Montreat College's track team successfully took the theme of "Shining Jesus' Love" to the Sunshine State this Spring Break. The team competed in the three-day track and field event at the Walt Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.

"I wanted our team to shine, to be different than all other teams because of Jesus' love. I think we accomplished this," said Coach Larios. One of Montreat's best examples of this was led by the men's distance team. Once they all crossed the finish line in each of their two races, they congratulated those that beat them and turned and cheered for the competitors that were still finishing. Then they asked all competitors to join them in a group prayer at the finish line to give praise for the blessings to compete."

"They always stand out… very classy in their manner of sportsmanship. I often have spectators, athletes and coaches come up to me and tell me how considerate and special our team is, which means more to me than anything else," added Larios.

The Cavaliers' fine performances were led by Ben Hall and Talisa Bishop. Hall (So./ Polk County, NC) led all Montreat distance runners by crossing the finish line in 16:11.61 for 5^th place in the 5000m run. Hall delivered great excitement to the Thursday night events by overtaking three other competitors in the final 500 meters by just narrowly earning 5^th place in the final five meters.

"Ben's race was a great testament to how tough he is. He's still not fully healthy, but he races tougher than anyone I've ever been around. I'm hoping that the other Cavaliers that witnessed that race could see how to pay the price," said Larios. "His time of 16:11 puts him third on Montreat's all-time 5K list, behind Wilbourn Kosgei (15:13) and his own freshman time of 15:48."

Talisa Bishop narrowly missed the NAIA national championship 10K standard by running 39:40:42 to place 9th overall. Bishop also came back on Friday to lead Montreat's Lady Cavs in the 1500m with a time of 5:13.33 to finish 5^th overall. She was followed by freshman Lindsay Mizok's 6^th place finish with a time of 5:16.05.

Also running a stellar race was freshman Elisabeth Elliott's 40:42.30 performance in the 10,000 meters.

"The 10K [25 laps around the track] is a grueling race to stay concentrated on your pace," added Larios, "I think Elisabeth ran a great race for a freshman. Kayla also did fantastic. She came through the halfway mark faster than she's ever run a 5K, so she's really come along since joining the program in August."

Other Cavaliers that ran great races were Will Musto's 5K personal best of 17:28 and his 6^th place finish in the 1500m with a time of 4:35.59. Andrew Hege placed 4^th overall in the 1500m with a time of 4:31.78. Ben Hall also represented really well in the 1500m with his bronze medal finish in a nice time of 4:23.00.

The Cavaliers will be in action again this weekend at NC State's Raleigh Relays.

Full Men's results may be found HERE

Full Women 's results may be found HERE