MARION, Ind. - The Goshen College men's and women's track and field teams competed at the 121st Annual Indiana Little State Championships on Friday and Saturday, hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University. The men came in eighth of 21 teams and the women were tied for 13th out of 17.

Men - 8th of 21
The men had a pair of first-place finishers in Duncan Kogei and Mathew Keitany. Kogei easily topped the competition in the 5,000 meters. His time of 15:14.64 was the best in the field of 37, and was better than the second-place finisher by nearly 18 seconds. Keitany was first out of 17 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event. His time of 9:25.10 was just 2.10 seconds away from hitting the NAIA B standard. Kogei and Keitany each earned ten points for the Maple Leafs.

Drew Hogan placed fourth of 80 runners in the men's 1,500 meters with a time of 3:58.02. He was the top finisher from the NAIA and earned five points for Goshen. Hogan was also a part of the 4x800-meter relay team that came in fourth of 11, earning another five points. Leighton Dodt, Max Estep, Jacob Friesen and Hogan ran a time of 7:43.52 and were just 1.52 seconds from an NAIA B standard.

Another relay team, the men's 4x100, set a school record. The team of Eduardo Garcia, Jacob Wetzel, Danial Murphy and Samuel Sofolahan completed the race in 42.26 seconds, finishing in eighth of 11 and earning two points. They beat the previous school record of 42.85 seconds set just a year ago by Sofolahan, Murphy, Detroit Walker and Ty Hazen.

In the field events, GC picked up another two points from Liam Shaw in the discus. Shaw fouled on three attempts, but had his best throw on his sixth effort. His throw of 43.19 meters (141 feet, eight inches) put him in seventh out of 66 competitors.

The Leafs finished with 34 points and finished ahead of four Indiana schools from the Crossroads League - Bethel, Grace, Taylor and Huntington.

Women T-13th of 17
Freshman Kassy Ortega was Goshen's top finisher for the women. Ortega earned five points and came in fourth out of 24 in the 5,000 meters with a time of 19:04.74. Jaylah Leggett earned another six points for the Maple Leafs. In the 200 meters, she placed fifth out of 39 sprinters, finishing in 25.95 seconds. She was only seven-hundredths of a second from finishing as the runner-up. In the 100 meters, she came in seventh out of 49 with a final time of 12.49 seconds. She was five thousandths of a second away from coming in sixth and placing ahead of Huntington's Addyson Dowler.

Lastly, Bailee Brown contributed two points to Goshen's total with a seventh-place result in the javelin. Brown had no fouls and had her best throw on her last of six attempts. Her mark of 31.29 meters (102 feet, eight inches) was seventh of 35 athletes.

The women earned 13 points as a team, tied for Bethel for 13th place. The Leafs placed ahead of IU-Columbus, Ancilla College and Rose-Hulman.

The teams are at the GVSU Extra Weekend Meet in Allendale, Michigan, on April 24th and 25th.