BOONE, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb men's and women's indoor track and field teams returned to action for the first time in 2018 this weekend at the Appalachian Open, setting seven new personal records, as well as one new school record.
 
Sarah Mitchell set a new school record in the women's shot put with a mark of 14.82 meters, smashing the previous record of 14.08 meters set by Ashlei Alexander in 2012.  The distance also is the fourth-best in Big South Conference history.
 
Mitchell's toss gave GWU the women's shot put title and was nearly an entire meter further than the second-place finisher.
 
On the men's side, Jordan Smith set a pair of new personal bests, taking both the shot put and weight throw titles.  In the shot put, Smith finished with a mark of 16.79 meters, and had a mark of 19.06 meters in the weight throw.  His shot put distance ranks eighth-best in Big South Conference history.
 
Also setting a new PR for the men was Chase Thornhill, who finished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.30 seconds.
 
Two PRs were set in the women's long jump, as Taylor Hotchkiss placed fourth with a mark of 5.29 meters, while Callie Rhea had a jump of 4.23 meters.
 
Valerie Walker also had a new personal best time in the women's 400-meter dash, clocking in at 1:13.86.
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs also had several top finishes throughout the two-day event, as the women's team posted ten top-five finishes, while the men's squad had eight top-five results.
 
Mitchell also placed third in the women's weight throw with a mark of 16.34 meters, just behind teammate Petra Jakeljic, who finished second with a throw of 16.37 meters.  Natasha Akbarizadeh finished in fifth place with a mark of 15.88 meters.
 
Carlos Williams took home a second place finish in the men's 200-meter dash, clocking in at 23.11 seconds.
 
Ross Lucia earned a second-place finish in the men's weight throw with a mark of 15.45 meters.
 
In the men's 800-meter run, Patrick Sastre clocked in at 1:59.49, finishing in third place in his first time competing in the event.
 
In the women's 200-meter dash, Diviana Forrest clocked in at 27.53 seconds to earn a fourth place finish in her first time competing in the event.
 
Gabby Cortese and Jenika Hrushka each had top-five finishes in the women's mile run.  Cortese placed fourth with a time of 5:38.72, and Hrushka timed in at 5:44.24 for a fifth place finish in her first meet of her collegiate career.
 
In the men's mile run, a pair of Runnin' Bulldogs also finished in fourth and fifth places as Josh Parks timed in at 4:38.36, followed by Keaton Poole with a time of 4:40.91.
 
Ashleigh Cleveland tied for fifth place in the women's high jump with a mark of 1.53 meters.
 
In the women's pole vault, Karin Sastre took home a fifth-place finish, clearing the bar at 3.36 meters.
 
Overall, the men's team finished in third place with 67 points, while the women's team took home a fourth place finish with 58 points.  Host Appalachian State placed first on both sides, totaling 119 and 176.5 points respectively.
 
Gardner-Webb returns to action at the Liberty Kickoff, hosted by Liberty University at the new Liberty Indoor Track Complex.  The meet is set to begin on Friday afternoon at 1:15 pm and will continue Saturday morning beginning at 9:00 am.