Grand Rapids, MI - It goes without saying that the Grace Christian University track & field squads have had a memorable indoor season this year. On a team with a relatively young history, the record books have been rewritten in each meet of the 2024 season thus far. On Friday at the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame Classic, a new milestone was achieved as shot putter Aidan Gansert became the first male track & field athlete for Grace to hit an NCCAA automatic qualifying standard in either indoor or outdoor track and has now secured his spot at the indoor national championships at Cedarville, OH next week. 

Although the coaching staff is happy for the successes the team has earned this indoor season, they are most excited for the team's level of competitiveness as they transition into the outdoor season next month. "We are certainly looking forward to what we can do at indoor nationals next week but our athletes have put themselves in a great position going into the outdoor season," commented Coach Verwey prior to Friday's meet. "We're already hitting marks that are going to set us up well for a strong outdoor season and have a headstart on hunting down tickets to the outdoor championships in South Carolina this May," added Verwey. 

Men's Highlights:

• Aidan Gansert's (Fort Wayne, IN) throw of 13.00m in shot put earned him 8th place overall at the meet in addition to hitting the qualifying standard for indoor nationals. This new personal best currently ranks him 14th nationally in the NCCAA.

• Kent Herring (Evart, MI) broke the school record in the 1,000m run in a time of 2:56.25. Herring will also be competing at the indoor national championships next week in Ohio but will be participating in the heptathlon competition, with 7 different events over the two day meet. Friday's 1,000m effort, in addition to his participation in the shot put and pole vault at the meet, provided final preparations for next week.

Women's Highlights:

• Maty Temrowski (Fenton, MI) finished the 1,000m run with a time of 3:46.69, ranking her second all-time in school history for the event. She placed 6th overall in the race, which is especially encouraging as it was only her second race in over a year back on the track. 

The NCCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships will be held at Cedarville University in Ohio on Friday-Saturday, February 9-10. Friday's events will find Herring competing in his first four events in the heptathlon (60m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump), starting around 5 PM. On Saturday, Herring will compete in the final three events of the heptathlon competition (60m hurdles, pole vault, 1000m) beginning at 9 AM. Gansert will begin the men's shot put competition on Saturday, as well, beginning at 12:15 PM.