Grace Track Team Has Strong Showing
ANGOLA – The Grace College indoor track and field team came up big at the Trine Invitational on Friday, winning six events as a team.
Senior Jonathan Rex had a part in three first-place finishes, including a pair of relay wins. He anchored the distance medley relay event with Brandon Smith, KeJuan Leek and Donovan Graham to a time of 10:51.80 and also helped the 4×400-meter squad team of Matt Lee, Brendon Lengacher and Lance Taylor to a winning time of 3:34.68. Individually, Rex beat the other 10 competitors in the 800 with a time of 2:02.84.
Taylor was the top runner in the 400 in a personal-best indoor time of 51.06 for the Lancers.
On the women’s side, Grace won the distance medley relay in 13:35.21 thanks to the running of Katelyn McCullough, Allison Zylstra, Rachel Fehring and Jenna McClellan.
Jo Boren continued her strong sophomore campaign by winning the triple jump in a distance of 33-feet-2, and she also finished third in the 400 when she crossed the finish line in 1:02.73.
Other highlights for the women include a third-place finish Victoria Gimben in the high jump, fifth-place results for Erin Jones (200) and McCullough (800), and sixth-place results for Zylstra (800) and Erin McPherson (shot put).
Tyler Back reached the NCCAA Indoor National qualifying mark in the weight throw with a heave of 41-3.5 and in the shot put at 41-10.75.
Other standout performances from the men include fourth-place finishes for Nathan Brown (60 hurdles) and Matt Lee (800), fifth-place finishes for Brown (long jump) and Lengacher (800), and a sixth-place result for Ben Hutton in the 200.
The Lancers have two remaining indoor meets – NCCAA Indoor Nationals next weekend in Bourbonnais, Ill., and NAIA Indoor Nationals starting March 6 in Geneva, Ohio.