HARROGATE,TENN. - The Lincoln Memorial track and field programs wll head to Winston-Salem, North Carolina this weekend for the SAC Indoor Championship Meet at the JDL Fast Track. This will be the first SAC Indoor Championship since 2020, a meet which saw the Railsplitters post four top-3 finishes.

Competing for the Lady Railsplitters

• There will be 17 Lady Railsplitters competing this weekend
• Sprinters: Destiny Gibbs, Micah Sells, Lidija Djokic, Ashlee Lewis, and Grace Mathis
• Mid-distance: Kirsten Keith, Grace Rose, and Katilee Croft
• Distance: Brooke Foster, Amelia Lorrey, Elke Wijkmans, Kiley Holmes, Gillian Strealy, Lillian Turley, and Harper Russell
• Multi: Elizabeth Close
• Field: Lauren Smith

Women's Field

• The women's field consists of one nationally ranked program, and three more programs who sit in the top-10 of the regional rankings.
• Queens paces the women's side as well, as they are ranked 12th nationally, and are atop the regional rankings.
• Following the Royals in the regional standing are Lenoir-Rhyne, Anderson, and Wingate.

Women's Highlights

• Five Lady Railsplitters have combined to break eight school records. Destiny Gibbs, Brooke Foster, and Elizabeth Close all hold two records. Gibss set the 400m (59.18) and 500m records (1:24.69), while Foster set the mile (5:14.73) and 5000m (18:15.38) records, and Close has the pentathlon (2790 points) and high jump (1.37m) school records. Micah Sells set the 60m hurdles record (9.16) in the first indoor meet of the season, and Lauren Smith set the weight throw record (11.35m) in the most recent meet of the year.
• The women come into the meet ranked 12th regionally, marking the highest they have been ranked all year.

Railsplitter Men Competing 

• There are 13 men competing for LMU this weekend
• Sprinters: Sam Peters, Patrick Zuralski, and Chris Buford, 
• Mid-distance: Roberto Fajardo, Spencer Baldwin, and Jacey Grabeel
• Distance: Gidion Sigei, Khotsofalo Pheko, Mason Johns, Marig Engelbrecht, Caleb Rigney, and Benjamin Trimm
• Field: Nathan McBride

Men's Field

• The field consists of two nationally ranked teams, and eight teams in the top-10 of the regional rankings.
• Queens (17th nationally) and Tusculum (23rd nationally) lead the men's side.
• In addition to the Royals and Pioneers, Lenoir-Rhyne, Limestone, Carson-Newman, Wingate, Catawba, and LMU all reside in the top-10 of the USTFCCCA regional rankings.

Men's Highlights

• The Railsplitters have run three national qualifying times, with Roberto Fajardo (1:53.51) running one in the 800m, Khotsofalo Pheko running one in the mile (4:10.61), and Gidion Sigei achieving the mark in the 5000m (14:15.31).
• Eight new school records have been set this indoor season: Sam Peters in the 300m (35.98), Spencer Baldwin in the 500m (1:08.62), Roberto Fajardo in the 800m (1:52.04), Khotsofalo Pheko in the mile (4:10.61), Sigei in both the 3000m (8:31.55) and 5000m (14:15.31), Nathan McBride in the weight throw (12.01m) and Baldwin, Fajardo, Mason Johns, and Chris Buford in the 4x800m relay (8:11.53).
• The men are currently ranked 10th in the USTFCCCA regional rankings, the highest ranking they have had all season.

Veteran Leadership

• Despite the Indoor Championship not being run in over two years, the Railsplitters still return plenty of championship experience.
• 10 of the athletes competing have previously run at a prior SAC Indoor Championship.
• For the women, Grace Mathis, Destiny Gibbs, Lauren Smith, Brooke Foster, and Kiley Holmes have all competed at either the 2019 or 2020 Indoor Championship.
• On the men's side, Mason Johns, Chris Buford, Roberto Fajardo, Sam Peters, and Jacey Grabeel all bring championship meet experience to this weekend.

They Said It

• Director of Track and Field Rochelle Black: "We're excited that the indoor championships are here. The indoor season so far has been fantastic, but we train to perform and compete at our best during this meet."
• Junior distance runner Mason Johns: "Up to this point in the season, we have been focused on rewriting the record books and competing for personal bests for the team. With these confidence boosters and the support from the coaches, we are all looking positively towards getting the chance to have some great races at the conference meet. I am excited to see the team compete and continue to break more records with standout performances in championship racing."
• Senior sprinter Destiny Gibbs: "Since the school year started, we have been putting in the work needed to get us this far. Both the women and men have had a strong indoor season. The way the team has raced thus far proves that we have tuned into what our coaches tell us and are ready to reap the benefits of all the work we have put in. The team is excited and ready to step back on the track to continue the trend we have been setting all season." 
• Senior sprinter Grace Mathis: "The women's team is going into the weekend very strong and confident. This year, the program has been constantly raising the standards performance wise and I know our lady splitters will show out and continue that ongoing improvement which has been applauded. We all look forward to having even more breakthroughs in performances to leave the indoor season on a very high note." 

Stay Updated

• Live Results and Schedule: https://bit.ly/35rPay4
• Live Video ($): https://bit.ly/3BPg9jx

 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter and Lady Railsplitter track and field throughout the 2021-22 season.