OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD

Five track and field athletes represented Huntington University this weekend at the NAIA Marathon Classic as part of the 41st California International Marathon (CIM).

The Forester women claimed a runner-up finish with 16 points, second only to Embry-Riddle with nine points. Abbey Gentz paced HU with a seventh place finish out of 46 NAIA competitors by clocking in at 3:00:45 for a 6:54 minute/mile pace. She was one of eight female racers to earn NAIA All-American honors.

Amelia Strzechowski and Lily Spaulding finished within two minutes of each other to take 21st and 22nd place respectively. Strzechowski, whose average mile pace was 7:45, posted a 3:22:48 while Spaulding crossed the line in 3:24.05 for a 7:48 per mile average.

On the men’s side, Jonah Lemmon finished 15th out of 49 NAIA runners with his time of 2:35:15 for an average pace of 5:56 minute/mile. Reece Gibson also toed the line for Huntington to finish 22nd in 2:38:55 (6:04 minute/mile).

This is just the second year for the NAIA Marathon Classic. This standalone event came about as a result of the marathon being removed from the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in 2002 because of safety concerns for the student-athletes.

The CIM is put on by the Sacramento Running Association. The 26.2-mile trek, which runs from Folsom to Sacramento, is the #1 Boston qualifier and ranks in the top ten of largest US marathons. It boasts more Olympic Trials qualifiers than all other US marathons combined.