Liberty University
Gamecock Invitational
Liberty Wins 7 Events at Soggy Gamecock Invitational
4/7/2018 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
The Liberty men's and women's track & field teams posted seven Gamecock Invitational event victories on a soggy Saturday at Sheila and Morris Cregger Track. Two of the Flames' victors (Alejandro Perlaza Zapata in the men's 400 and Patria Vaimaona in the women's discus) punched their NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round tickets in the process, despite the unfavorable conditions.
Liberty's other event champions included Bradley Prentice (men's 800), Carson Waters (men's pole vault), Caleb Hart (men's javelin), Kimone Green (women's 400 hurdles) and Dasiana Larson (women's hammer).
Liberty athletes Branson Rolle (men's 400 hurdles), William Partridge (men's hammer) and Jessie Glynn (women's pole vault) each finished second overall and first among collegiate competitors in their respective events.
Men's Meet Recap
Perlaza Zapata produced arguably the Flames' most impressive individual performance of the day in his collegiate outdoor 400 debut. The Olympian from Colombia clocked a winning time of 46.68 seconds, outdistancing a talented field which included Kyle Clemons, who helped Team USA win the men's 4 x 400 relay gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
Perlaza Zapata's time was the fastest outdoor 400 clocking by a Flame in 17 years. He now ranks No. 4 in program history and No. 7 on the Big South Conference all-time list. Teammates Jahquez Durham (49.08) and Jeff Jacobs (49.26) placed 12th and 13th in the one-lap event.
Juniors Prentice (1:51.01) and Michael Todd (1:51.80) swept the top two places in the men's 800.
Liberty's men's pole vaulters did them one better, as the trio of Waters (16-4.75), Reilly Stroot (personal-best 15-5) and Ryan McCann (14-11) went 1-2-3 in Columbia.
Hart got the Flames' day off to a strong start, when the sophomore's first javelin toss of the morning (183-3) won the event by more than 20 feet. Jeremy Davis added a fifth-place finish at 136-9.
Rolle came in second overall in the men's 400 hurdles with a time of 52.22 which improved his own Liberty freshman record of 52.50. The Bahamas native moved up to No. 7 on the Flames' all-time top 10 list for the event.
Earlier in the day, Rolle had clocked a season-best 110 hurdles time of 14.64, just missing out on the final by 0.02 seconds. Jovaine Atkinson was able to qualify for the final in 13.97 seconds, and the Flames' trio of Atkinson, Markus Ballengee and Rolle now ranks 1-2-3 on the 2018 Big South 110 hurdles list.
Liberty recorded top-five finishes in each of the day's jumping events, including the high jump (Jacob Burke, third, tied season best of 6-5.5), long jump (Davis, fourth, 22-1.5) and triple jump (Jonny Saintil, fifth, 45-10.75).
Travis Henderson paced the Flames in the men's 100 dash, crossing the line in 10.80 seconds for ninth place.
Perlaza Zapata (10th, 21.61), Henderson (11th, 21.64) and Greg Edwards (14th, season-best 21.80) all dipped under 22 seconds in the men's 200.
Closing out the meet, the quartet of Brad Smalley, Prentice, Davis and Ballengee posted a 4 x 400 relay time of 3:22.83 for sixth place.
Women's Meet Recap
Continuing their strong 2018 season, the Lady Flames' throwers won two events on Saturday. Vaimaona took top honors in the women's discus with a personal-best 162-10 effort. The native of Hawaii takes over the 2018 Big South lead and climbs to No. 4 in program history and No. 9 in Big South annals.
Chelsea Igberaese's season-best 154-2 discus mark placed second to Vaimaona in the event and sits sixth in Lady Flames history. Holly Arey followed in seventh place, reaching a season-best 141-9 on the afternoon.
Reigning Big South Women's Field Athlete of the Week Larson claimed women's hammer victory at 193-10. Arey added a fourth-place finish (169-0) with Igberaese sixth (167-5).
Green became the second-fastest women's 400 hurdler in program history and the 10th-fastest competitor in Big South history with her winning 1:00.18 clocking. Kylie Polsgrove ended up 11th with her 1:05.82 effort.
Only five women's pole vaulters successfully made it over a bar on Saturday, including Liberty's Glynn (second overall, first collegian, 12-1.5) and Rachel Milnes (third, 11-7.75).
Liberty boasted two of the day's top five women's shot putters in Naomi Mojica (fourth, 48-2) and Larson (fifth, 45-1.5).
Rounding out the throws, Savannah Pidkaminy hurled the javelin a personal-best 119-0 for eight place while Kemi Moore took ninth at 105-9.
Polsgrove long jumped a season-best 17-4.25 to finish 12th.
Among a crowded field of 60 competitors in the women's 400 dash, the Lady Flames placed three in the top 12. Freshman Ty'Asia Dansbury led the way in ninth place, clocking 56.13 for her collegiate outdoor 400 debut. Tanner Ealum was 10th at 56.17 and Cortney Dowling placed 12th in 56.42 seconds.
Dansbury went on to finish 12th at 200 meters with a time (24.68) faster than that of two-time defending Big South Women's Track Athlete of the Week Amelia Reynolds of Radford (24.77). Nikayla Hoyte's season-best 200 time of 25.26 seconds put her in 25th place.
Natalee Cole covered 800 meters in a season-best time of 2:18.98, placing 10th overall.
Displaying their depth in the event, the Lady Flames' "B" team of Maggie McDermott, Delaney McDowell, Cole and Olivia Behymer won its 4 x 400 relay heat and took fifth place overall in 3:55.04.
On the 100-meter straightaway, freshman Alexis Wilson battled a strong headwind to place 11th in 12.41 seconds.
Katie Dodson (14.48) and Jaiden Mulder (14.54) each clocked their fastest 100 hurdles time of the season during the event's preliminary round.
Up Next
Liberty will remain in Lynchburg for its next meet, the WildCat Invitational. The two-day competition will begin with the men's and women's hammer, Friday at Lynchburg College. The remainder of the meet's events will take place at Randolph College on Saturday.
