KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A total of seven Goshen College entries have qualified for the NAIA indoor track and field national championship set for next weekend in Yankton, South Dakota. The NAIA released the final list of qualifiers Tuesday evening.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the nation since last March, the indoor national championship fields have been pared down from their usual sizes. Only the top 16 athletes in each event qualified for nationals; in most years, qualification is open to any athlete who meets the published standard, which can result in some events having far more than 16 entries.

Had the usual qualification process been followed, GC could have had as many as 16 national qualifiers.

In addition to the GC entries that were in the top 16 on Monday's final NAIA performance list, one other athlete who was outside the top 16 qualified because several runners ahead of him chose not to participate — often the result of an athlete qualifying in several events and electing to focus on a few of them.

The nine Goshen qualifiers are listed below. Individuals are listed alphabetically followed by relay teams. Including potential relay alternates, the team is slated to take 10 athletes to South Dakota.

• Hayley Bickford – 10th in women's 3000 walk (16:39.93)
• Summer Cooper – 8th in women's 1000 (2:59.88)
• Jacob Gerber – 16th in men's weight throw (57-7½)
• Simon Graber Miller – 9th in men's high jump (6-8¼)
• Nelson Kemboi – 15th in men's 3000 (8:36.56)
• Goshen College — 2nd in women's distance medley relay (12:15.57)
• Goshen College – 6th in women's 4x800 relay (9:33.19)

Most events begin with preliminary rounds, which are Wednesday, March 3, for the women and Thursday, March 4 for the men. The 3,000-meter race walk and the weight throw are two events in which the entire field progresses to the final, set for Friday, March 5, for the women and Saturday, March 6, for the men.

Stay tuned to GoLeafs.net and Goshen College social media channels for more updates, including a potential send-off for the team early next week. The entire national championship will be streamed, and a full schedule of events including how to follow along will be posted here in the coming days.