The Bob Jones University track and field teams made their way to Asheville, North Carolina for their penultimate meet of the regular season. The Asheville Bulldog Invitational hosted by the University of North Carolina Asheville saw many top programs in attendance including Wofford College, Winthrop, East Tennessee State University, Milligan University, and Montreat College.

"It was very windy today which had a negative impact on racing our times. However, our placement positions were solid, especially with the caliber of teams we faced today," said Head Coach Ken Roach.

Liesl Heinz and Cora Gagne opened today's meet in the 5000 meter race, as Heinz came in first for the Bruins as she crossed the finish line with a time of 19:53. In the men's field, Evan Seaman crushed his race with a 30 second personal best of 16:12.79 to come in sixth overall. Marc Johnson and Justin VanDen Berghe also competed in the three mile event.

In the 1500, Joy Hast and Elisabeth Farley represented Bob Jones with Hast crossing the finish line ahead with a time of 5:28.67. Five Bruins on the men's team raced after the women as Sol Shafer ran to a time of 4:17.70. Andrew Sarver's time was close behind in his first 1500 followed by Joel Batres-Mena, Levi Gerbitz, and Daniel Kyle.

Seven Bruins stepped up to compete in the 400 meter event. Alyssa Marks finished at 1:04.10 as the sole women's team competitor before the men took to the track. Luke Fressel finished tenth overall at 52.19 followed by Andrew Sarver with a 53.88 PR. Leonardo Moto, Kyle Williams, and Garrett Collins each made their 400 meter debut.

Mia Marks was the lone Bruin in the 100 meter dash as she crossed the finish line with a PR of 13.94.

Five Bruins then made their way to the track for the 800 meter where Emily Walton finished in the top-15 with a mark of 2:28.91 to put her second in program history in the event. For the men, Sol Shafer raced in his first outdoor 800 meter competition where he finished his two laps at 2:09.40. Teammate Bradley Koons stayed consistent as he finished with the exact same time as his previous 800.

Mia Marks alongside her sister-in-law and teammate Alyssa Marks were back for the 200 meter. Alyssa Marks set a new personal record, narrowly missing a school record, with a time of 27.71 as Mia finished a few seconds behind for her first time in the event.

On the field, Joshua Landry threw a personal best and set a new school record in the javelin with a NCCAA national qualifying distance of 46.27 meters to come in third place behind athletes from Wofford and Mars Hill. Abigail Woo was just shy of 24 meters to finish first for the Bruins in the women's javelin with teammate Rebekah Wood inches away from a personal best.

In the discus, Brynn Lytell threw 23.84 meters on her first throw.

Daniel Garian reached a new personal best in his outdoor season with a distance of 12.77 meters in the shot put.

Full results from today's meet can be found here. 
 
"Several things were positive for us that will help us move forward," said Roach. "Keeping our confidence is important and this race helped deliver. This is a great team, and I am looking forward for App State in a couple of weeks."

Up next, the Bruins will compete at the App State Open in Boone, North Carolina on April 27 to close out the regular season.

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