Liberty University
Liberty Collegiate Invitational
Fulton, Davis Star on Friday
4/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty redshirt junior Fred Fulton won the men's hammer (193-0), while sophomore Zach Davis leads the decathlon after a huge opening day (3,832 points). Their efforts marked the Flames' top performances on a breezy Friday of competition at the Liberty Collegiate Invitational at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex.
Men's Day One Recap
Fulton spearheaded a strong effort by the Liberty men's hammer throwers during Friday's final event, which wrapped up as darkness was quickly taking over the Campus East throwing facility. The reigning Big South Men's Field Athlete of the Week recorded the four longest throws of the competition, including his winning and Big South-leading toss of 193-0 in round three. Fulton now ranks No. 5 on Liberty's all-time hammer list, overtaking assistant coach Clendon Henderson by four inches on Friday.
Teammate David Scouten followed in second place with a mark of 180-2 that eclipsed his previous season best by 12 and a half feet.
Sophomore Trevor VanAsselt made the biggest breakthrough of the day, however, stretching the tape to 174-8 on his sixth and final attempt. The throw, which placed him fourth, was 13 and a half feet longer than VanAsselt's personal best entering Friday's competition. It was also a marked improvement over his 131-7 effort at the 2014 Liberty Collegiate Invitational as a freshman.
Davis and the rest of the decathletes benefitted from gusty tailwinds out of the southwest during Friday's first two events and kept rolling from there. Davis finished Friday's quintet of events with 3,832 points, taking a 122-point lead into Saturday. It was just 68 points shy of the best-ever day one score by a Liberty decathlete, Brandon Hoskins' 3,900 points to start off the 2008 Texas Relays.
Davis achieved new personal bests in four of Friday's five disciplines, including the 100 (11.47), long jump (23-10.25), shot put (44-5.5) and 400 (53.22), while high jumping a season-best 6-7.5. Davis' long jump effort was the longest ever by a Liberty decathlete, eclipsing James Johnson's 23-9.75 leap on April 6, 2000.
Tevan McIntire follows in second place after fashioning a strong first day of his own with 3,710 points. The redshirt senior set personal bests in the 100 (11.16), long jump (22-5) and 400 (51.91), while clearing a season-best 6-4 in the high jump.
Redshirt freshman Lewis Williams ranks third with 3,057 points. His day was highlighted by a second-place finish in the 100, with a personal-best 11.28 clocking.
Zach Gilroy's point total of 3,023 has the sophomore currently in fifth place. He sped to a personal-best 100 dash time of 12.18 seconds and high jumped a season-best 6-1.5.
Liberty student Charles Sealy, competing unattached, was a surprise winner of the men's javelin competition, thanks to a 204-11 heave.
Women's Day One Recap
Freshman Holly Arey made a successful collegiate javelin debut on Friday, reaching 114-6 for sixth place in the final standings. Teammate Nicole Bishop followed with a 110-8 toss, nabbing eighth place.
Defending heptathlon champion Audrey Bamford is second through Friday's four events with 2,911 points. She placed second in the 100 hurdles (14.53) and tied for second in the high jump (5-2.25).
Jessica Harrison is currently seventh in the heptathlon with 2,462 points, aided by an outdoor personal-best shot put of 37-1.75.
The Liberty Collegiate Invitational will conclude with a full day of action on Saturday, beginning at 10:30 a.m. with the women's pole vault and heptathlon long jump. The men's 4 x 100 relay will get the day's running events started at 12:30 p.m.
