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Rio Grande Student, Josh Perry finishes fourth at Track & Field Nationals
 
2008-05-27
Edwardsville, IL---University of Rio Grande senior sprinter Josh Perry made his last collegiate meet a memorable one. Perry finished fourth in the men’s 200-meter dash at the 57th NAIA Outdoor National Track & Field Meet at Ralph Korte Stadium. For his efforts, Perry claims All-American status. His time in the race was 21.71.
Perry, a native of Rio Grande, garnered five points for Rio Grande and tied Southern Nazarene for 44th place at the meet.
Because of a scratch, the preliminaries were not run on Thursday. Perry had to run both the semifinals and finals on Saturday and posted the fourth best time in both.
“It’s been one of those things, All-American has been eluding Josh all these years and for one reason or another and this year he’s worked very hard and didn’t have to run in the pre-lims on Thursday, they cut it done because there were only 16 people after several scratches,” Rio Grande head coach Bob Willey said. “He didn’t have to race until Saturday, of course the semi’s and the finals are only about an hour and a half apart on Saturday.”
Willey said it was still up in the air whether Perry would advance to the finals after posting the fourth best time in his semifinal heat. “The top three automatically qualify, so we were not out of the woods at that point in time,” Willey said. “But then after the second section ran, he still had the fourth fastest time overall.”
Willey also reported that Perry had some difficulty with his start from the Lane 8, but rallied well to claim his All American spot. “His blocks slipped and he kind of hesitated, thinking the starter’s would recall it and didn’t,” he said. “Then he had to turn on the retro’s to get back into the race and he ran very well.”
“Once again, obviously he had the fourth fastest time in the finals and he ran a great race,” Willey added. “He was very excited, and I know his mom and Dad, David and Sandy, were thrilled. They were there and got to see it.”
“Knowing that he had the ability (to be an All American), but it just kept eluding him, it’s well deserved, we’re very happy for Josh and his family,” Willey said.
Perry closes out one of the best individual careers in school history in track and field.
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