ALLENDALE, Mich. & DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Goshen indoor track and field season began on Friday evening, with the Maple Leafs sending athletes to both the GVSU Holiday Open and the Early Bird Open. Duncan Kogei hit an NAIA national standard and he and Samuel Sofolahan broke school records.

At the GVSU Holiday Open, Kogei hit the NAIA B Standard in the 5,000 meters, just a couple weeks after becoming an NAIA All-American in cross country. In his first track meet as a Maple Leaf, he beat Nelson Kemboi's school record from 2024 by 2.51 seconds, finishing with a time of 14:38.16 and placing third. He beat the NAIA B standard time of 14:45.00, and has the third-fastest time in the NAIA so far this season, only behind Logan Ferrari (Mount Marty) and Trenton Sweet (Indiana Wesleyan).

Samuel Sofolahan beat his school record time in the 60 meters by .01 seconds, finishing his prelim race in 6.89 seconds. The sophomore went on to run a time of 6.90 in the final to place sixth. Sofolahan also owns the school record in the indoor 200 meters.

Also in Allendale, Drew Hogan came in 11th and Mathew Keitany in 14th in the 3,000 meters. Jesse Bontrager was 11th in the 5,000 meters and Danial Murphy came in 35th in the 200 meters. Jaylah Leggett represented the women with a 24th place finish in both the 60 meters and the 200 meters.

Goshen and Defiance were the only teams at the Early Bird Open. The women had first-place finishes in the 400 meters (Kayla Gibson, 1:08.43), the 600 meters (Britney Ortega, 1:50.50), the mile (Kassy Ortega, 5:35.70), the 3,000 meters (Citlaly Sanchez, 12:17.30), the 60-meter hurdles (Caoimhe Farrell, 9.77), the high jump (Farrell, 4' 11"), the long jump (Kayla Gibson, 14' 3.25"), the shot put (Leyna Borgman, 32' 6.25") and the weight throw (Theresa Rodriguez, 39' 6").

The men had first-place showings in the 400 meters (Bryan Sixtos Armas, 54.87), the 600 meters (Max Estep, 1:29.04), the mile (Leighton Dodt, 4:46.94), the 3,000 meters (Demetrio Garcia, 10:17.50), the long jump (Jayden Turner, 20' 5") and the shot put (Liam Shaw, 45' 8").

Goshen is off until the new year, and will next compete at the Mastodon Invitational in Fort Wayne on January 17.