The Bethel Threshers are the athletic teams that represent Bethel College, located in

North Newton, Kansas North Newton is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,814. It is located between the north side of the city of Newton (separate entity) and the south side of Interstate I-135. ...

, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA), primarily competing in the

Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The KCAC is the oldest conference in the NAIA and the second oldest in the United Stat ...

(KCAC) since the 1939–40 academic year and in which they were a member on a previous stint from 1902–03 to December 1928 (of the 1928–29 school year).

Nickname

Bethel's athletic teams were known at the Graymaroons from the 1920s until 1960, when the Threshers fight name was adopted.

Varsity sports

Bethel competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis and track and field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, flag football (added in fall 2022), soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball; and co-ed sports include cheerleading and dance.

Basketball

Bethel's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

program is led by head coach Jayson Artaz. Since taking over in 2018 and as of completion of the 2021 season, Artaz’s teams have complied a record of 83 wins and 43 losses.

Notable Basketball Players

Jaylon Scott Jaylon Scott (born July 28, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for BC Gargždai-SC of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). College career Bethel College (2018–2022) In his freshman year, Scott averaged 12.9 points, 10.3 re ...

Cross country and track & field

Bethel's

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

team has found success on the national level. In 2008, Jeff Buller won his second consecutive national championship in the

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

with a throw of 214 feet 8 inches.

Football

Bethel College began its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

program in 1914 under head coach William E. Schroeder. As of completion of the 2022 season, the teams have produced a cumulative record of 328 wins, 529 losses, and 13 ties.Bethel College Threshers
football records From 2019 through 2021, Terry Harrison led the Threshers to back-to-back conference titles in 2020 and 2021 before resigning to accept the head coaching position at

Friends University Friends University is a private nondenominational Christian university in Wichita, Kansas. It was founded in 1898. The main building was originally built in 1886 for Garfield University but was donated in 1898 to the Religious Society of Friends ...

. Harrison replaced Morris Lolar and finished his tenure at Bethel with 37 wins and 14 losses. The current head coach is A.B. Stokes. Stokes led the Threshers to their third consecutive conference title in 2022. His current record at Bethel is 9 wins and 1 loss.

References

External links

* {{Kansas Sports