Bridgewater Welcomes ODAC Athletes for Two-Day Event
FOREST, Va. --- Conference athletes registered several strong performances last weekend. One of venues -- Bridgewater College. The Jopson Athletic Complex will again feature ODAC competitors Friday and Saturday as Bridgewater prepares to host the 2018 ODAC Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Bridgewater last welcomed the conference contingent to campus for the championship meet in 2015 with the Eagles hoisting the men's trophy and Roanoke College donning the women's crown.
Competition begins on Friday at 1:00 p.m. with the steeplechase. The event will actually be competed at James Madison University, the only discipline slated to be conducted away from Bridgewater's campus. Action at BC opens with field events at 2:00 p.m., while track events kick off at 4:40 p.m. Saturday's events begin with several field offerings at 10:00 a.m. with track events beginning at 2:00 p.m.
RELATED: Championship Event Schedule | Championship Stream
Last season, Washington and Lee University used home field advantage to win its first men's team title in 30 years, its fourth overall. Bridgewater secured the women's championship for the second straight season and third time overall.
Three of last season's major award winners return, led by reigning ODAC Women's Athlete of the Meet and multi All-American Amber Celen from Bridgewater. Celen won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes as well as the 100-meter hurdles and long jump. She's joined by both of last season's ODAC Rookies of the Year, Natalie Deacon from Lynchburg College and Shep Sims from W&L. Deacon was a senior last season, but 2017 marked her first collegiate experience in track & field, making her eligible for the honor. Now a graduate student-athlete, Deacon more than qualified after winning both the 800-meter and 1,500-meter runs. Sims garned his honor after winning the pole vault by nearly a half-meter.
Just one record saw a new entry in Lexington. Eastern Mennonite University standout Connor Faint matched the 400-meter hurdles championship record time of 53.67 seconds set by Lynchburg's Rachad Davis in 2013.
RELATED: 2017 Championship Results | ODAC Women's Record Book | ODAC Men's Record Book
The championship performance lists lend to several athletes for fans to follow throughout the weekend. Celen is slated to defend her titles in all four events from a season ago, but she's got plenty of competition. Roanoke's Quinn Harlan, the national runner-up in the indoor 60-meter dash, ranks #2 (11.78) in the country in the 100-meter dash, while Celen ranks sixth (12.09). Celen is the top seed in the 200-meter dash, ranking ninth (24.95) in the nation. She has her work cut out for her in the 100-meter hurdles as she is currently seeded seventh (16.65). Washington and Lee's Kaleigh Hinton stands atop that chart (15.78) as well as the 400-meter hurdles (1:05.35) entry list.
Teammate Tye Meador heads the long jump list at 5.57 meters (18-3.25), while Celen sits second at 5.40 meters (17-8.75).
Much like they did indoors, Deacon and Virginia Wesleyan's Marissa Coombs will push each other in the mid-distance events. Deacon is #4 in the country in the 800-meter run at 2:11.78, while Coombs sits 23rd at 2:16.32. The duo's positioning in the 1,500-meter run is both better and tighter. Coombs is third in Division III at 4:29.49, while Deacon sits sixth at 4:32.69.
Roanoke's Mara Briggs not only has back-to-back title aspirations in the high jump, but she may be looking at challenging records and improving her already lofty national ranking. Briggs set the Maroons' record earlier this season by clearing 1.70 meters (5-7.00), which ranks #2 in the country. That mark is just 0.03 meters off the ODAC overall record and, if she were to match it this weekend, would eclipse the championship standard by 0.01 meters.
RELATED: Women's Start List | Women's Performance List
On the men's side, Bridgewater's Davonta Womack is ranked in the national top-17 in a pair of events. He leads the ODAC ranks in the 100-meter dash at 10.64 seconds, which is #3 in the country. He'll have VWU's Jordan Ard (10.78) and LC's Julian Douglas (10.90) challenging him as both of those marks rank inside the nation's top-50. Womack also tops the conference in the long jump at 7.01 meters (23-0.00), which is 17th in the nation.
Eastern Mennonite's Grant Amoateng has his eyes set on titles in both horizontal jumps. He's #6 in the country in the triple jump at 14.71 meters (48-3.25), which is more than a meter ahead of second in the ODAC. He's 41st in Division III in the long jump at 6.79 meters (22-3.50).
W&L's Sims and BC's Ryan Shepard also feature in the jumps. Sims is more than half a meter ahead of the ODAC field in the pole vault, ranking 12th in the country with a W&L record-height of 4.77 meters (15-7.75). Shepard is 18th in the nation in the high jump at 2.00 meters (6-6.75).
Both hurdles events feature strong competition. Darren Petty from Randolph College leads the list in the 110-meter hurdles. His ODAC top seed time of 14.80 seconds is ranked 15th in the country. The 400-meter hurdles is especially stacked with a trio of top-30 rankings. However, EMU's Faint has separated himself with the nation's second-fastest time at 51.89 seconds. That mark would snap the ODAC championship record by a wide margin, a standard which he tied last season, and is just 0.17 seconds off the overall record. W&L's Drew Pranka is second in the ODAC and 22nd nationally at 54.75, while LC's Kevin Moran is third and 29th at 55.08.
RELATED: Men's Start List | Men's Performance List
Listed below is a quick snapshot of each event, giving a glimpse of what could unfold on Friday and Saturday (2018 times from official performance list). Of course, you can get more than a glimpse if you make your way to Bridgewater College and the Jopson Athletic Complex. Still, if a trip isn't the cards, be sure to follow along with live results provided by Blue Ridge Timing as well as the championship video stream.
For more information, visit the websites of any of the participating schools. Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.
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