Liberty University
Texas Relays
Lady Flames Break Long-Standing 4 x 800 Record
4/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty's women's 4 x 800 relay quartet of Ansley Gebben, Torree Scull, Alexis Taylor and Delaney McDowell broke one of the oldest school records on the books, clocking a time of 8:56.96 at the 89th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Saturday.
Saturday's action was contested before a crowd of 21,006 and a television audience on the Longhorn Network.
Women's Day Four Recap
Lori Lingenfelter, Robin Currie, Tracy Tidwell and Annie Fairchild's 4 x 800 clocking of 8:59.48 had stood as the program record since the 1988 Penn Relays, before the Lady Flames eclipsed the 28-year-old standard on Saturday.
Liberty placed third in the women's 4 x 800 final while also breaking the Big South Conference record. The Lady Flames' splits included 2:12.7 for Gebben, 2:14.5 for Scull, 2:16.7 for Taylor and 2:12.3 for McDowell. The same quartet had shattered the indoor program record with its 8:47.12 effort at the ECAC meet just four weeks earlier.
The Lady Flames also fared well in their other two relays on the final day of the Texas Relays, including a ninth-place finish in the 4 x 400 (3:44.79) and a 10th-place showing in the 4 x 200 (1:37.73).
Nicole Leonzo (55.8 split), Gebben (56.4), McDowell (58.0) and Erin Edmond (54.3) became the second-fastest women's 4 x 400 relay quartet in program history with the Lady Flames' fastest outdoor time since 2007.
Meanwhile, Edmond, Dana Mercer, Kate Flower and Leonzo produced Liberty's second-fastest 4 x 200 performance of all-time, trailing their own school-record time of 1:37.33 from the Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational on March 18.
Mychelle Cumings made a successful season debut in the shot put on Saturday, throwing 48-7.5 for 11th place in Section A. The redshirt senior took over the Big South lead and put herself in the running for a berth at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet.
Torree Scull's first collegiate 1,500-meter race resulted in a time of 4:41.71, good for 13th place in Section A.
Men's Day Four Recap
Andrew Crowell (1:53.9 split), Colin Schultz (1:52.7), Bradley Prentice (1:56.5) and Michael Todd (1:55.9) combined for ninth place in the men's 4 x 800 relay, with a time of 7:39.24.
Fred Fulton's first shot put competition of the season saw him take over the Big South lead with a 53-7.75 effort. The redshirt senior ended up 14th in Section A of the event.
Liberty will open its 2016 home schedule with the Liberty Collegiate Invitational, Friday and Saturday at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex.
