WILMINGTON, N.C.- The Guilford College men’s track and field squad finished with a better team finish than three NCAA Division I squads as the men and the women competed in the UNC-Wilmington Invitational. The men placed eighth with 18 points while the women placed 12th with five points.
Amaris Clay and Brandon Rothfuss combined to score one point for the Quakers in the 800 meter run as both runners came across the finish line at the same time at 2:02.30. Rothfuss and Clay were also part of the 4×400 meter relay team with Johnny Sumner and Trent Evans (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds) that claimed third place with a time 3:32.52, the eighth-fastest time in school history.
Andris Goncarovs finished tenth overall in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:09.87, the second-best Division III time in the race. The senior was .6 seconds short of the next fastest time, which would have earned Guilford a point in the meet.
Yashua Clemons fell .09 meters short of breaking a near 44-year record in the triple jump, finishing sixth in the event with a mark of 12.91 meters, the second-best Division III mark.
Alex Martin (Pfafftown, N.C./Reagan) placed 11th and second amongst Division III runners in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.28 seconds. The freshman was .14 seconds off of the final scoring mark and .04 seconds away from entering the top-ten finishes.
Becca Benfield set the new school standard in the shot put, earning an 11th place finish in the event with a mark of 8.36 meters, breaking the near-five year record by .06 meters. The mark was also the third-best Division III effort in the event.
The 4×100 meter relay team of A’Lexus Newkirk, Sydney MacDonald (Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford), Jennifer Thomas (Randleman, N.C./Randleman), and Jamie McCreary won their section of the race with a time of 57.22 seconds, the seventh-fastest in program history.
Emily Cash and Pasangi Perera joined MacDonald and McCreary in the 4×400 meter relay race where the Quakers took fifth place and five points with a time of 5:03.92.
Thomas led the Quaker sprinters in the 100 meter and 200 meter dash races, finishing the 100 meter dash with a time of 14.31 seconds. Thomas completed the 200 meter dash in 30.49 seconds.
The Quakers return to the track next Friday, participating in the Wake Forest Open at Wake Forest University.