Two fourth-place finishes by Steven Cranston, a first-year, and top ten finishes in the 4×400 relay by Goshen College’s men and women highlighted the start of the outdoor track season for the Maple Leafs this past Saturday at the Indiana Wesleyan Polar Bear Meet.

Cranston, a 2016 cross country NAIA national finalist, did not lose a step in his transition to the track as he finished his first collegiate outdoor track meet with times of four minutes, 6.38 seconds in the 1,500 meter-run and 15:48.35 in the 5,000.

Just behind Cranston in the 1,500 meter event was Luke Graber, a senior, who finished just over five seconds behind Cranston. Graber crossed the finish line with a time of 4:11.79 to snag sixth place.

Graber also saw success in his last season opener as a Leaf with a seventh place finish in the 400. Graber dashed one lap around the track in just 51.24 seconds. Apart from Cranston and Graber, the men’s 4×400 meter relay team, comprised of Abe Medellin, a sophomore, Carter Boos, a sophomore, Lindon McDonald, a first-year, and Josh Bustos, a junior, tallied a top ten finish for Goshen. The quartet combined to finish the event in 3:31.33 to take fifth place.

McDonald also continued his success from his first indoor track campaign with Goshen’s top finish in both the 100 and 200 meter sprints. McDonald ironically posted an 11th-place finish in 11.11 in the 100 and a 22.77 time in the 200, good enough for 20th-place.

Chelsea Foster, a first-year, had a strong performance for the primarily unexperienced Goshen women as she too was able to finish her first outdoor track event in Goshen purple with a top five finish in the 5,000 meter run. The Indianapolis native was able to outlast the rigors of the long distance event with a fifth place finish in just 19:27.26.

The 4×400 meter relay was also friendly to the Leaf’s as Jill Steinmetz, a junior, Lena Charles, a junior,  Mara Beck, a sophomore, and Nora Rangel, a first-year, claimed seventh place in 4:25.68. 

Goshen will look to build on their first performance of the season at the Knight Classic in Indianapolis on Friday, April 7.