Allendale, MI - The Grace Christian University track & field teams continued what has been a quietly strong season at Grand Valley State University on Friday and Saturday for the "Al Owens Classic." Al Owens is a legend in the track and field community and has served as a longtime USATF official in the community, especially at GVSU where he was even starting meets back in the late 1990's when Grace head coach Gerry Verwey was a distance runner for the Lakers. For that reason, many teams across the state and beyond converge in Allendale every spring for this meet.
Competing Teams: Aquinas, Calvin, Cornerstone, Davenport, Ferris State, Grace College, Grace Christian University, GRCC, Grand Valley, Hope, Huntington, IU Kokomo, Lake Superior State, Michigan State, Muskegon CC, North Central Michigan CC, Purdue Northwest, and Trine.
Meet Highlights:
-
Freshman Kaylee Morris (Mancelona, MI) had a bounce-back race in the 100m, after a disappointing result last week. Morris nearly tied her season best time while crossing the line in 4th place for her race.
-
Freshman Ian Hinkle (Grand Ledge, MI) continues to impress as he has been leading the distance squad in all events so far this season. Saturday saw Hinkle's first ever attempt at the 1500m race and after leading much of the race, crossed the line in 3rd place and finished in a time of 4:37.04, making him 2nd all-time in school history for the event.
-
Freshman Jude Vargo (Penn Hills, PA) ran a new personal best time in the men's 800m (2:26.05) as Coach Verwey looked to see what Vargo's potential might be in mid-distance events, as well as to better prepare him for the 400m, which is his regular race distance.
-
Senior Kent Herring (Evart, MI), only a week removed from the decathlon at Davenport University, had a bit of a "down" week with only one event. For nostalgia's-sake, Coach Verwey entered Herring in the 800m run, which was his main event in high school and his freshman year at Grace. Herring ran a strong and competitive race, despite not having trained specifically for the event this year. He crossed the line in 2:15.70, which placed him 9th in the race.
-
Sophomore Aidan Gansert (Fort Wayne, IN) set a new season best mark in shot put, placing 11th overall in the event, with a throw of 11.37m.
The track & field teams have one more regular season meet, which will again be at GVSU, on Saturday, April 26 for GVSU's "Extra Weekend Meet". This will be the Tigers last meet before heading to South Carolina for the NCCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships on May 7-9th at Columbia International University.
