Allendale, MI - To say the Grace Christian University Track & Field teams had a big day at GVSU on Saturday is an understatement.  Every Tiger finished with either a season record, a lifetime personal record, or a school record.  The mission assigned from the coaching staff was simple - to be sharper, faster, and better than last week's meet.  The Tigers answered that call.  

Grace head coach Gerry Verwey was pleased with the team's effort.  "What is really exciting is that it was really our underclassmen who led us today," noted Verwey.  "We had 4 different freshmen have big results today, which makes our team's future bright.  We also had three different recruits visit with us during the meet today, each of which was excited about their opportunities with us next year.  This team is truly on the map now." 

Saturday's "Bob Eubanks Open" at Grand Valley State University offered a deep field of competition, including Michigan State University and the perennial national NCAA DII powerhouse of GVSU.  In what could have been an intimidating and forgettable experience, Grace made sure that the bigger schools knew they were there try to beat them.  Many followers of the Tiger might not realize that the Grace track & field squads actually line up and compete with, and are scored against, these bigger schools on a regular basis.  In fact, in almost every meet the Tigers regularly compete against NCAA DI and DII competition…and yes, they are actually in the same heats and flights with them.  The Tigers make no excuses and seek out the best competition each week.

Teams:  Aquinas College, Bethel University (Ind.), University of Chicago, Cornerstone, Davenport, Ferris State, Grand Valley State, Hope College, Indiana University Kokomo, Michigan State University, Muskegon Community, Trinity Christian, University of Notre Dame Club, Windsor (Ont.), and York (Neb.)

Meet Highlights:

• Freshman Austin Engel (Spring Lake, MI) was the first to compete in the meet for the Tigers, starting with the men's long jump, and showed the first sign of what was to come.  On his third and final jump, Engel leaped to a big new indoor school record, landing at the 6.03m mark.  He then went on to PR in the 60m dash, finishing 4th in his race.

• Freshman Kaylee Morris (Mancelona, MI) ran a new season personal record in the 60m dash (8.99 seconds) and placed 4th in her race.

• Freshman Jude Vargo (Pennhills, PA) ran a new personal record in the 400m dash (1:01.39)

• Freshman Ian Hinkle (Grand Ledge, MI) had another gigantic meet for the Tigers.  Hinkle won his mile race (5:00.47) after he closed the gap on the leader during the last lap and passed him on the final straightway to cross the line first.  His mile time was the 2nd fastest indoor mile time in school history.  Later in the meet, Hinkle returned in the 3k and dropped 17 seconds off of his previous best time, finishing in 10:15.83.

• Senior Ben Bird (Allendale, MI) made a key pass in the final half of the men's mile to secure a new season best time in the event (5:49.43).

• Sophomore Aidan Gansert (Fort Wayne, IN) had a breakthrough performance in shot put.  Although he had thrown further last season, he is learning a new technique that, when mastered, will lead to longer throws.  It started coming together for Gansert on Saturday when he threw a season best toss of 11.94m, inching closer to the NCCAA automatic qualifying mark.

The track & field squads will next travel back to Aquinas College on Friday (Jan. 24, 5 PM) for the "Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame Classic."  This will be their last competition before the NCCAA Indoor National Championships on February 7-8 in Cedarville, OH.