On Saturday morning, April 16, over 850 student-athletes from 26 colleges and universities will decend upon William Jewell College and Greene Stadium for the annual Darrel Gourley Open. The track and field event, now in its eleventh year under the current name (previously called the Cardinal Invitational), will begin with the field events at 10:00 a.m. followed by track events starting at 1:00 p.m. Between the two sessions, at approximately 12:45 p.m., Jewell will honor the 2016 senior class of Uriah Heady, Joshua Rogers, Colton Simmons, Jessica Goldsberry, Liria Gutierrez, and Margaret Perko. 

This year the DGO will host more teams and student-athletes than ever before, and will include teams from NCAA II, NCAA III, NAIA, and the NJCAA levels. Fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference members, Missouri S&T and Quincy will be in attendance along with local programs from Avila, Benedictine, Johnson County CC, MidAmerica Nazarene, Ottawa, and Park, among others. 

For William Jewell, the Cardinals enter the meet with four athletes seeded first in their respective events. Perko and Blake Alexander each have the fastest seed time in the 100 meter hurdles while Gutierrez will be tops in the steeplechase and Alec Whiteside in the men's hammer throw. 

Last season Lincoln University took home top honors on the women's side while Jewell placed second. Cardinal head coach Tom Eisenhour thinks that both his teams have a great opportunity to improve on last season's finish. 

The annual meet is named in honor of former William Jewell coach Darrel Gourley. Gourley served 32 years as a teacher and coach for the Cardinals from 1958-1991, coaching track and field, football, cross country, wrestling, and golf. 

His exemplary abilities enabled his athletes to claim five consecutive Track and Field Championships and they never finished below third place. He served as the head track and field coach for 24 years and coached two individual national champions. 

In addition, he won five conference championships on the golf course and coached football at Jewell for 18 years. Along with his coaching duties he also served as the chair for the Coaches Association for the NAIA District 16 and HAAC in both track and golf.

Gourley was inducted into the William Jewell College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 as well as the Hall of Fame at Northeast Missouri State ten years earlier in the fall of 1989. 

Saturday's event will once again be fully broadcasted at jewellcardinals.com/watch by Director of Broadcasting Rick Cole.