NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. and MAYWOOD, Ill. – A handful of members of the Goshen College men's and women's track and field team continued preparations for next weekend's Mid-Central College Conference Championships by competing on Saturday.

Race walkers Jake GunderKline (Yellow Springs, Ohio) and Mitchell Brickson (Enon, Ohio) made noise at the USATF Illinois 5000m Race Walk on the Track.  GunderKline shaved 20 more seconds off his own school record in the event, crossing the finish line in 22:56.  Brickson also posted a career best, racing to a time of 23:45.  The pair are currently ranked 3rd and 5th nationally in the event.

The rest of the Maple Leafs who saw action on Saturday were at the Spartan Invitational hosted by Manchester College.  The only women to compete were freshman Avery Biscoff (Petersburg, Mich.) and sophomore Dana Christner (Goshen, Ind.) who both ran the 200 and 400 meters.  Bischoff had the best finish of her young career, taking fourth in the 400 in 1:04.66.

Back on the men's side, sophomore Andrew Witkowski (Goshen, Ind.) earned the individual title in the 10,000 meters (33:56.94), while junior Sam Jones (Timber Lake, S.D.) was runner-up in the high jump (6' 6 1/4"), just an inch off the national qualifying mark.

Also with top 10 showings were Thomas Leonard (Columbus, Ohio) who was fourth in the long jump (19'), Juan Carlos Diaz (Goshen, Ind.) was seventh in the 100 meters (11.85 seconds), and the 4x100 relay team which posted a fourth-place time of 47.09 seconds.

In addition to the top 10 performances, a couple more Goshen athletes also posted career bests.  Sophomore Tijs Buskermolen (Aalsmeer, Netherlands) ran a 2:02.59 in the 800 meters, while freshman Aaron Frost had career best marks of 118'5" in the discus and 37' 3 3/4" in the shot put.

The Maple Leafs will be back in action at the MCC Championships hosted by Taylor University on Friday and Saturday.