Written and Media by Mitchell Hooten.
The Greenville Men’s Track and Field Team had a cold/rainy start to their outdoor season this past weekend at the Wash-U Mini Meet at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The entire week before the meet, the forecast for Saturday the 24 was rainy and cold. Then the day came for the meet, and everyone on the team knew it was going to be a long day. With the conditions the way they were, the men’s team still performed well, with multiple second-place finishes and many other solid performances. The men’s team finished in fourth place and only half a point behind third-place team Wabash College in a nine-team field.
The one win of the day came from John Mangold in the 1500-meter run, coming in first place with a time of 4:00. In second was Nathan Potts with a time of 4:03, which was lifetime best for Potts. Both of their times were good enough to qualify them for NCCAA Outdoor Christian Nationals.
But that wasn’t Potts’ only second place finish of the day. He came back and finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.77. Potts said, “Although the weather was not ideal, I planned out how I wanted to run before the race began and executed it. I was not expecting to run that time this early in the season but it certainly makes me excited for the rest of the season.”
Other athletes that placed this weekend came from the field side of the meet, with Greg Mitchell finishing in third place in the triple jump with a jump of 43′ 3″. The next performances came from the throws with Ben Perry, who placed third in the hammer throw with a toss of 147′ 9″. Next was Mitchell Hooten, finishing fourth in the discus with a throw of 135′ 2″ and placing fifth in the shot put with a throw of 43′ 8.5″.
Besides the athletes that placed at the meet, there were other athletes who performed very well in the conditions and came out with PRs. Alex Fink had a very good day with a great run in the 400-meter, at a time of 50.50, which qualified Fink for Christian Nationals. But this wasn’t his only event of the day. He also ran the 200-meter dash, where he ran a time of 23.11, which was a PR for Fink.
The other performances came from the long distance crew of Dylan Goodyear, Noah Dir, and Johnathan Teoli who all ran very well in the 3000-meter run. Goodyear led the Panthers by running 9:00, then came Dir running a time of 9:39, and Teoli ran a personal best of 10:00. With the performances that came from this weekend despite the weather, it is looking like it will be an outstanding season for the Men’s Track and Field Team.
If you want to come cheer on your track and field team, come watch them compete at the Greenville Select Invitational on Saturday, April 14.
