Indoor Track and Field
February 20, 2025
Track and field send runners to nationals
On Feb. 14 and 15, both women’s and men’s indoor track teams participated in the Crossroads League Championship. The women’s team finished in 10th place, while the men’s team tied for eighth place. Head Coach Rustin Nyce mentioned the numerous successes that the team found: Jaylah Leggett, a sophomore, and Sam Sofolahan, a first year, were two such standouts. “We had a lot of people run their personal best, or throw or jump their season or personal bests. So those were highlights, and then watching the team be supportive of each other while the others were competing was also...
February 22, 2024
Track team preps for nationals
There were team and individual success stories at the Crossroads League Indoor Track Championships on Feb. 16 and 17. Maple Leafs on both the men’s and women’s teams soared above the competition. In the women’s 4×400 meter relay, the combined team of Britney Ortega, a sophomore, Mia Wellington, a senior, Annika Alderfer Fisher, a senior and Naomi Ross Richer, a senior, beat the previous Goshen College school record with a time of 4:11.91. Alderfer Fisher wasn’t finished bringing in points for GC. In the mile, she placed second out of 25 with a time of 5:00.89. “I’d never gotten a...
February 1, 2024
Distance sets records amidst ‘track hack’
The Goshen College men’s and women’s track teams competed this past Friday at Grand Valley State University and Saturday at Taylor University, with numerous team members setting school records and topping ‘A’ standards to qualify for nationals. Mathew Keitany, a junior, ran a time of 8:25.85 in the 3000-meter at Grand Valley State, breaking Nelson Kemboi’s previous indoor record of 8:26.43. The next day at Taylor, Kemboi, a senior, qualified for nationals with a time of 8:35.76; the time, when adjusted for the disadvantage of Taylor’s 200-meter track, also came in under the 8:30.00 national standard. Drew Hogan, a sophomore,...
January 19, 2023
Track teams begin their journey
The men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Trine University in Angola, Indiana to compete in the Sean Brady Alumni Invite on Saturday. This was the third meet of the indoor season. The men’s team scored 22 points and placed 10th of 14 teams, and the women placed 14th of 14. On the women’s team, the field events were led by our star thrower, Willow Kenneda, a junior. Kenneda placed 14th in shot put with a throw of 10.54 meters (34 feet 7 inches) and placed 18th in the weight throw with a throw of 12.34 m (40-6)....
January 28, 2021
Track teams race to record-breaking finish
The men’s and women’s track and field teams hit the road running last weekend at the second indoor track meet of a season irrefutably changed by COVID-19. Nine weeks after the teams’ opening performance at the Strive for Greatness Invitational hosted by Indiana Tech University on Nov. 19, the full squad returned to the track at Indiana Wesleyan University Friday and Saturday of last week for an event full of broken school records and high-placing finishes. Maria Maldonado, a first year, led the team in the record department, setting record times in each of the four races she entered. Racing...
March 13, 2020
Maple Leaf athletes represent at Nationals
The indoor track and field nationals competition was held in South Dakota last weekend. The Leafs had five national competitors. Siana Emery, a senior, closed her career finishing fourth in the nation for the second consecutive year in the women’s 3,000 meter race walk race. She set a personal record, finishing the race in 15 minutes and 2.96 seconds and earned her fourth All-American honor. She has finished in the top eight at indoor nationals in each of the last three years. If Emery hadn’t snatched the Leaf of the Week award, it would have been Jacob Gerber. Gerber, a...
February 7, 2020
A weekend of personal records and qualifying for nationals
The Goshen College track and field team racked up a total of 24 personal records at the Midwest Indoor Classic hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday, Feb. 1. The women posted 10 PRs and the men 14, including a 59 foot, 9 ¼ inch throw by Jacob Gerber that punched him a ticket to Brookings, South Dakota for the indoor national meet. This was the first full-team meet of the season for the Maple Leafs, as the Zimmer Indoor Classic was canceled last month. Seven athletes competed on the women’s team, in events ranging from the 3,000 meter race...
January 31, 2020
Race walk to take Emery to nationals for seventh time
Siana Emery qualified for her seventh NAIA National Championship in the first race walk meet of the season held in the Roman Gingerich Recreation-Fitness Center on Saturday. The co-ed field of 11 that lined up on the south side of the track at 11am included race walkers from Cornerstone, Concordia, Rio Grande and Goshen College, as well as three unattached competitors. “On your marks, get set, go” was the underwhelming start, and the competitors were off, hips swaying, arms pumping, heads gliding forward, oddly still. Their goal: to finish the 14 1/2 laps as quickly as possible without being flashed...
