Lynchburg Men, Bridgewater Women Lead Team Standings

FOREST, Va. --- Virginia Wesleyan College sprinter Randy Lott won a pair of preliminary events and set a new meet record to highlight the first day of competition at the 2014 ODAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Roanoke College.  Bridgewater College leads the women’s team standings by five points over Lynchburg College, while LC’s men hold a 12-point edge over BC prior to continuing the championship on Saturday.

Results thru Day 1

Lott entered Friday’s preliminary sprints as the favorite in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, and he made both ratings stand up by qualifying first for the finals in both disciplines.  He posted a time of 10.80 seconds in the 100-dash, finishing 0.32 seconds before Aaron Jeong from Washington and Lee University.  Lott did one better in the 200-dash as he eclipsed the ODAC championship record of 21.56 seconds by W&L’s Zander Tallman by 0.01 seconds.  Tallman (21.95) placed second in the event, 0.07 seconds ahead of LC’s Tom Sippie and setting up what could be a highly competitive final on Saturday.

Several throwing and jumping events, as well as the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 10,000-meter run, were competed as single round finals.  Both the men’s and women’s hammer throw and shot put events were among those that awarded champions on Friday.  On the men’s side, Lynchburg’s Greg Wilson is well on his way to a second straight weighted apparatus triple as he won both events, tossing the shot 14.98 meters and heaving the hammer 53.98 meters.  LC’s Kim Alfaro claimed the women’s shot put crown with a throw of 11.73 meters, while Roanoke’s Sam Clowser captured the hammer title via a 47.86-meter hurl.

Eastern Mennonite University picked up 24 team points by placed 1-2-3 in the men’s high jump.  Jordan King made it four titles in four tries --- he won indoors and outdoors each of the past two years --- as he cleared a school-record 2.04 meters.  Quentin Moore (2.02m) and Drew Vrolijk (1.91m) rounded out the top three.  BC’s Kristen Trice captured the women’s crown at 1.53 meters, while teammate Brittany Kersey placed second and W&L’s Leigh Dannhauser finished third, all at the same height.

The Generals’ Dillon Myers won by the slightest of margins in the men’s long jump over BC’s Stefan Vessels.  Dillon leapt 6.70 meters, while Vessels splashed the sand a tick less at 6.69 meters.  W&L’s Dana Lee made good on her top-billing entering the women’s long jump, out-distancing LC’s Aleshia Washington, 5.45 meters to 5.42 meters.

Roanoke staked a claim to both the men’s and women’s steeplechases.  Harrison Toney won the men’s edition in 9:29.9, while Caitlin Ashley captured the women’s crown in 11:52.1.

A pair of Eagles won the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter runs.  Luke Sohl came up less than five seconds short of matching his own meet record with a time of 32:25.10.  Kaylee Kubisiak edged out teammate Stephanie Breen by 0.03 seconds to win the women’s version with a time of 39:25.90.

All sprint and hurdle events conducted their preliminaries on Friday.  In addition to Lott’s wins in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, Tallman out-paced Sippie by 1.0 seconds in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.18 seconds.

Lynchburg and Roanoke traded wins in the women’s sprints.  Roanoke’s Esther Prempeh beat LC’s Washington by 0.12 seconds with a time of 12.66 seconds to qualify first in the 100-meter dash.  Washington and fellow Hornet Catherine Wallace went 1-2 in the 200-meter dash with times of 25.98 and 26.16 seconds.  It was a 1-2-3 finish for the Maroons in the 400-meter dash as Alease Kinney (58.83), Brynn MacDougall (59.74) and Jessica Mejia (59.99) each eclipsed the one-minute mark.

In the 110-meter hurdles, Lynchburg’s Rachad Davis put himself in position to win his fourth straight ODAC title by qualifying first with a personal-best matching time of 15.05 seconds.  Teammate Brian Fuentes claimed the #1 spot in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.57 seconds.

The women’s 100-meter hurdles could be a tight final on Saturday as the top three were separated by just 0.08 seconds in the prelims.  LC’s Katie Miller posted the top time at 15.79 seconds, while Jaclyn Mohlmann from Shenandoah University and VWC’s Courtney Mebane recorded times of 15.86 and 15.87 seconds.  Roanoke’s Allison Denton put together the best time in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:08.08, just 0.12 seconds faster than Mebane.

Competition continues on Saturday with throwing and jumping events beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Click HERE for a full schedule of events and HERE for a link to live results as events are completed.  For more information, visit the websites of any of the participating schools or the host championship website.  Also be sure to visit the ODAC championship website, in addition to becoming a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and following the ODAC on Twitter at @odacathletics.