BOONE, N.C. – Gardner-Webb got a head start on its 2014-2015 indoor season Friday and Saturday, competing well at the Appalachian Open.

The GWU men finished third out of nine competing teams with 70 points, just off the pace of Western Carolina (141) and Appalachian State (109.5). The women finished seventh out of nine teams with 25.6 points.

The Runnin' Bulldogs men totaled 17 top-10 finishes during the event, piling up a heavy point total in the process.

Sophomore Jordan Smith starred on the men's side, winning the shot put with a distance of 15.63 meters (51'3.50"), nearly a full meter longer than his nearest competitor. Smith captured third in the men's weight throw with a mark of 16.24 meters (53'03.50"), leading a group of three GWU competitors in the top-10 in that event.

Nathan Padfield (15.52m) finished sixth and Andrew White (14.39m) took eighth in the weight throw – with White finishing fifth in the shot put (14.96m).

Seaver Wait took second in the men's high jump, clearing a height of 1.98 meters (6'06") and Ben Bell captured fifth with a leap of 1.88 meters (6'2"). Justin Jones posted an effort of 6.81 meters (22'04.25') to place seventh in the men's long jump, Josh Wembolua ran a time of 7.83 seconds to take third in the men's 55m hurdles and Marcquel Woodard finished a close second in the men's mile with a time of 4:38.87. Aaron Cronk finished sixth in that same race in 5:11.78.

Joseph Martin's ninth-place finish in the 400m dash came in a time of 51.17 seconds and both Christopher Lile (third) and McKinley Gray (fifth) had top-5 finishes in the men's 3,000m run.

The men's 4x400m relay team of Martin, Woodard, Caleb Silvey and Darien Hensley-Evans placed second in a time of 3:30.30, capping a strong debut for the Runnin' Bulldogs.

The women's squad had 10 finishes in the top-10 overall, with Sarah Mitchell shining in her first events of the season. Mitchell finished third in the weight throw with a distance of 15.67 meters (51'05") and took ninth in the shot put with a mark of 12.20 meters (40'05").

Natasha Akbarizadeh finished ninth in the weight throw (14.16m) and Diamond Reese took 10th in the same event (13.06m).

Kayin Mujahid finished in a tie for second in the women's high jump, clearing 1.62 meters (5'3.75") and Kailey Robinson tied for fifth in the pole vault (3.36m) – giving GWU three top-5 finishes. Elise Moffatt tied for ninth in the women's pole vault, Kristen Hurley finished eighth in the long jump (5.32m) and Ashleigh Cleveland took ninth in the long jump (5.20m).

Cleveland and Hurley joined Merideth Byl and Amanda Hall to finish 10th in the women's 4x300m relay.

Gardner-Webb will break for the holidays, before getting back to action on January 16-17 at the 2015 Niswonger Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn.