it but my teammates and (spring) coach (Enrique) German. I know I surprised coach Wright."
"I think his mind set that whole outdoor season was, 'I'm going to make my mark on the Valley,'" Wright said. "I don't know if it surprised him that much; it surprised me when he ran that fast."
But Anderson appeared to have just missed the NCAA cut after a sixth-place finish at the Mid-East Regional. However, his season was extended one more meet when the NCAA added him as an at-large bid days later.
Though their paths to the NCAA's were different, both Scotten and Anderson came into nationals with high hopes.
"We really thought, last year, that both of them had the potential to be All-Americans once they got there," Wright said.
But those hopes were quickly dashed, as each failed to get out of their respective preliminary rounds.
The national-competition was a first for Anderson, and he admits it was bigger than anything he'd seen before.
"It was a big experience for me just making it there," Anderson said. "At that level, you see Olympians in the crowd watching you run, you see about 10,000 fans - packed - watching you run. Just hearing SIU being represented, between UCLA and all the top Big 10 schools and best schools in the nation, it was real big for me to represent SIU."
Anderson placed 26th overall with a time of 47.48, nearly two seconds off his MVC-championship time, but he makes no excuses.
"I wouldn't say I was nervous," Anderson said. "I was just mentally unprepared I would say. It happened for me so fast.
"I was just, like, so used to my teammates being there, even at regionals. We all made it to regionals and my teammates were all there to support me," Anderson said. "But at nationals, Ray's a pole vaulter, so we do totally different warm-ups. So in the end, I was basically on an island by myself.
"You see other teams like TSU, and they've got eight guys warming up and doing their thing, competing for a national-championship and I'm out there warming up there by myself."
Scotten was a veteran of national competitions, however, and had been on the big stage before.
"I went to three national competitions in high school," Scotten said. " I had been to big meets before, so I didn't, like, fold under the pressure.
In fact, he was feeling great in warm-ups.
"He had some bars where he cleared 17-6 by six to 10 inches," Wright said. "Ray didn't choke by any means. He was having an incredible day. He was blowing through his poles. He was feeling real good."
But he failed to clear the opening height of 16 feet, 4 3/4 inches three times in a row, officially finishing with no height.
"Those meets happen," Scotten said. "I just got so into it that I was almost too fast and too good for that day."
"I think he would of had a chance to compete for a national-championship," Wright said. "It's a shame that he lost that opportunity. But, at the same time, I think he learned a lot from that competition."
On the bright side, the experience has inspired Scotten and Anderson work even harder.
"We were really a little bit disappointed when they didn't achieve that (All-American) goal," Wright said. "And I think they were disappointed and it kind of lit a fire under them as well. So now I think their goals are to finish high at the national championships."
"Both those guys have the talent and mind set to do real well. They've both been working real hard. They got a taste of it now and hopefully they can use the fact that they didn't do as well as they wanted to last year as motivation this year."
"It was a good experience, considering I was a freshman and went to nationals and everything," Scotten said. "But I don't think I had quite the meet I wanted and I don't think Felix did either.
"We know we're going to make it back to the meet. We're looking to do a little bit better. I'm not worried about getting back there, I worried about how I'm going to do there."
Anderson is already proving that Scotten's confidence is justified.
Even though he was far from 100 percent, Anderson came out and broke SIU's indoor record in the 200-meters and set a new personal-best by clocking in at 21.24 at Friday's Saluki Fast Start Open, defeating the old mark by .08 seconds.
" I think he's really improved a lot over the course of this last fall," Wright said.
Scotten also won his event Friday with a solid vault of 16-0 3/4 and has bigger things in mind for 2003-04.
"I did a lot better, a half a foot better than what I did last year," Scotten said. "I'm on a bigger pole than what I was last year. I'm doing the same amount of steps and I weigh less. I'm much faster. I feel a lot better this year than I did last year. I felt today was a good start off for the season."
"My goal is to become an All-American and go to the Olympic trials. I really feel real confident that I can be on that level."
"I think both of them are going to be pretty dangerous this year because they've got a thirst right now that only the national championships can quench," Wright said.