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MARION, Ind. – The Goshen College men's track and field team "jumped" at the opportunity to move outdoors as they won three individual events at the Polar Bear Invitational on Thursday in Marion, Ind.
In their first outdoor meet of the season – sandwiched between a pair of winter storms – the Maple Leafs took charge in the jumping events with winners in the high jump and the triple jump.
"The men were led by several well-earned victories in the field events," said head coach Rick Clark of his team at the event, which did not keep team scores. "The weather cooperated and they performed very well for an early season meet."
If anyone doubts that basketball big-men are athletic, they certainly haven't seen 6-foot-8 Kyle Laker in the high jump. Fresh off his junior season as a power forward/ center for the Maple Leafs basketball team, Laker cleared 6'4" to win top honors in his first track event of the year.
Fellow junior Brent Handfield also made the best of the outdoors, winning the triple jump with a mark of 41'1". Also picking up a first-place finish for Goshen was pole vaulter Luis Robledo. The senior Goshen High School graduate cleared 13-feet for the win. Fellow Goshen High graduate Hugo DeLuna cleared 10'0" for fourth in the event.
Freshman Paul Versluis had a solid first outdoor meet as he finished fourth in the triple jump (37'10") and sixth in the long jump (19'3 1/2").
In the field events, Justin Hochstetler continued his fine senior campaign with top-six finishes in each of his three throwing events. The Orrville, Ohio native placed third in the discuss (133'2 1/2"), fifth in the hammer throw (131'4") and sixth in the shot put (43'3 3/4"). Brother Jeff had a strong second-place showing in the hammer throw launching it 141-feet 2-inches.
The Maple Leafs also heated up the track taking five top five spot in running events. Also fresh off a long basketball season, junior Sam Boldman raced to a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 16.18 seconds. First-year sprinter Jon Miller ran to fifth-place in the 400-meter dash (53.50), while John Tamirat grabbed fourth in the 800-meters in 2:08.91.
Senior Randy Keener placed third in the 1500-meters (4:31.40) and the 4x400 relay team of Miller, David Horst, Versluis, and Tamirat also finished third in 3:41.38.
The Maple Leafs will look to improve on a strong start as they host the Goshen Invitational on Saturday, March 29th at the Eigsti Track and Field Complex starting at 11:30 a.m.
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Senior Randy Keener