January 24, 2020
Throwing for national success
Throwing practice begins for Suzette Rodriguez when she walks through the doors of the turf room at 8:35 a.m. By the time the junior has gathered her equipment — three weights, a plywood board to stand on, black throwing shoes and a pair of purple throwing gloves, the rest of the team — namely Jacob Gerber — has already started practicing. With a roster of two, Goshen’s throwing team is small, but that only makes the pair’s contribution to the track and field program more outstanding. Between the duo, Rodriguez and Gerber have already made two national appearances, hit three...
January 24, 2020
Personal records for runners
Seven members of the Goshen College track team achieved personal records this past weekend at the Grand Valley State Bill Clinger Open. While Saturday’s events were cancelled due to weather, Friday saw the seven GC athletes participate in the 3,000-meter race. Kevin Kipkemboi, a first-year, lead the Maple Leafs on the Men’s side. Kipkemboi paced all NAIA schools and finished with a time of 8:55. His efforts were good enough for 21st overall at the meet. Right behind Kipkemboi was Salvador Escamilla, a junior with a time of 8:57. Juan Perez, Dan Kibet, Jackson Steinmetz and Solomon Wiebe-Powell were the...
February 22, 2019
Students head to NAIA indoor track and field national meet
While many students are heading somewhere warm for Goshen College’s mid-term break, four Goshen College track and field athletes will instead travel to frigid Brookings, South Dakota to represent the program at the NAIA indoor track and field national meet. Junior Siana Emery, sophomore Suzette Rodriguez, and first-years Hayley Bickford and Simon Graber Miller will leave early in the morning of Feb. 27. All athletes will compete on Friday, March 1. Head coach Rustin Nyce, throws coach Nick Banke and jumps coach Kyle Mischler will join the four athletes on the trek to South Dakota. While Goshen College racewalkers have...
February 15, 2018
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field compete at CL Indoor Championship
MARION, Ind. – The Goshen College men’s track and field team placed 10th and the women placed ninth as both teams competed in the Crossroads League Indoor Championship over a two-day span this past Friday and Saturday at Troyer’s Fieldhouse on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan. Leading the Maple Leafs efforts for the men was distance runner Vincent Kibunja, a sophomore, as he placed fifth in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:37.23, shaving nearly 12 seconds from his previous best. Ollie Smith, a sophomore, added points to the Maple Leafs’ overall score in the 600-meter run, taking eighth...
February 8, 2018
Men’s and women’s 4×200-meter relay teams highlight successful Saturday
MARION, Ind. — The Goshen College men’s and women’s 4×200-meter relay teams provided the topic of discussion this past Saturday at Indiana Wesleyan University’s Midwest Classic as the men took the top spot and the women took a place in the record books. The quartet of Jill Steinmetz, a senior, Mara Beck, a junior, Alyssa Arella, a sophomore, and Natalie Omtvedt, a first-year, combined to knock 10 seconds off GC’s previous best event time set in 2015. Clocking in at one minute and 59.84 seconds, the finish was good enough for a third-place overall finish in the event, giving the...
February 1, 2018
Smith and Steinmetz highlight track and field weekend
ALLENDALE, Mich. – Ollie Smith, a sophomore, and Jill Steinmetz, a senior, led the charge for their respected squads this past Saturday as both the Goshen College men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Grand Valley State to compete indoors at Mike Lints Alumni Open. Smith stamped his mark in the record books as he broke the GC 600-meter indoor record with a time of 1:23.20, shaving nearly a second and a half off of the previous record set in 2006. Along with Smith, the Maple Leafs were led by Josh Bustos and Ari Benjamin, both competing in...
January 25, 2018
Men’s and Women’s Track open 2018 seasons
GOSHEN, Ind. and ANGOLA, Ind. – Friday evening and Saturday afternoon proved action-packed as the Goshen College men’s and women’s race-walkers and track and field members opened their 2018 campaign. Friday evening in the Roman Gingrich athletic center on the GC campus, Sawyer Biddle, a senior, finished in second place in the men’s race walk division with a time of 14:18 in the 3,000-meter event. Biddle’s pace was his second fastest time of his career and helped the reigning All-American secure a spot in the NAIA national championships beginning on March 1 in Pittsburg, Kansas. Biddle’s qualifying time secures the...