By: Justin DeWeese
MARION, Ind. - It was a good day for the Goshen men's and women's 4x800-meter relay teams on Saturday at the IWU Midwest Classic. Both the women's and men's teams hit the NAIA A standards while the men also set a new school record. Additionally,
Samuel Stoner-Eby qualified in the 400 meters with a B standard with his first-place finish. Both relay teams and Stoner-Eby will compete at the NAIA Indoor National Championships in March.
With many Crossroads League schools in attendance, the men's 4x800 team of
Jordan Garlinger,
Anthony Roberts,
Kevin Liddell and
Drew Hogan placed third of eight, coming in at a time of 7:55.66. The previous school record of 7:56.63 was set in 2017 by the team of Steven Cranston, Abraham Medellin, Darius Rawlins and Luke Graber. With the time converted to 7:48.96 due to track size, the team beat the A standard required time of 7:50.76.
The women placed third of nine as
Summer Cooper,
Mia Wellington, Britney Ortega, and
Stephany Claudio surpassed the 9:38.34 A standard time with a converted mark of 9:36.63.
Samuel Stoner-Eby finished first of 28 in the men's 400. He was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition - the second-place finisher was 2.67 seconds behind Stoner-Eby's time of 49.57 seconds. His converted time of 48.80 seconds was better than the B standard of 49.21 seconds and was four hundredths of a second from the A standard.
Nelson Kemboi placed fifth of 46 in the mile in 4:25.51 and
Anthony Roberts came in seventh in the event at 4:33.36. Kemboi was eighth of 49 in the 3000 meters, an event he has already qualified for.
Jordan Garlinger finished fifth of 38 in the 800 meters and
Kevin Liddell placed tenth.
Drew Hogan was tenth of 36 in the 1000 meters.
Mady Axsom tied for second of 12 in the high jump, clearing 1.54 meters (five feet, half an inch). In the long jump she was fourth of 12.
Willow Kenneda placed eighth of 37 in the weight throw, with a best throw of 13.84 meters (45 feet, five inches).
Summer Cooper finished third of 33 in the 1000 meters, crossing the line in 3:05.33.
Mia Wellington led the team in the 600 meters with a sixth-place finish, and Britney Ortega did so in the 800 meters by coming in eighth.
Stephany Claudio was tenth of 36 in the mile.
The postseason is next up for Goshen. They compete at the Crossroads League Indoor Championship at Indiana Wesleyan on February 17 and 18.
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