MARION, Ind. — A pair of fourth-place finishes in field events highlighted the first meet of 2021 for the Goshen College men's track and field team as the Maple Leafs recorded nine top-eight finishes in the Indiana Wesleyan University Invitational at IWU's Troyer Fieldhouse.

GC's two fourth-place finishes came Friday on the opening day of the two-day meet. Simon Graber Miller cleared 6 feet, 5 inches in the high jump and Jacob Gerber threw the 35-pound weight 54 feet, 8 inches. Gerber hit the mark that was to have been the NAIA provisional qualifying standard in the weight throw, although the national-qualifying process has been revamped due to COVID-19.

Saturday, when most of the running events were held, Liam Elias paced the team with a pair of fifth-place finishes in his two individual events. The Washington native clocked in at 2 minutes, 37.19 seconds in the 1,000 meters and 4:31.02 in the mile, which would have been worth 8 total team points if the meet had been scored.

Goshen went three deep in the top eight in the longer event: Salvador Escamilla took seventh in 4:32.98 and Jackson Steinmetz was one spot behind in 4:35.26, a lifetime personal best.

Continuing the mid-distance success, Josh Taylor added a sixth-place finish in the 600 meters in 1:25.45, 2.25 seconds off the school record. Samuel Stoner-Eby rounded out the individual finishes with a seventh-place effort in the 400 (53.62 seconds).

Four of the five individual runners with a top-eight finish also collaborated on a sixth-place effort in the 4x400-meter relay. Elias, Escamilla, Taylor and Stoner-Eby finished sixth in 3:36.00 over the event 10 yards shorter than a mile.

On the NAIA performance list, Elias has Goshen's two best track placements as of 10 p.m. Saturday: he is 15th in the 1,000 meters and 16th in the mile. Escamilla is 27th and 28th respectively in the same events and Taylor is 26th in the 600.

Gerber checks in 17th in the weight throw while Graber Miller is fourth in the high jump.

The use of the NAIA performance lists reflects a change in the format of the national meet in this age of COVID-19. Rather than accepting all entries from qualifiers based on a national standard, the championship field will consist of the top 16 entries in a given event. The meet has also been lengthened from three days to four and moved from Brookings, South Dakota, to Yankton, South Dakota.

Goshen returns to action on Friday at the Warrior Invitational hosted by Indiana Tech at the Turnstone Center in Fort Wayne. The first event is currently scheduled for 8:45 a.m.

Full Maple Leaf Men's Results
60 — 24th, Hashem Ammari 8.43
200 — 16th, Samuel Stoner-Eby 24.22
400 — 7th, Stoner-Eby 53.62
600 — 6th, Josh Taylor 1:25.45; 16th, Ammari 1:41.99
1000 — 5th, Liam Elias 2:37.19; 12th, Salvador Escamilla 2:39.64; 16th, Jackson Steinmetz 2:43.24; 22nd, Tanner Pinks 2:55.43
Mile — 5th, Elias 4:31.02; 7th, Escamilla 4:32.98; 8th, Steinmetz 4:35.26; 26th, Pinks 4:55.68
5000 — 10th, Solomon Wiebe-Powell 16:55.74
4x400 relay — 6th, Goshen (Elias, Escamilla, Taylor, Stoner-Eby) 3:36.00
High jump — 4th, Simon Graber Miller 6-5
Weight throw — 4th, Jacob Gerber 54-8