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Fresno, CA — While the Goshen College women’s track and field team was busy charting all sorts of individual and program records at this weekend’s 2007 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships (click here for related article), junior Jake Gillette was the lone representative at the meet for the Leafs’ men, doing some record breaking of his own.
Gillette qualified and competed in the outdoor national championships marathon for the second straight year, finishing 19th out of 51 total participants. Gillette finished in a time of 2:39.07, nearly seven minutes off his personal best clip while bettering last season’s championship 23rd-place, 2:46.02 time (click here for article).
“Although our men’s team failed to break into the overall scoring column, Jake made tremendous improvement from last year’s performance,” said Rick Clark, Goshen head coach. “Our lone men’s participant, Jake broke his old personal best time by nearly seven minutes while getting into the top 20 finishers, improving on his 2006 performance.
Gillette and senior Laura Herr each arrived to Fresno Pacific University for a 6 a.m. race time on Saturday, helping to minimize a torrid California heat: Temperatures regularly rose to the mid 90’s during the mid-afternoon hours during the weekend, a significant factor in other events, according to Clark.
“The heat was oppressive in the later parts of the day, and I’m sure it had an effect on several athletes, including some of our own,” he said. “Fortunately, the marathon always takes place early in the morning. That was a necessity this weekend.”
Gillette made his second appearance in the NAIA outdoor national championships, again minding Leafs’ fans of older brother Justin’s past experiences. A 2005 graduate, Justin earned All-American honors in the marathon in 2003, 2004 and 2005. His personal best time of 2:29.14 still stands in the Goshen record books.
“Jake has continually improved in his time here, and I’m sure he will be back next year with an even (better time),” Clark said. “He has worked very hard in training and has competed toward the top of his competitive range. You really can’t ask more than that from the athletes you work with.”
Oklahoma Baptist University won the men’s team national title, finishing with 77 total points. For a compete list of individual performers and finishes from the national championships, click here.
Check back to this website for off-season information, including recruiting news and future schedule updates. To contact Rick Clark, call him at (574) 535-7079 or click here to send him an email.
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Junior Jake Gillette 