Cedarville, OH - The Grace Christian University track and field squads traveled down to Cedarville University for their first outdoor meet of the season and struggled to perform up to expectations in frigid conditions.  Temperatures struggled to reach 30℉ on Saturday, but it was the 20-30 mph winds creating the 18° windchill factor and consistent snow showers that was the most notable factor of the day.  Although Grace's athletes made the best of the tough conditions, performances and competitiveness were lackluster.  

"We have some work to do on our mental mindset when it comes to competing," remarked Grace head coach Gerry Verwey.  "Regardless of the weather, we need to start competing and challenging other competitors when they try passing us or out competing us.  Outside of a couple exceptions on Saturday, we rarely contested any passes on the track and that's an area of growth for us this season."

Despite the struggles, there were some highlights throughout the day and a number of athletes were competing in a new event for the first time, gaining valuable experience.

Women's Highlights:

• Freshman Emily Curtis (Fremont, MI) surgically moved up through the field in her 1500m race, making numerous passes and kicking down her nearest competitor in the final 100m of the race, finishing in a time of 5:59.27.

• Freshman Cassidy Olsen (Post Falls, ID) became the first Grace Tiger to compete in outdoor high jump and set a new school record with a 1.33m clearance attempt.

• Freshman Cara Morris (Saginaw, MI) returned from a late season indoor track injury for a competitive 100m hurdle effort, finishing in a time of 22.42 seconds. 

Men's Highlights:

• Sophomore Angel Becerra (Allendale, MI) set a new personal best mark in the men's discus event.  His distance of 26.28m currently ranks him 21st nationally in the event.

• Freshman Kyle Merrihew (Hudsonville, MI) showed guts and competitiveness in the men's 1500m race, placing mid-pack among a 80 man field, and finished in a time of 4:44.87.

• Freshman Ty McCaman (Evart, MI) became the first male Tiger to attempt the high jump in competition.  Although he did not clear opening height in the tough conditions on Saturday, there is no doubt that consistent practice in the coming weeks will yield positive results.  

• Freshmen Josh Zerfas (Fremont, MI) and Ben Bird (Allendale, MI) competed in their first ever 10k on the track.  Zerfas set a new school record with his finishing time of 37:00.46.  Bird showed promise, as well, crossing the line in 40:29.97. 

The Tigers' outdoor season will keep rolling later this week, with their next competition on Friday and Saturday at Spring Arbor University.  The discus and hammer throw events will be contested on Friday, April 1st at 1 p.m.  The remainder of the events will be contested on Saturday, April 2nd with an 11 a.m. start time.