Five Foresters compete in NAIA Marathon Classic, Gentz earns All-American honors
Sacramento, Calif. – 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.
The Huntington University Foresters compete in 18 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 160 NAIA All-America honors and 567 All-America Scholar Athlete honors. Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.