By CALVIN HEAD SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR JEFF FEBUS

A pair of newcomers will join a season veteran in representing the Calvin women's track and field team at the NCAA III Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend in Rochester, New York.

Sophomore Karen Bekhet and freshman RyAnn Rohrer will make their first-ever trip to the national meet while junior Jenna Allman will be heading to a national competition for the third time this academic year.

PATH TO CALVIN

Bekhet's path to the national championships in a Calvin uniform comes with an interesting backstory. Growing up in the Boston suburb of Whitinsville, Massachusetts, she was determined not follow her older brother Mark or many of her Whitinsville Christian High School classmates to Calvin.

"I didn't want to come to Calvin, not even for a visit," said Bekhet recently. "I didn't want to be at a place where I knew a lot of people. I wanted to go somewhere warmer like Florida, but my mother encouraged me to apply and one of the Calvin coaches kept calling me. I came for a visit with friends and while I was on campus, I just loved the track and field team. It felt most like home. I found out I could also double major academically and after that, everything kind of fell into place."

After an up-and-down freshman campaign, Bekhet has found her groove as a sophomore, winning the MIAA outdoor title in the discus while placing fourth outdoors in the shot put. During the indoor season, she placed sixth in the shot put and eighth in the weight throw at the MIAA Indoor Championships.

Last weekend at the Augustana Midwest Twilight Invitational, she unleashed a career-best throw of 147-7 (44.99 meters) to punch her ticket to the outdoor championships. She is seeded 13^th in the event slated for Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m.

Her sophomore surge has come despite dealing with nagging injuries for much of the year. "Coach Adam (Haldorson) coming in this year has helped me greatly," said Bekhet who was recently named to the All-MIAA and Great Lakes All-Region teams. "He has helped me focus on getting healthy. This year I have been able to grow as an athlete and learn how to work through injuries. The numbers continue to grow. I'm putting in the work and getting support from my coach, teammates and family."

In addition to her teammates, she will look forward to having her mother and brother cheer her on at the NCAA III Championships.

TWO-SPORT STANDOUT

Bekhet will have a fellow thrower joining her in Rohrer who is no stranger to big competitions. As a high school senior at Ludington High School, she qualified for the Michigan High School State Swim Finals in the fall of 2021, ironically held at Calvin's Venema Aquatic Center. In March of 2022, she was a key starter on a Ludington girls basketball team that advanced to MHSAA Division II State Finals in East Lansing, Michigan. Last spring, she qualified for the MHSAA Girls Division II State Track and Field Finals, winning state titles in the shot put and discus.

Rohrer is a two-sport athlete at the collegiate level, playing a key role with the Calvin women's basketball team as well as its women's outdoor track and field team. This winter, she averaged 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds a game on a Calvin women's basketball team that finished 21-6 overall. This spring, she captured the MIAA outdoor shot put title while placing second in the discus. She is seeded 18^th in the shot put at the NCAA III Championships with a throw of 44-11 ¾ (13.71 meters). The shot put competition will take place Friday at 4 p.m.

The opportunity to compete in two sports along with a rigorous academic experience helped draw Rohrer to Calvin. "Choosing Calvin was kind of a last-minute decision," said Rohrer. "I was struggling to find the right fit. I wanted to keep playing basketball along with track and field. Academically I wanted different options."

Her older brothers Chase and Remington Rohrer had attended Calvin and competed in track and field for the Knights but that was not an initial drawing card for her. "I didn't want to go to Calvin at first, but it kind of just worked out," said Rohrer who like Bekhet, was named to the All-MIAA and Great Lakes All-Region teams this spring in track and field. "I got in touch with (Calvin women's basketball) Coach (Mark) Christner and I found that Calvin gave me a little bit of everything I wanted: basketball, a small school in a bigger city, several academic opportunities and track and field."

In addition to Chase and Remington, RyAnn also has an older brother Chaz. All three have helped push her to succeed and hone her competitive fire. "I always wanted to beat them," said Rohrer. "There has been a lot of one-on-one basketball in the driveway over the years. They helped put me in a competitive space and I grew from that experience."

The experience of moving from one sport and one teammate group to another in high school has also come in handy at Calvin as she has moved from basketball to track and field. "Getting to know different people and teammates has always been a big reason why I enjoy sports," said Rohrer. "In March, I took a week off from basketball and then I went right into track and field. It took me a little time to get comfortable and open up to a new group of teammates but once I did, things really picked up. The throwing group is a great bunch of people with a lot of characters. That helps keep things fun. Everyone does different things to help people laugh."

