Cordell Breaks Own School Record at Red Raider Open

Pratt Community College sophomore Joe Cordell couldn’t wait for the year to start. And he had good reason for the excitement. Cordell, throwing for the first time this season at the Texas Tech Red Raider Open, broke his own school record in the shot put by four feet. Cordell’s throw of 14.63 meters (48 feet) is currently the eleventh best throw in the NJCAA and the third best throw among athletes in the Jayhawk Conference. He finished in eighth place overall. Cordell was excited, saying, “I’m pretty happy with that throw. I know I have it in me, and it’s nice to actually do it. At first I thought they said 13.63, and I was kind of mad, but when I saw that 48 on the board I got pumped!”
 
The rest of the Beavers travelling to Lubbock didn’t fare as well as Cordell. However, there were some positive things that happened at the meet. Sophomore Bruce Blackshear ran well in the 55m, 200m, and 400m dashes. His time of 22.51 in the 200m dash is three tenths of a second from the national qualifying standards. It also puts him in the top 15 in the NJCAA. And his 400m time of 50.98 is just four tenths of a second from the standard. The other bright spot for the Beavers was freshman Manny Acevedo. Acevedo, a mid-year addition got his career off to a nice start. His jump of 6.72 meters (22’ 3/4 “) was good enough to place him eighth in the “B” division of the long jump. He was also right behind Blackshear in both the 200m and 400m dashes, running a 23.01 and a 51.06 respectively.
 
“Overall, we are out of shape," said Coach Hall. "Simple as that. You take one look at the results, and you see that. And I’m ok with that, because we will get in shape. But I’m not ok with our effort or our attitude. I thought we ran like we were intimidated by the level of competition and we didn’t put forth a full an honest effort in all our races. That is completely unacceptable by my standards. And it will be corrected. But we’ve got some talent, and we have a chance to be really good in May. I thought Bruce came out this weekend and showed some leadership and ran extremely well. I was impressed by Manny’s raw ability. He needs some work on his long jump approach, but other than that he’s going to be a stud. And of course Joe is just a beast. I told him last year he could do it, and he came right out and made it happen. Very excited for Joe Cordell right now.”
 
The Beavers will be on the road again this Saturday as they travel to the Highland Challenge at Highland Community College. Competition starts at 11:30 a.m., with Highland, Sterling College and Tabor College also competing in the meet.