Liberty University
ECAC/IC4A Indoor Track Championships
Lady Flames Shatter 4 x 800 Record on Day 2 in Boston
3/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty's Alexis Taylor, Torree Scull, Ansley Gebben and Delaney McDowell shattered the Liberty and Big South women's 4 x 800 records with an 8:54.71 clocking, highlighting Saturday's action at the 2016 IC4A and ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center.
Seeking their third straight ECAC top-five finish, the Lady Flames sit in sixth place with 12.5 points through six events. James Madison tops the current ECAC standings with 20 points, two in front of second-place Providence.
Meanwhile, the Liberty men's squad scored points in four of Saturday's five events. The Flames rank third in the IC4A standings with 12 points, trailing only Albany (36 points) and Manhattan (28).
ECAC Day Two Recap
The Lady Flames cut 20.5 seconds off the previous Liberty and Big South women's 4 x 800 relay record of 9:15.21, set by Rebekah Ricksecker, Meghan Burggraf, Rod'Esther Castor and Jaime Watson in 2010, while qualifying for Sunday's final. Liberty's time was also superior to the Lady Flames' outdoor 4 x 800 mark of 8:59.48, which has stood since the 1988 Penn Relays.
Taylor led off with a 2:18.00 split before handing off to Scull, the first of two freshmen on the record-breaking squad, for a 2:12.38 carry. Big South 800 runner-up Gebben clocked 2:12.85 for the third leg before Big South 800 champion McDowell brought the Lady Flames home in 2:11.50.
Sophomore Erin Zappia was the lone Lady Flame to score points on the day, sharing seventh place in the high jump at 5-5.
Classmate Dasiana Larson just missed placing in the women's weight throw. Her top mark of 54-7.25 placed ninth, just 1.5 inches away from the eighth position.
Also competing in field events for the Lady Flames were Dana Mercer in the long jump (11th place, 18-5.25) and Audrey Rabe in the pole vault (tie for 21st place, 11-9.75).
Liberty's 4 x 400 relay squad of Nicole Leonzo, Corinn Bedell, Olivia Behymer and Erin Edmond moved on to Sunday's final with the third-fastest qualifying time (3:43.36) among the 21 entrants. Edmond clocked 54.28 seconds for the anchor leg, which was the third-fastest split of any runner in the event.
Leonzo, Bedell, Behymer and Edmond became the second-fastest foursome in program history, trailing only the record-setting 3:42.64 effort by the Lady Flames' Big South champion squad from one week earlier. Behymer was a new addition from the Big South 4 x 400 relay quartet, replacing Gebben on the third leg.
Earlier in the day, Edmond qualified for the women's 400 final with a season-best time of 54.82 seconds. Leonzo failed to reach the final but did post a personal-best 55.68, shaving one-half second off of her own Liberty freshman record.
IC4A Day Two Recap
Redshirt seniors David Scouten (61-11.75) and Fred Fulton (60-11.25) scored five points in the men's weight throw, placing sixth and seventh, respectively.
Darrel Jones long jumped 23-2.5 for sixth place, with teammate Aklesso Agama following in 13th place at 22-3.5.
Zach Davis made it over 6-6.25 on his first high jump attempt, which was good for a tie for sixth place in the event.
Zach Gilroy came in seventh in the final heptathlon standings with 4,635 points. The junior closed out the competition well, posting the day's third-best pole vault clearance of 14-11 and clocking a personal-best 1,000-meter time of 2:44.23 for second place.
Freshman teammate Caleb Rider finished 10th with 4,449 points, improving by 85 points from his heptathlon debut at the Big South meet. Rider's personal-best 1,000 clocking of 2:45.38 placed third among the heptathletes.
Lewis Williams totaled 4,356 points for 11th place overall.
Like the Lady Flames, the men's team saw both of its relay squads qualify for Sunday's finals. Liberty will compete in the IC4A 4 x 800 final for the third consecutive year after Andrew Crowell, Colin Schultz, Bradley Prentice and Michael Todd won their heat in 7:39.37.
Three of the four Flames posted sub-1:55 splits, paced by Prentice's 1:54.4 carry on the third leg. The quartet climbs to No. 5 in program history.
Meanwhile, Liberty's distance medley relay foursome of Jacob Onifer, Jeff Jacobs, Andrew Garrett and Cameron Francis qualified for the final in a time of 9:58.10. It marked the second-fastest time in program history and the best since 1998.
Onifer (3:02.96 for 1,200 meters) and Jacobs (48.14 for 400 meters) got the Flames off to a flying start. Each of their splits ranked second overall among the 24 teams who competed on Saturday.
Stephen Racanelli's personal-best 400 time of 47.47 seconds moved the junior up to No. 2 in program history and into Sunday's final. Jacobs lowered his career-best 400 time to 48.58 but was unable to join Racanelli among the finalists.
Racanelli nearly made it to a second event final, but his 200 dash clocking of 21.76 seconds was 0.02 away from moving on to Sunday.
The meet will wrap up with a full day of action on Sunday, beginning with the IC4A triple jump and ECAC shot put at 9:30 a.m.
