Liberty University
Big South Outdoor Track Championships
Liberty Men, Women Lead After Day 2
5/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty sits on top of both the men's and women's team standings entering the final day of the 2015 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships after an outstanding Friday at Vert Stadium. The Flames and Lady Flames posted five more event victories on the day, thanks to Fred Fulton (men's shot put and discus), Tevan McIntire (men's decathlon), Mychelle Cumings (women's shot put) and Erika Jackson (women's heptathlon).
The Liberty men's squad owns a commanding 124.5-point lead over second-place Coastal Carolina through nine events. The Flames have almost scored as many points (172.5) thus far as the other six men's teams combined (177.5).
The women's team battle is considerably closer through nine events. Liberty has the upper hand on Coastal Carolina by a score of 98.5 to 73, setting the stage for another Saturday showdown between the Lady Flames and Chanticleers.
Men's Day Two Recap
The Flames set the tone for Friday by sweeping the top four positions in the day's opening event, the men's discus. Fulton (184-7) led Liberty's first-ever 1-2-3-4 sweep of this event at the Big South meet, followed by David Scouten (second, 164-6), Trevor VanAsselt (third, 158-4) and Tim Abbott (fourth, 156-10).
Fulton's men's discus title was the eighth in the last nine years for a Liberty thrower at this meet. His second-round effort landed at a personal-best 184-7, eclipsing the meet record of 183-0, set by Liberty assistant coach Clendon Henderson in 2008.
VanAsselt continued his breakthrough sophomore season with a personal-best 158-4 heave, earning his first career All-Big South medal.
Fulton was not finished, as he went on to capture top honors in the men's shot put. His mark of 57-10.25 landed more than five feet past the best effort of runner-up Jordan Smith from Gardner-Webb. Liberty has now captured six straight Big South outdoor men's shot put championships.
Behind Fulton, Scouten garnered his 10th career All-Big South finish, placing third with a season-best put of 52-4.75. Abbott closed out his career with a fourth-place showing and a season-best 50-0.75.
McIntire edged teammate Zach Davis by 11 points in an entertaining, back-and-forth decathlon competition. McIntire became the 16th 7,000-point scorer in program history, as his winning score of 7,182 shattered the redshirt senior's previous best of 6,903.
McIntire recorded four personal-best efforts during Friday's five events, beginning with a 14.80 clocking in the 110 hurdles. He then reached 143-4 in the discus, moving up to No. 3 all-time at Liberty for the decathlon discus. McIntire hurled the javelin a personal-best 157-11, setting the stage for a dramatic 1,500-meter run to close out the decathlon.
McIntire shaved more than six seconds off of his previous best in the 1,500, clocking a time of 4:38.26 to edge past Davis in the final standings.
Davis earned runner-up honors with a personal-best score of 7,171 points. His Friday featured a trio of personal bests, including 134-8 in the discus, 202-2 in the javelin and 4:54.41 in the 1,500.
Davis' javelin mark is the second-best effort within a decathlon in program history and moves him up to No. 8 on the Flames' all-time men's javelin list.
McIntire and Davis gave themselves an outside chance at qualifying for the decathlon at the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. Entering the week, McIntire's score would have put him No. 24 nationally, while Davis' mark would have ranked No. 26. The top 24 declared decathletes in the nation at the end of the day on Sunday will earn a trip to Eugene.
The Flames also got additional points in the decathlon from Lewis Williams (sixth place, 6,030) and Zach Gilroy (seventh, 5,990).
One day after winning the men's long jump title, Kyle Wheeler finished second in the men's high jump competition with a season-best clearance of 6-11.
Between the decathlon's pole vault and javelin events, Davis and McIntire both competed in the high jump. Davis made it over 6-7 for fourth place, while McIntire's 6-3.25 leap put him in a tie for seventh place.
Davis finished a busy two days of competition with 18 total team points in his 13 events (decathlon plus long jump, high jump and javelin).
Josh Showalter contributed a fifth-place finish in the steeplechase, clocking a personal-best 9:17.27.
The Flames set themselves up for significant points in the men's 400 final on Saturday, advancing Stephen Racanelli (48.21), Levi Mack (personal-best 49.33) and Jeff Jacobs (personal-best 49.83) through Friday's preliminary heats.
Women's Day Two Recap
Jackson provided the Lady Flames' fifth consecutive Big South heptathlon crown by smashing her previous best score by 374 points. Her winning score of 4,869 eclipsed the meet record of 4,831, set by Liberty's Christina Mitchell in 2011, and boosts her to No. 8 in program history.
On Friday, Jackson long jumped an outdoor-best 17-5.25, threw the javelin a season-best 107-1 and raced to an outdoor-best 800 time of 2:26.76.
Aided by a big javelin personal best of 109-7, Audrey Bamford ended up third in the heptathlon with 4,512 points. Meanwhile, Jessica Harrison scored a personal-best 4,250 points for fifth place.
Cumings claimed her sixth career Big South women's shot put title (three outdoor, three indoor) on Friday. The redshirt junior's winning throw of 48-4 outdistanced her closest competitor by more than two feet.
Sophomore Jessie Glynn recorded the highest Big South women's pole vault finish of her career to date, tying for fourth place at 12-1.5. Teammates Mariel Finger and Brooke Shelton shared eighth place at 11-1.75.
Just before she started her second day of the heptathlon, Bamford high jumped an outdoor-best 5-3 for seventh place in the event.
In the evening's final race, the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, Kat Bouton took seventh place and Alyssa Karle came in eighth. Bouton's personal-best 11:39.58 clocking ranks seventh on Liberty's all-time list, while Karle's personal-best 11:41.32 effort is good for ninth in program history.
The Lady Flames' sprinters fared well in Friday's preliminary heats, claiming three spots in the 100 final and a pair in the 400 final.
Abigail Flower was the top qualifier in the 100 at 11.66. Kate Flower (personal-best 11.97) and Olivia Davis (11.99) also ran sub-12.00 times, with Kate moving into a tie for ninth place in program history.
Ansley Gebben now ranks No. 5 on Liberty's outdoor women's 400 list with her outdoor-best time of 55.55 seconds. Corinn Bedell will join her in the final after speeding to a personal-best 56.22 (No. 8 all-time at Liberty) in the prelims.
Saturday's action-packed slate of events, which will include 24 event finals, will begin at 11 a.m. with the men's hammer. The men's 4 x 100 relay will kick off the running events at 12:40.
