West Liberty Track Teams Finish With a Flourish
MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The West Liberty University track team finished the 2021 outdoor season with one of its strongest performances of the spring, highlighted by a pair of eye-popping school record efforts, at the Mount Olive Multis/First Chance Meet.
Tavian Richardson erased one of the oldest records in the West Liberty books with a sizzling 1:52.50 clocking in winning the 800-meter run. That eclipsed the previous school standard of 1:53.10, set by WLU Hall of Famer Bruce Cox all the way back in 1976.
Richardson's time was the second-fastest in the Atlantic Region this spring, giving the Hilltoppers two of the top five times in the metric half-mile. Michael Harriman, who placed fourth in Saturday's race at 1:53.96, is fifth in the region.
On the women's side, reigning MEC Cross Country Runner of the Year Hannah Kemp continued to make her mark on the oval. The Lady Hilltopper distance ace just missed an NCAA Provisional mark with her winning time of 17:15.88 in the 5000 meters. Not only was that the third-fastest 5K team in the region this year, it shaved nearly 25 seconds off Kemp's school mark of 17:39.54 set earlier this spring.
While those were the only school records that fell over the weekend, several others were under assault as numerous Hilltoppers made their presence felt at the meet.
- Jordan Hosey won the 3000-meter steeplechase and fell just short of a school record with a time of 9:41.25.
- Kelsi Hulit, who posted the best discus throw in the region last month with a school-record effort of 154 feet, 5 inches (47.10m), came up just four inches shy of that distance – 154 feet, 1 inch (46.96m) – to earn a third-place finish.
- Gary Braithwaite launched the javelin 167 feet, 1 inch (50.92m) – tops in the region this spring – to place fourth in the event.
- Corey Wyttenbach was runner-up in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 4 1/4 inches (1.94m) – a Top 10 regional height
- Adam O'Donnell, who posted the region's top decathlon score of 6,343 points in winning the MEC meet earlier this month, just missed adding to that mark with 6,338 points in a sixth-place finish at Mount Olive.
- Elian Lamar broke 11 seconds (10.88) in the 100-meter sprint and added a sub-22 second (21.95) time in the 200 meters. His 200-meter clocking put him in the region's Top 5.