ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The Goshen men's track and field team was set to compete in three events on the first day of the NAIA Outdoor National Championships on Wednesday. Due to lightning, only one of those events happened. The men's 4x800-meter relay team finished 15th of 28 in the event.

Before any of Goshen's events, there was a lightning delay that lasted an hour and a half earlier in the afternoon. Another lightning delay began around 9:30 pm - after the 4x800 team had competed but before Mathew Keitany in the steeplechase and Duncan Kogei in the men's 10,000 meters. This delay pushed back the remaining events scheduled for that night.

Goshen was in the first heat of the 4x800 relay. Jacob Friesen led off for the Leafs and was in second place after the first lap. The winner of each of the four heats and the next four times would advance to the final. Friesen overtook the lead on the back stretch of his second lap and was just behind Spring Arbor during his handoff to Max Estep. Estep maintained the second-place position as the field was still very tight together. Goshen dropped to third at the halfway point with Milligan and Hastings now in the lead.

Leighton Dodt had Goshen in fourth after the fifth lap but had a great move with 300 meters to go to move up to second place before the final handoff. Bruno Kipsang had Goshen in fourth - less than four-tenths of a second from the leader - and the Leafs finished in fifth at the end in a time of 7:33.31 - just over three seconds from their school record time. Indiana Tech won the heat in 7:30.60.

At this point, GC held the final at-large spot with the fourth-fastest time among the teams that did not win their heat. Cumberlands, who finished second in the second heat, eliminated the Leafs from reaching the final with a time of 7:28.90.

Adjustments to the remainder of the championship schedule will be shared at naia.org.