BOONE, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb men's and women's track and field teams had an outstanding start to the 2017-18 indoor season, as the squads set eleven new personal bests throughout the two-day Mountaineer Open at the Holmes Convocation Center at Appalachian State University.
 
In the men's weight throw, Jordan Smith placed first overall with a toss of 19.00 meters, a new personal best.  Ross Lucia also had a personal best mark of 16.15 meters to finish in second place.
 
Smith also took home the men's shot put title with a mark of 16.41 meters, while Lucia finished seventh at 13.40 meters.
 
Natasha Akbarizadeh placed first in the women's weight throw, with a new personal best distance of 17.27 meters.  Petra Jakeljic finished in second place with a mark of 16.85 meters.  Sarah Mitchell placed fourth at 16.45 meters, while Cailen Blaire placed eighth with a personal best toss of 15.12 meters.
 
Mitchell finished first overall in the women's shot put with a toss of 13.56 meters.  Blaire finished in fifth with a mark of 10.31 meters, and Amanda Hall had a personal best toss of 9.79 meters to place sixth overall.
 
Chase Thornhill took home a first-place finish in the men's 400-meter dash, clocking in at 50.70 seconds. Caleb Silvey earned a third place finish with a time of 52.63 seconds.

In the men's 55-meter dash, Carlos Williams clocked in with a personal best time of 6.50 seconds to finish in fourth place.
 
Karin Sastre placed fourth in the women's pole vault with a personal best mark of 3.51 meters.  Sarah Coleman finished sixth with a height of 3.36 meters.
 
Taylor Hotchkiss set a new PR in the women's long jump with a distance of 5.12 meters to finish in sixth place.  Amanda Hall followed in seventh place at 4.76 meters, and Callie Rhea placed ninth at 3.67 meters
 
Hotchkiss also finished in third place in the women's 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.60 seconds, followed by Ashleigh Cleveland in fourth place with a time of 9.03 seconds.
 
Cleveland also had a mark of 1.50 meters in the women's high jump to earn a fourth place finish.
 
In the women's mile run, Amy Turlington finished with a new personal best time of 5:43.89 to place in fourth, while Hannah Jones finished fifth with a new PR of 5:49.20.  Brittany Ollivierre followed in sixth place with a time of 6:10.70.
 
In the women's 200-meter dash, Kira Ramsey placed second with a time of 28:54, while Maya Mallory finished in fourth with a personal best time of 28.70 seconds.
 
Ramsey also finished in seventh in the women's 55-meter dash, clocking in at 7.62 seconds.
  
In the men's 55-meter hurdles, Austin Evans took home a fourth place finish with a time of 8.05 seconds.
 
Diviana Forrest finished in fourth place in the women's 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.76.
 
Keaton Poole placed second in the men's 3,000-meter run, clocking in at 9:22.48.  Mitchell Brown followed in third place with a time of 9:31.05, while Ezekiel Martin finished fourth at 9:48.01 and Josh Parks finished fifth at 9:49.85.
 
Patrick Sastre finshed in fourth in the men's mile run with a time of 4:47.30.  He was followed by Sam Hermanns, who finished fifth with a time of 5:27.13, while Bogdan Podgaisky finished in sixth place with a time of 5:47.93
 
In the women's 3,000-meter run, Gabby Cortese finished in sixth place, timing in at 11:16.53.  Rachel White followed in seventh with a time of 12:08.30, Michaela Williams finished eighth at 12:15.87, and Sydney Davis placed ninth with a time of 12:21.23.
 
Mason Marshall finished in eighth in the men's 200-meter dash, clocking in at 24.71 seconds.  Jamel Jordan followed in ninth at 25.04 seconds.
 
The men's team had a pair of second-place relay finishes as the team of Sastre, Hermanns, Poole, and Podgaisky finished the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:51.79, and the team of Austin Evans, Chase Thornhill, Williams, and Marshall finished the 4x300 relay with a time of 2:29.64.
 
The women's 4x300 relay team of Forrest, Hotchkiss, Hannah Sparacio, and Cleveland finished in third with a time of 2:54.25, while the grouping of Hall, Kelsey Houser, Rhea, and Mallory finished in fifth at 3:07.10.
 
The men's team finished second overall, while the women's team finished in third place.  Host Appalachian State took first place for both the men's and women's events.
 
Gardner-Webb will return to Boone, N.C. for its next events, taking part in the Appalachian Open on Friday, January 19