Columbus, OH — Once again, Messiah has an All-American in the sport of track and field.
Junior Tyler Newhook became the latest to accomplish that honor, running a school-record 1:51.96 in the men's 800-meter run at Saturday's NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, finishing third overall.
It was Newhook's first All-American honor and it came in an underdog role, as the Long Pond, Pa. native entered the weekend as the 11th seed in the open 800.
Newhook effectively threw the seeding out the window in the second heat of Friday's prelims, however, running a 1:53.16 and finishing fourth in his heat, easily qualifying for Saturday's eight-man finals.
After settling in fifth place for the majority of the championship event, Newhook turned it on during the backstretch of the final lap, moving up to fourth place. He then passed two-time outdoor national champion Emmanuel Bofa (Whitworth University) in the homestretch, taking the bronze in dramatic fashion.
“Going into this weekend and being ranked 11th, I was just hoping to make it to the finals,” Newhook said Saturday. “I honestly had no idea that I was going to run this (time). I think it had to do with the support system here. My family, friends and teammates were great. Our coaching staff took care of all the small details, when and what I would eat ... all I had to do was focus on the race itself.”
Newhook did focus his way to a personal-best time of nearly a second, as Saturday's clip bettered his previous personal best 1:52.78 — a time he posted in last weekend's Columbia University Last Chance meet.
Saturday in the national championship, Newhook had just enough to eclipse Bofa (1:52.69) in the final few meters, narrowly missing out on catching Wabash College's Jake Waterman (1:51.32) and eventual national champion Ben Scheetz (1:51.26) of Amherst College.
“Tyler never loses power over the four laps,” said Dale Fogelsanger, Messiah head coach. “When other guys decelerate, he does not. Every stride he takes is efficient and powerful.”
Newhook's Saturday time replaced the old school record of 1:52.76 set by former teammate Pat Roach in 2009. Fogelsanger said Roach — who finished third in the 800-meter run at the 2009 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships — and 2010 grad Eddy Palmer helped Newhook see his potential, as both drastically improved their times over the course of their careers.
“Pat and Eddy both made incredible improvements to their times during their four years at Messiah,” Fogelsanger said. “It's that whole concept of 'no ceiling.' There's no telling just how much you can improve.”
Newhook has certainly done that in just three short years, arriving to the Messiah campus running a personal-best 2:02 in the 800 as a freshman. Now, with Saturday's time etched in the record books, it's clear Newhook is a new man on the track.
“Training with Pat and Eddy gave me confidence,” Newhook said. “Just seeing what the possibilities were with what they did ... I learned a lot from being around them and watching their improvements.”
Newhook was making his first ever appearance in a track and field national championship this weekend, though it wasn't his first collegiate national championships performance overall. Newhook competed in this fall's NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championships, finishing 89th out of 279 runners in a career-best 25:23.1.
“Tyler was on the radar last year,” Fogelsanger said of Newhook's potential in the 800-meter run. “He just missed qualifying for the 800 at outdoors last year. Now, he does this, and we've got outdoors to look forward to, and all of next year. He's going to keep getting better, too, I know that.”
North Central College won the men's national championship team title, finishing with 45 total points. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh claimed the women's crown with 46.5 points. Newhook's finish helped Messiah tie for 29th place overall with six points — a total of 62 institutions captured at least a point over the weekend. Complete results are available at the Capital University's official website for the 2011 national championships.
What Goes Into A Successful 800?
Commonly regarded as one of the hardest distances to run in track and field, the open 800-meter race does more than combine sheer speed with incredible endurance — it also requires extreme mental toughness.
2009 Messiah graduate — and three-time All-American — Pat Roach discusses what goes into the race, and the reasons why Tyler Newhook performed it so well at Saturday's 2011 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships ...
