Track and Field "gains confidence" at Cedarville

The Mount Vernon Nazarene University men’s track and field team took fourth place out of 17 teams at the Cedarville Yellow Jacket Collegiate Open.

The Cougars’ 4x100 meter relay team, consisting of freshmen Makai Lewis and Joseph Joe and sophomores Carl Jones Jr. and Brandon Brown, took first place out of 11 competitors. They finished in 42.32.

Lewis’ 10.96 100-meter dash time earned him a fifth place finish. Joe and Jones Jr. were less than two-twentieths of a second behind Lewis, earning them seventh and ninth place respectively.

Senior Jake Sherer grabbed sixth place in the men’s 800 meters with a time of 1:58.20.

“We competed well as a whole,” Sherer said.

He was happy with the results of the distance, sprints, and field events at Cedarville.

“We have only scratched the surface of a lot of people’s potential,” Sherer added.

The women’s team finished in 17th place out of 18 teams.

Sophomore MaKenzie McKirgan placed fourth in the women’s 10,000-meter run with a time of 41:50.38.

Sophomore Rachel Gerber competed in the women’s 1500-meter run. She took eighth place with a final time of 4:57.23.

“It was exciting to see our teams compete against top-notch programs and perform well,” said Head Coach Chip Wilson. “I thought we stepped up to the level of our competition, and we gained some confidence for our upcoming meets.”

The teams look ahead to the College of Wooster Invitational this Friday.

“We are focusing on hitting our workouts hard,” Sherer said. “We also must recover well afterwards.”