Having Bekhet there as a teammate at nationals will be a bonus. "Having Karen there is really good," said Rohrer. "It's nice to have someone to lean on and help share the experience."

Rohrer will also share her nationals experience with her parents Christopher and D'Ann Rohrer who both earned All-America honors themselves as throwers at the Division II level.

CHAMPIONSHIPS EXPERIENCE

Although still a junior, Allman brings a wealth of experience at the national level – both in cross country and on the track.  Allman has competed at the NCAA III Cross County Championships each of the last two years. She has also earned back-to-back trips to the NCAA III Indoor and NCAA III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. As a sophomore in 2022, she was part of an All-American distance medley relay team at the indoor championships that took fifth place. Last spring, she competed in the steeplechase at the outdoor championships, finishing 11^th. She then placed 18^th in the 3,000 meter run at the 2023 NCAA III Indoor Championships in March and is back to compete again at the outdoor national meet in the steeplechase. She is seeded 19^th in the race (10:48.83) and will compete in the prelims Thursday night at 8:05 p.m.

A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Allman will be part of one of the most competitive steeplechase fields in the history of Division III track and field. The prospect is not daunting to Allman who will go into the race with a focused mindset. "My last two national meets, I have had really big expectations and both have not gone as well as I had hoped," said Allman, a graduate of Saline High School. "In both of those experiences I found that I had a team that is really supportive and that my race finish was not the end of the world. This week I am just trying to have fun with the goal of having the best race I can. There are 22 people in the (steeplechase) race, and each runner has their own individual journey. I've found that failure and success are much different than just a place. It's about doing the best you can and being satisfied with where that takes you."

As the veteran of the Calvin contingent headed to the national meet, Allman will help try to guide the first-time athletes along with a bit of advice. "Even though it's Nationals, it's important to know this is just another meet in many ways. We know how to throw or race. We are competing against very talented athletes but that does not have to change the way we approach this meet."

Allman is part of a storied Calvin steeplechase tradition that includes countless national qualifiers and several All-Americans. The event was magnified by former Olympic bronze medalist and Calvin distance coach Brian Diemer who coached Allman her first two years at Calvin. It has continued with current Calvin cross country and track and field distance coach Nicole Kramer who excelled in the race as a collegiate athlete. She also has the help of assistant coaches McKenzie Pluymert and Caleb Ferguson who also excelled as steeplechase athletes at Calvin.

"The first thing I found out when running under Coach Diemer was how much he loves this (steeplechase) race," laughed Allman. "It's amazing to have so many experienced coaches. They are all very passionate about it and that all stems from Coach Diemer."

Allman has also become passionate about the steeplechase. "I think the steeplechase is the best track event," she said.  "I love that you have to be gritty. Sometimes you fall but you have to get back up and keep running. There's also this weird aspect of hurdling which requires a different type of skill. Hurdling is something you can get so tangibly better at over time to improve your performance. There's something about the steeple where you can just focus on one barrier at a time. It breaks the race up in  different chunks. It can be a wild event because you never quite know what will happen. That makes it exciting."

Allman will have her parents Deanna and Craig cheering her on at the meet along with several of her Calvin teammates that are planning to make their trip on their own to cheer on the Knights. That camaraderie is what sold her on Calvin being the right fit as a college destination. "I remember coming on my visit to Calvin and the thing that really sold me was the visit with the team. I could picture myself being a part of this community. I wanted a school that if running didn't work out, I would still feel at home."

THE MAN IN CHARGE

One individual who has decided to make Calvin his new home is first-year head track and field coach Adam Haldorson who arrived at Calvin this fall after several years as the associate head track and field coach at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon.

According to Halderson, coaching the trio representing the Calvin women's track and field team this week has been a pleasure. "They are a great group of student-athletes," said Haldorson. "They work hard and represent Calvin University incredibly well. I think all three have the potential to surprise some people this weekend."

A common theme for the three is their dedication to academics with Bekhet, Rohrer and Allman all Calvin Dean's List students. Bekhet is majoring in finance and the PPE combo of politics, philosophy and economics. Rohrer is majoring in environmental science while Allman holds majors in sociology and psychology.

"It's a coaches' dream to have individuals that want to excel both in the classroom and in competition," said Haldorson. "This group is a very disciplined and motivated group of young women. We are very proud of them."