CONWAY, S.C. – The Geneva College men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up their season-opening outdoor meet early at the Myrtle Beach Collegiate Challenge hosted by Coastal Carolina. The Golden Tornadoes competed on the opening day of the meet on Friday, but Saturday storms pushed the second day of the event back too far for the Golden Tornadoes to be able to still make the long trip home on Saturday, so the teams wrapped up their participation early.
Several Golden Tornadoes did compete on Friday. Freshman Kevin Arseneaux (Yarmouth, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth Regional) led the way for the men on Friday, finishing in seventh place overall in the 5000-meter race with a time of 15:35.86.
Junior Josh Blessing (Hershey, Pa./Lower Dauphin) and freshmen Gabe Trexler (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) and Desmond Lewis (Fort Worth, Texas/Saginaw) competed in the preliminaries of 100-meter dash. Blessing turned in a time of 11.65 seconds, while Trexler ran 11.66 and Lewis 11.75 seconds. Blessing also finished with a 5.92 meter long jump. In addition, in the 1500-meter race, junior Michael Hernandez (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) finished in a time of 4:30.30.
In the throws, sophomores Jackson Thomas (Beaver, Pa./Beaver) and Noah Foust (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg) finished with tosses in the hammer throw of 30.18 meters and 29.95 meters, respectively, while sophomore Josh Mathiot (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) finished with a distance of 33.86 meters in the javelin.
For the women, senior Olivia Younger (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) led the way with a 10th place finish in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.76 seconds, competing in just the preliminaries on Friday. Junior Naomi Swartzbaugh (Spartansburg, Pa./Spartansburg) finished with a time of 16.95 seconds in the hurdles, while adding a jump of 4.57 meters in the long jump.
Geneva had a quartet in the 100-meter dash preliminaries. Senior Brooke Waters (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) led the way with a time of 13.77 seconds. Junior Elissa O'Connor (Darlington, Pa./Blackhawk) finished in 13.96 seconds, while senior Emma Gilmore (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) and sophomore Anne Holdeman (Bloomington, Ind./Lighthouse Christian Academy) were right behind in 13.98 seconds.
For the throws, junior Alexis Montgomery (Seneca, Pa./Christian Life Academy) led the way with a toss of 29.74 meters in the javelin.
Both teams will make the trip home today as Spring Break comes to a close for Geneva. The teams will head next weekend to a meet at West Virginia University.
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva has one of the top 100 undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to
U.S. News and World Report. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).
