men’s track and field
January 16, 2025
Track and field season preview
The Goshen College men’s and women’s track and field teams will open their season this Saturday, traveling south for the Mastodon Invite at Purdue Fort Wayne. With the departure of former track and field head coach Sean Foulkes after their team’s outdoor season in 2024, the coaching responsibilities are being shared by Rustin Nyce, director of track and field operations, and Lisa Voyles, associate head coach. Voyles was hired in August, and is an eight-time national track and field champion and a 13-time All American. “[Voyles has] done a really good job of incorporating other things that we have kind...
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,...
March 30, 2023
Track and field moves outside
Last Saturday, the men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Cedarville, Ohio to compete in the Yellow Jacket Collegiate Open. The Leafs’ day began early with a 5:00 a.m. departure from Goshen. The weather conditions were less than ideal for an outdoor meet, as the team faced winds of 29 mph and gusts up to 54 mph. Additionally, there was a lightning strike near Cedarville University facility that caused the meet to be delayed by an hour and a half. For the women’s track team, freshman Mady Axsom tied for fourth in the high jump with a height...
March 16, 2023
Kemboi adds another All-American honor
Nelson Kemboi, a junior nursing major, competed in the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Brookings, South Dakota, on March 3 and 4. With a time of 8 minutes and 26.43 seconds, he finished sixth in the country in the 3,000-meter (1.86-mile) race. Breaking the school record, he placed sixth in the country and was granted the All-American title, which is only awarded to the top eight in the country in each event. After taking a short break from cross country, Kemboi began training for indoor nationals. When asked what training for an All-American title looks like, Kemboi said,...
February 16, 2023
Track preps for conference
The men’s and women’s track and field teams will be traveling to Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) to compete in the Crossroads League Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday. The last two weeks have been full of success — including breaking a school record. On Feb. 4, the Leafs competed at Indiana Wesleyan in the IWU Midwest Classic. The meet started off well for the Maple Leafs, with a National ‘A’ Standard by the women’s 4×800 relay. Juniors Summer Cooper and Mia Wellington, sophomore Stephany Claudio and freshman Britney Ortega ran a combined time of 9:43.28. This time earned them third...
February 2, 2023
Track teams ‘want a national standard’
The men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the 2023 Hillsdale Wide Track Classic on Jan. 28. This is the third meet of the year heading into the middle of the season. In the previous meet, Nelson Kemboi, a junior, hit the national “A” standard in the 3,000 meter race with a time of 8:37.58. Summer Cooper, also a junior, hit the national “A” standard in the mile with a time of 5:06.98. Freshman Madison “Mady” Axom jumped a height of 1.62 meters (5 feet 3.75 inches). This jump tied the school record and earned her third place....
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)....
February 25, 2022
Goshen athletes break records at Crossroads League Championships
Goshen College women’s and men’s indoor track and field teams competed in the Crossroads League Championships this past Friday and Saturday. The women’s team tied for seventh and the men’s team placed ninth, with numerous records and standards set along the way. “I felt energized and excited about the weekend,” said Rustin Nyce, head coach for the teams. “Each athlete stepped up with a season best, lifetime best, school record, and/or a national standard.” The women’s 4 x 800-meter relay, composed of Annika Alderfer Fisher, Naomi Ross Richer, Mia Wellington and Summer Cooper started Friday’s meet off strong, setting a school...
March 18, 2021
Graber Miller’s routine to defy gravity
Deep breathing. Doesn’t seem like an intense process, but it is actually one of the key components to a successful high jump for junior All-American track and field star Simon Graber Miller. On Mar. 6, Graber Miller shattered Goshen College’s previous high jump record with an incredible height of 6 feet, 8 1/8 inches. But for Graber Miller, one broken record was not enough. The next jump placed him at 6 feet, 10 3/4 inches off of the ground, a feat that broke his own record. The jump also placed Graber Miller at the number three spot in the country...
February 16, 2020
‘Running for my life’
When Dr. Scott Trumble called Victor Kiprop Kiprotich into his office on Wednesday Feb. 5 and asked him how important running is to him, he said “very.” Being born and raised in Kenya, Kiprop, a sophomore nursing major at Goshen College, grew up running. Kenya is known as a breeding ground for many of the most successful distance runners in the world. “We all ran back and forth from school, to the stores and on errands around home,” Kiprop said. Kiprop remembers running into elite athletes on the roads near his home on a daily basis. “It was so common...
March 30, 2019
Track and field kicks off outdoor season with nine top-10 finishes
Sophomore Suzette Rodriguez continued her decorated year as the Maple Leaf track and field team traveled to Indiana Wesleyan University for their first outdoor meet of the season. The Polar Bear Invitational hosted 18 schools in total on Saturday as it lived up to its name with temperatures dipping below 40 degrees at the start of the meet. Coming off a strong indoor season that led her to the national meet, Rodriguez posted a first-place finish in the hammer throw as she heaved a throw of 153 feet 11 inches. Rodriguez also placed 15th in the discus. Sophomore Jacob Gerber...
March 7, 2019
Maple Leafs compete in National Championships
Siana Emery highlighted a group of four Maple Leaf track and field competitors with a fourth place finish in the national championships last Friday in Brookings, South Dakota. The junior race walker finished with a time of 15:39.98, her second fastest time of the season. She finished as the first athlete not from Judson University, as the Eagles claimed the top three spots of the event. A fellow race walker, first-year Hayley Bickford finished with a time of 17:33.51, good enough for 11th place overall. She was the second finisher among first-year competitors. Sophomore weight thrower Suzette Rodriguez continued...
February 21, 2019
Track and field continues strong indoor season
Saturday proved important for track and field athletes as three Maple Leafs finished with personal records. The eventful weekend opened Saturday morning as the Maple Leafs hosted their second race walk competition of the year. Junior Siana Emery continued her race walk success as she took the top spot in the 3000 meter race with a time of 15:29.97, a personal record. With this time, she secured the third seed going into the national competition. Finishing two spots behind Emery was first-year Hayley Bickford. Taking third with a time of 16:48.42, she is currently ranked in the eighth position with...
April 16, 2015
Track and Field compete at Indiana Little State
This weekend, the track and field split their athletes between Marion and Goshen. Some of the Maple Leafs competed on Saturday afternoon at the Indiana Little State Championships hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University, while the race walkers were at Goshen. At IWU, the Maple Leafs achieved one of the important goals of the outdoors season as senior Mollie Nobel obtained NAIA “A” standard in the 400-meter hurdles, where she had a time of 63.61 seconds. That mark qualifies her for the national meet, set for May 21-23 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Nebel also reached the finals in the 100-meter hurdles,...
March 12, 2015
Track results: Indoor Nationals
Last week, Goshen College sent six athletes to compete in the NAIA National Championship meet. Seniors Brad Sandlin, Mitchell Brickson and Kolton Nay, junior Abby Dunn, and sophomores Kayla Gray and Ryan Smith traveled last Wednesday, March 4, to Geneva, Ohio to compete at the Spire Institute. The quintuplet of Sandlin, Brickson, Nay, Dunn and Gray competed in the 3,000 meter racewalk. Smith also traveled 3,000 meters but his race was a run. All of the six athletes have previously been to a national meet. They were in action on Friday. The athletes would be looking to earn an All-American...