April 27, 2010

Custar signs with nationally respected track program

Looking to continue his progression as a runner in the hopes of competing at the Olympic Trials in 2012, Cowley College sophomore Jory Custar recently signed a letter of intent to run track at NAIA powerhouse Oklahoma Baptist University.

Oklahoma Baptist won three events at the prestigious Drake Relays this past weekend and the Bison won the NAIA Outdoor National Championship in 2007.

OBU head coach Ford Mastin is a four-time NAIA National Coach of the Year and has guided the Bison to one national championship, three runners-up, five third place finishes, and five fourth place finishes in his 12 years as head coach.

Custar earned All-American honors by running as part of the conference champion and national runner-up 4x800-meter relay team, which holds the indoor school record. He will be joining an OBU team that captured the NAIA indoor national championship in the 4x800-meter relay.

“Their program is built around middle distance runners and coach (Ford) Mastin really knows his stuff,” Custar said.

Custar has excelled over the past two seasons as a runner at Cowley. He has helped Cowley capture the indoor conference title in each of his two seasons at the school and led the team to a pair of top-11 finishes at nationals. He also helped Cowley capture the outdoor conference title as a freshman and has the team looking to make it four straight conference titles when they compete at the Jayhawk Conference/Region VI Outdoor Championships May 6-8 in Overland Park.

He capped his freshman season by being named the outdoor conference champion in the 800-meter run and ran as part of the 4x800-meter relay team, which placed fourth at nationals and garnered Coaches Association All-American honors.

During this past indoor season, Custar was the conference and region champion in the 800-meter run (1:57.13) and teamed with T.J. Mapp, Dane Dewitt, and David Phillips to help the Tigers’ 4x800-meter relay team (7:54.89) finish as conference and region champions by less than a second over second place Coffeyville.

Custar placed fourth in the 800-meter run (1:56.53) and earned Coaches Association All-American honors at the indoor nationals.

He continues to shine at Cowley and broke the men’s school record in the 800-meter run with a first place time of 1:52.42 at Saturday’s Southwestern Relays.

“This weekend was a prelude of what’s to come for Jory,” Cowley assistant track and field coach Vince DeGrado said. “It is rare you find a guy his age with his maturity. He set a good example for our freshmen and will fit in unbelievably well at OBU.”

Like Cowley, OBU has dominated its conference as the men’s track and field team has won 10 out of the last 12 Sooner Athletic Conference titles.

“He picked a good program and will fit right in,” Cowley head track and field coach Mark Phillips said.
Custar credits his coaches at Cowley with helping him get to where he is today.

“I did what those two coaches asked of me and look where it got me,” Custar said. “I can’t say enough about the Cowley program. The personal relationships and individual attention you get when you come here is outstanding. The coaches tailored a workout program to my needs.”

Custar plans to major in marketing at OBU and hopes to compete in the 800-meter run at the Olympic Trials in 2012.

“It is attainable for him,” DeGrado said. “By that time, he will have had two years of training here at Cowley and two years at OBU.”

He hopes to cap his time at Cowley with another conference title and more All-American honors. Along with his success on the track, Custar is a Cowley Captain, a Student Ambassador and serves as a Big Brother. He was named Cowley College’s February Student Athlete of the Month and finished last semester with a grade point average of 3.85.

“You don’t replace a Jory Custar, you just hope somewhere in your career you have another one,” Phillips said.