Track & field back strong

The indoor track and field teams competed in the Mike Lints Open at Grand Valley State University last Saturday, their first meet of the new year. There were 15 teams at the event, with the men’s team racing to sixth place with 40.4 points and the women’s team taking eighth place with 16 points. On the men’s side, Justin Freeman (’19) won the 60-meter dash, setting a new record in the event with a time of 6.93 seconds. Not far behind was junior Korey Derr with a time of 7.13. Other scoring performances include that of junior Owen Ljung, who took second place in the 600 meter dash, finishing in 1:22.5, and junior Joshua Izenbart, who took seventh in the 60 meter hurdles.

One of the men’s 4×400 meter relays took sixth place with a time of 3:30.09, with a second team of Hope runners taking eighth place with a time of 3:32.31. Senior Benjamin Turner, who returned from a semester in New Zealand, took seventh place in pole vault. Senior captain Tucker Gibbons took fifth in the triple jump with 12.08 meters, followed up by Louis Kopp (’19) who jumped 11.95 meters. The women had strong performances, with sophomore Addyson Gerig finishing in the top eight in three seperate events: sixth place in the triple jump at 9.75 meters, seventh place in the high jump at 1.53 meters and seventh place in the long jump at 4.95 meters.

The 4×400 meter relay also took sixth place with a time of 4:17.45, and freshman Jenna Breuker took seventh in the weight throw. The teams race again on Friday.