Crossroads League tabs Goshen’s Siana Emery as women’s track athlete of the week

AVON, Ohio — Goshen College race walker Siana Emery has been named the Crossroads League Indoor Track Athlete of the Week in women’s indoor track and field for the week of January 14-20.
The junior from North Yarmouth, Maine, hit the NAIA’s automatic qualifying standard in the 3,000-meter race walk Friday night, posting a time of 16:11.4 to lead all women at the GC Race Walk in the Roman Gingerich Recreation-Fitness Center. Her time was the fastest in the NAIA when she crossed the finish line, although it was passed later in the weekend and she now ranks second in the nation.
Emery and teammate Hayley Bickford both qualified for the NAIA national meet in the race walk on Friday: they join men’s high jumper Simon Graber Miller as Maple Leafs who will head to Brookings, South Dakota, to compete against the nation’s best from Feb. 28 to March 2.
The national qualification is Emery’s fifth across both indoor and outdoor track and her third specifically in indoor competition: she was an All-American in the event in 2018.
Emery joins Taylor Roasa as Maple Leafs to win the conference’s weekly honor this season: Roasa was also indoor track athlete of the week on Dec. 10. The 2018-19 season marks the first time that two GC women have been CL track athletes of the week in the same year; the award has existed since 2011.
Goshen returns to action on Friday afternoon in the Grand Valley State University Open in Allendale, Michigan. The first events are set for 2:45 p.m.
The Crossroads League announces one or more Players of the Week for each of the league’s 17 sponsored sports. The awards are based on nominations from each of the league’s 10 member institutions, with the winners chosen by a vote of league sports information directors.
Goshen College is an affordable, nationally-ranked Christian liberal arts college in Northern Indiana known for leadership in intercultural and international education, sustainability and social justice.
The Maple Leafs compete in 14 varsity sports in the NAIA’s highly competitive Crossroads League and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, continuing a tradition of intercollegiate athletics that dates to 1956 and included women’s competition nearly a decade before Title IX. For more information on GC athletics, visit www.GoLeafs.net and follow the Maple Leafs on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @GCMapleLeafs.