ANGOLA, Ind. – A young Goshen College women's track and field team saw action late Friday night as they competed in the Trine University Invitational in Angola.

Two sophomores and two juniors were part of the distance medley relay team, which had the best finish for the Maple Leafs on the evening.  Jenica Corbett (1200), Sandrine Sandrali (400), Alita Yoder (800) and Karla Folker (1600) teamed up for a fifth-place finish of 14:52.96.

Freshman Maria Jantz had a strong collegiate debut in the pole vault.  She cleared four different heights before settling into a ninth-place result of 9' 3 1/4" just over a foot away from Rachel Versluis' school record set in 2007.  Another first-year competitor, Abby Deaton, got her first college experience finishing the 400 meters in 1:08.05 and the 200 in 29.82 seconds.

Junior Ali Fretz was also in the 400-meter field (1:11.02) as well as the 60-meter dash (9.19), while classmate Sonia Navarro had a 32' 5 1/2" effort in the weight throw.

The bulk of the Maple Leafs will be back in action next Saturday when they compete in the Indiana Wesleyan University Invitational.

CEDARVILLE, Ohio – While the majority of her teammates were in action in Angola, junior Erin Helmuth continued her preparations for the NAIA National Championships at the Cedarville University Invitational in Ohio Friday night.

The 2011 NAIA Indoor All American, Helmuth set a new career best in the 3k race walk with a time of 15:33.45.  She was the first collegiate competitor to cross the line as she took 19 seconds off her previous best, which is good for the second fastest time in the nation this year.

The race walkers will be back in action on Friday when they host the Goshen Race Walk at 7:30 p.m.