Allendale, MI – In their final indoor meet of the season, the Grace track and field squads arrived at Grand Valley State University for the GVSU “Tune-Up Meet” on a mission.  A winter’s full of training was released on the 300m track Friday culminating in every athlete in every event they participated in either tying or setting a new personal record.

“I think as a team we sensed a big performance like this coming,” said Coach Verwey following the meet Friday.  He added, “I am proud of how the athletes have doubled down on their training and commitment to our sport after a team meeting we had a couple of weeks ago.  I am thankful for not only the big performances we were blessed with today, but also for the way we represented our Lord, our school, and ourselves.”

Men’s Highlights:

• Junior Kent Herring (Evart, MI) broke the indoor school record in the 400m dash with a time of 55.61, a record previously held in a tie with Herring and former Grace sprinter Justin McMaster.  Earlier in the meet, Herring tied his personal record in the men’s long jump event, as well.

• Sophomore Ben Bird (Allendale, MI) set a new personal record in the men’s mile.  His time of 5:16 was a result of Bird remaining strong in the middle laps of the race and competing with the competition surrounding him.

Women’s Highlights:

• Freshman Maty Temrowski (Fenton, MI) ran to an almost six minute new personal record in the women’s mile.  Her time of 6:10 places her fourth all-time in the history of Grace for the full mile and moved her within .07 seconds from third all-time.  Temrowski’s tenacity for making passes during the race was the key to her big result as it prevented her from getting stuck in pace throughout the race.

• Senior Lucy Nusbaum (Holland, MI) came within three seconds of breaking the women’s indoor 400m school record, finishing with a time of 1:09.41.  This was an almost three second improvement on her previous time in the same event two weeks ago.

• Senior Sarena Overbeek (Jenison, MI) also set a new personal record on Friday night.  In the women’s 3,000m event, Overbeek rolled a strong start into a consistent rhythm with relaxed form that brought her across the finish line in a time of 12:36.

The Tiger track & field teams will now prepare for their first outdoor meet of the season on March 25 at Cedarville University.  Although the indoor season provides “perfect” weather for competition, the outdoor season brings with it exciting new events, including javelin, discus, the decathlon, the 1500m (rather than the mile), the 100m dash/hurdles (rather than the 60m), hammer throw, the 10k, and, of course, the 3k steeplechase.