Marion, IN - The Grace Christian University track & field squads saw their first action of the 2024 outdoor season during a two-day meet at Indiana Wesleyan University this past weekend. Conditions were cold and windy but Indiana did not see the snow that blanketed Michigan on Friday, so conditions were tolerable for the meet. The longest distance races (3k steeplechase, 5k, 10k) were held Friday night, along with the discus competition. The remaining events were contested on Saturday, with the pole vault, long jump, and high jump competitions moved into IWU's indoor facility due to the weather.
With a very large and competitive field, the Tigers saw this meet as an opportunity to show other schools that they are a team to be reckoned with. The coaching staff made their message clear to the team in the days leading up to the meet, stating that it wasn't just enough to show up at the meet. "It is our expectation that when we line up for a race or step into the competition area for a field event that we are going to beat our competition," stated Coach Verwey following the meet. "We want our team to be a beautiful reflection of God's goodness and grace, to be athletes that our competition respects, but as soon as the competition starts, we're going to give 110% to beat them."
Women's Highlights:
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Junior Alyssa Gennety (Jackson, MI) ran the 2nd fastest 5k on the track in school history, finishing in 20:54.18. Gennety placed 29th in a field of 40 competitors, coming within 30 seconds of the NCCAA automatic qualifying standard in her first race since cross country nationals back in November.
Men's Highlights:
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Freshman Aidan Gansert (Fort Wayne, IN) broke the school record in outdoor shot put (10.83m) and now owns both the indoor and outdoor records in that event. He also had an impressive premier in the men's javelin competition with a best throw of 32.63m. His javelin mark is the second best effort in school history, right behind teammate Kent Herring's school record from 2022.
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Senior Kent Herring (Evart, MI) had a busy weekend competing in the long jump, javelin, and 400m events. Herring won his heat of the 400m dash in a time of 58.65 in a brutally cold wind and had a very impressive early season toss of 31.98m in javelin. He is currently in the process of reworking his long jump approach in an effort to gain more speed and distance so, although his results in the long jump were not his best, he did learn some things with his new approach that are going to lead to big results in the near future.
The Tigers will return to action this coming Saturday, March 30, at Cedarville University in Ohio. Action will begin at 10 AM for both field and running events.
