Brandon Named Big South Field Athlete of Week
5/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
On the heels of an impressive heptathlon performance at the 2014 ECAC Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Liberty junior Riley Brandon has been tabbed the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Women's Field Athlete of the Week.
Brandon's first career Big South weekly honor comes as a result of her fourth-place finish in the ECAC heptathlon competition. The Carrollton, Texas native racked up 5,018 points over the two-day competition in Princeton, N.J., obliterating her previous best of 4,692. Brandon now ranks No. 6 in program history and No. 5 on the Big South Conference all-time list for the heptathlon.
Brandon's top events were the long jump and the 800-meter run, both of which were contested on Saturday. She improved her long jump personal best from 16-10 to 17-7.5 and then dropped her 800 time from 2:19.41 to 2:16.99.
The performance punctuated a stellar junior season for Brandon, which was highlighted by a sweep of the Big South indoor pentathlon title and outdoor heptathlon championship. She also recorded top-five finishes in both the ECAC Division I indoor pentathlon (fifth) and outdoor heptathlon (fourth).
Seven of Brandon's teammates will travel to Jacksonville, Fla., for the 2014 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet, May 29-31. The meet, which will determine the qualifiers for the 2014 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, will be contested at North Florida's Hodges Stadium.
