With the Mid-Central College Conference (MCC) track and field championship only two weeks away, the Maple Leafs headed to Manchester College on Saturday to compete in the Spartan Classic.

The Leafs were one of seven MCC squads present, and looked to make an impression leading up to the championships.

Junior Matt Webster again led the men’s team, as he won the hammer throw and took third in discus and fourth in shot put, accounting for 21 of the men’s 81 points. Senior Eric Hochstetler came in sixth in the discus and placed ninth in the shot put. Rounding out the field events were freshman Kyle Mishler and senior Kyle Laker, who took second and third respectively in the high jump.

On the track, the men found themselves in nearly every race. Freshman Andrew Witkowski finished second in the 10,000 meters and took sixth in the 5,000 while junior Billy Funk took second in the 1,500 and sixth in the 400 meters. The relay teams also had good days, as the 4×100 team of Dietrich Alderfer, Oscar Renteria-Amaro, Levi Smucker and Juan Carlos Diaz took fifth place in their event. The 4×100 team, consisting of Charles Dixon, Billy Funk, Brock GunderKline and Oscar Jose Kirwa took first with a time of 3:30.80.

On the women’s side, the Leafs were led by senior Cassie Greives who placed in the top 10 in four events, including fourth in the hammer throw, fifth in the shot put, sixth in the discus and ninth in javelin. Fellow senior Krista Nussbaum also placed in the top 10 in both the hammer and discus and sophomore Sonia Navarro added a seventh place showing in the javelin. Junior Summer Hasan also took fourth place in the long jump to round out the field events.

The Lady Leafs also had a good day on the track, as the 4×100 team of Dana Christner, Ali Fretz, Bethany Lemler and Summer Hasan finished seventh place in their event. Christner added an individual eighth place in the 800 meters.

At the end of the day the women finished tenth out of an 11 team field, compiling 27 points along the way, while the men gathered 81 points on the way to a fifth place finish.

The Leafs now look ahead to the MCC Championships, which will be held April 29 and 30 at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marian.