Liberty University
Coastal Carolina Invitational
Cumings, Fulton Double Event Winners on Saturday
3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty redshirt juniors Mychelle Cumings (women's shot put and discus) and Fred Fulton (men's shot put and discus) won two events apiece on Saturday at the Coastal Carolina Invitational, wrapping up a successful weekend for the Flames' throwers. Alexandru Barker (men's pole vault) and Ryan Davis (men's 400 hurdles) were also victorious on a wet day at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
Men's Day Two Recap
After redshirting the 2014 outdoor season, Fulton has made an immediate impact to start his first outdoor campaign for the Flames. On the heels of a fifth-place showing in Friday's men's hammer competition, Fulton threw the shot put 55-3.5 and the discus 167-3 to earn top honors in both events on Saturday. He now ranks No. 6 on the Flames' all-time shot put list and No. 9 in the discus.
David Scouten added a fourth-place finish in the discus at 150-0, while decathlete Zach Davis heaved the shot put a personal-best 43-11.25 for seventh place.
Liberty won three of the four men's throwing events at the Coastal Carolina Invitational, also including Steve Feister's javelin triumph from Friday.
The Flames displayed impressive depth in the men's pole vault, claiming five of the top seven spots. Leading the way was Barker, who won with a 15-1 clearance in his first-ever outdoor 15-foot vault. Ken Ritchey also made it over 15-1 but finished second to Barker on misses.
Carson Waters and Cody Bingham tied for fourth place with matching 14-7.25 pole vault clearances. For Bingham, it was his first competition in a Liberty uniform since the 2014 Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup (Feb. 8, 2014). Alex Geniesse was also successful at an outdoor personal-best 14-7.25 for seventh place in the competition.
Ryan Davis got his sophomore outdoor season off to an impressive start, winning the 400 hurdles crown. His time of 52.91 was faster than the 53.09 clocking he used to win the 2014 Big South 400 hurdles title as a freshman.
Teammate Ryan Versen finished sixth in the 400 hurdles at 55.71, while Jeff Jacobs' 56.42 clocking was good for ninth place.
John Sherret successfully stepped up in distance to the 1,500-meter run on Saturday. He posted a personal-best time of 4:00.83 for third place in the event.
Joey Imhoff, Stephen Racanelli, Marquis Gilchrist and Aklesso Agama teamed up for third place in the 4 x 100 relay in 42.34 seconds.
Kyle Wheeler cleared 6-4 for sixth place in the "A" section of the men's high jump, while Darrel Jones tied for second place in the "B" section at 5-10.
Women's Day Two Recap
Cumings, who redshirted the 2014 outdoor season, picked up right where she left off in 2013, when the Tennessee native reached the NCAA national meet in the discus. Cumings won the shot put by more than three and a half feet with a mark of 49-6.5 and outdistanced her nearest discus competitor by eight feet with a 163-6 heave.
Freshman Dasiana Larson made an impressive outdoor debut with a 42-2.25 shot put effort. That was good for sixth place in both the competition and on the Lady Flames' all-time list.
In the discus, Jennifer Smith backed up Cumings' effort with a fourth-place showing. The senior's top throw of the day landed at 149-11.
Another senior, Abigail Flower, was the 100 dash runner-up in 11.92 seconds. She also joined Rajon Stinnett-Perry, Kate Flower and Olivia Davis for third place in the 4 x 100 relay. The quartet's time was 47.82.
Ansley Gebben finished as the women's 400 hurdles runner-up with a time of 1:03.79, with Mary Witmer following in eighth place at 1:05.68.
Freshman Olivia Behymer clocked the fastest 400 time of her young collegiate career, 57.66, for second place.
The Lady Flames' mid-distance and distance runners recorded five top-10 finishes on Saturday, headlined by Jessie Proehl's third-place effort in the 3K (10:48.19).
Kat Bouton came in fifth in the steeplechase in 12:01.96, with teammate Alyssa Karle one spot behind her in 12:07.22.
Jasmin Sutton clocked 2:21.79 for the seventh spot in the women's 800, while Meredith Mistretta's 4:55.59 clocking earned ninth place in the 1,500.
Erin Zappia made it over 5-1, tying for fifth place in the "A" section of the women's high jump. Best known for her pole vaulting skills, Jessie Glynn sailed over 4-11 for fifth place in the event's "B" section.
Liberty will return to the Commonwealth to compete in the Virginia Cup, March 21 at Lannigan Field in Charlottesville, Va. The team-scored meet will pit the Flames against Norfolk State and Virginia and put the Lady Flames head-to-head versus James Madison, Norfolk State, Radford and Virginia.
The Liberty men's squad has gone undefeated in its dual meets at the Virginia Cup in each of the past two seasons, finishing 3-0 in 2013 and 4-0 in 2014.
The women's hammer will get the day's events started at noon. Running events will commence at 2:15 p.m. with the women's 4 x 100 relay.
