GOSHEN, Ind. - The Trine University men’s and women’s track and field teams picked up five first place finishes at the Goshen College Maple Leaf Invitational. Both teams finished third as the men’s squad collected 135 points while the women had 71.5 points. Bethel won both the men’s and women’s team titles with 201 and 242.5 points each.
For the men, the Thunder swept both relay events in the 4x100m and 4x400m. In the 4x100, the team of seniors JaVontae Hence (Elkhart, Ind./Concord) and Andrew Stein (Lindenhurt, Ill./Lake Community) and freshmen James Gregory (Warsaw, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley) and John Daniel (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) won in a time of 43.62. In the 4x400 relay, it was the team of seniors Dan Linder (DeWitt, Mich./Grand Ledge) and Nate Konzen (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Christian) along with sophomore Tyler Bourdo (Plainwell, Mich./Delton-Kellogg) and freshman Luke Fimreite (McCordsville, Ind./Mount Vernon) who took home gold with a time of 3:21.18.
Bourdo and Gregory also picked up a pair of runner-up finishes in the 800m and 400m hurdles respectively. For Bourdo, he came across the line in a time of 2:00.16, less than a second behind the winner. Gregory finished the hurdles in a time of 57.93 as Konzen was just behind in third with a time of 58.05. Sophomore Michael Becker (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) also picked up silver in the 5,000m as he came across the line in a time of 15:47.55. Linder and Fimreite also turned in back-to-back finishes in the 400m as Linder came in third and Fimreite was fourth with times of 50.62 and 50.65 respectively. Fimreite would also finish fourth in the 200m with a time of 23.26.
In the field events for the Thunder men, Stein took home gold in the triple jump, leaping a distance of 12.43m. Junior Lincoln Frey (Pettisville, Ohio/Pettisville) and Daniel tied for third in the pole vault as both cleared a height of 3.81m. In the long jump, Hence and Stein placed third and fifth with distances of 6.41m and 6.20m. In the discus, freshman Sam Gilly (St. Joseph, Ill./St. Joseph-Ogden) also picked up a bronze in the discus with a toss of 39.94m. Senior Dustin Stutzman (Topeka, Ind./Westview) placed third in the shot put with a throw of 14.64m and was fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 44.26m.
For the women’s team, senior Danielle Reenders (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) took home gold in the javelin with a throw of 38.03m, winning by over 10 meters while setting a new school record in the process. In the hammer throw, fellow senior Country Stahl (Lowell, Ind./Lowell Senior) also broke the school record with a throw of 40.33m as she finished third. In the high jump, freshman Kassandra Ellsworth (Saugerties, N.Y./Kingston) placed fourth clearing a height of 1.27m.
Sophomore Trisha King (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) also picked up a first place finish for the Thunder in the 800m with a winning time of 2:20.07. King would also finish third in the 200m with a time of 27.27 and anchor the 4x400m relay which also finished third. Along with King, seniors Annalisa Krug (Battlecreek, Mich./Pennfield) and Sannie Anderson (Hesperia, Mich./Hesperia) and sophomore Kelly Scholer (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) finished in a time of 4:15.17.
Anderson and Krug would also turn in third place performances in the 400m and 1,500m with times of 4:56.77 and 1:04.50 respectively. Rounding out the top performance for the day was a fourth place finish in the 4x800m relay by the quartet of Scholer along with senior Abigail Samuels (Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Central) and freshmen Country Forsythe (West Mansfield, Ohio/Benjamin Logan) and Ariel McCoy (Garrett, Ind./Garrett) with a time of 11:06.60.
The team will return to the track on April 6 when they travel to Michigan State for the Spartan Invitational beginning at 10:00 a.m.
