University Center, MI - The Grace Christian University Track & Field teams wasted no time adjusted the record books in their first meet of the indoor season at Saginaw Valley State University this past weekend. In a meet featuring Eastern and Central Michigan (NCAA DI) and Saginaw Valley, Ashland, and Lake Superior State (NCAA DII), among others, the Tigers rose to the occasion with two new school records and three new personal records. 

"I am very satisfied and pleased with how our first meet of the season went," said Grace head coach Gerry Verwey after the conclusion of the two-day meet on Saturday. "We have a lot of work to still do, but what pleases me most is that most of our athletes acted like they belonged there. They competed or raced for positions and didn't just go through the motions." Verwey added, "In cross country I said it's more fun when you "race" rather than just "run" in a meet. The same is true in T&F when you actually push yourself to compete with the competition. That's what this team needs to continue to do and it's a far cry from where we were when we first started this team back in 2017."

Men's Highlights:

• Freshman Aidan Gansert (Fort Wayne, IN) broke the indoor school record in shot put that had stood since 2019 on his very first throw in a Tiger uniform. He then proceeded to break that record again on his second throw, with a record-setting toss of 10.71m.

• Senior Kent Herring (Evart, MI) broke the school record in the men's heptathlon with 2,740 points (the previous record was 2,138 pts.). Herring competed in 7 different events over the course of two days with heptathlon personal bests in the 60m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and the 60m hurdles. He also had strong efforts in pole vault and the 1,000m run. 

• Junior Ben Bird (Allendale, MI) had a big personal best effort in the 3k run, finishing in a time of 10:38.27, which is the second best time in school history.

Women's Highlights:

• Freshman Kristina Brandenburg (Twin Lake, MI) ran a personal best time of 6:38 in the women's mile, placing her 7th all-time at Grace.

• Senior Jocelyn Mann (Buchanan, MI) performed well in her first ever competition in shot put, setting her new best distance of 6.50m on her second throw. 

The Tigers' throwing squad will next be competing at Grand Valley State University this Friday, December 8th, while the majority of the distance squad will be taking a break from competition following a long cross country season. Men's shot put will begin at 3 PM with the women's event to follow. The entire track & field  team will then return to action on Saturday, January 13th, also at GVSU, for the Bob Eubanks Open starting at 2 PM.