Liberty University
Big South Outdoor Track Championships
Liberty Wins 4 Events on Big South Day 2
5/10/2018 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
An extended lightning delay could not slow down Liberty on day two of the 2018 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Thursday at Vert Stadium. The Flames won four of Thursday's seven event finals and continue to lead the men's and women's team standings with one day of competition remaining.
Naomi Mojica (Big South, Liberty and meet-record 52-3.25 in women's shot put), Kylie Polsgrove (facility-record 4,906 in heptathlon) and Erin Zappia (5-7.25 in women's high jump) were all victorious, helping the Lady Flames build a 43.5-point lead (118 to 74.5) over host High Point through eight events.
William Partridge (personal-best 55-1) was an upset winner in the men's shot put. His effort contributed to the Flames' 101-55 lead over second-place High Point in the men's team standings through eight events.
The 100 and 800-meter prelims and steeplechase finals were all delayed by more than two hours due to lightning in the High Point area. Meanwhile, the women's pole vault competition was postponed to Friday.
Women's Day Two Recap
Zappia got Liberty's day started in exciting fashion in Thursday morning's opening event. She and defending women's high jump champion Shenelle McKay of Campbell were tied for first place after each made it over 5-6 without a miss but failed to clear 5-8. As a result, a jump-off was needed to determine the victor.
At the second jump-off height (5-7.25), McKay missed but Zappia was successful on the final jump of her collegiate career, earning the Illinois native's first Big South outdoor high jump title. It was also the Lady Flames' first Big South outdoor women's high jump crown since Mia Aghaji's triumph in 2008.
Reigning Big South indoor women's high jump champion Kylie Polsgrove added a third-place finish in her first of five events on the day, clearing 5-4.25.
Liberty's women's throwers continued their exceptional meet with a 23-point haul in the shot put. Freshman Mojica was the headliner, becoming the third different Lady Flame to win the event in the last three years (also Mychelle Cumings in 2016 and Dasiana Larson in 2017).
Mojica completed a sweep of the Big South indoor and outdoor women's shot put championships in dominating fashion, winning by 4.5 feet. The Mexico native added more than a foot to her lifetime best during an impressive series of throws that included marks of 52-3.25, 52-2, 52-0.5, 52-0 and 51-11.25).
Mojica's 52-3.25 effort broke Cumings' 51-2.75 mark from 2012, which had stood as the Big South and Liberty all-time record. It also took down the 51-0.75 effort by Radford's Tiffany Evans in 2007 as the meet record.
Patria Vaimaona equaled her personal best of 46-7.5 for third place, Larson ended up fourth at 46-2.75 and Holly Arey came in seventh at 43-3.
Polsgrove's second straight Big South heptathlon crown continued the Lady Flames' run of dominance in the multi events. Liberty has now captured 10 straight Big South heptathlon titles and 14 in 18 years at this meet.
Polsgrove finished with a score of 4,906 to win by 290 points and break former teammate Erika Jackson's facility record of 4,869 from the 2015 Big South meet. The junior's top mark on day two was a personal-best 18-5.25 leap in the long jump.
Kemi Moore's heptathlon debut resulted in a fourth-place finish with 4,261 points.
Alyssa Karle earned All-Big South distinction in the women's steeplechase for the third straight year, moving into third place on the event's final lap and clocking a time of 11:16.66. Freshman teammate Mary Kate McElroy chipped in a fifth-place finish at 11:32.41.
Liberty notched the fastest time in all four of Thursday's women's running event prelims, including the 100 (Ty'Asia Dansbury – 11.75), 400 (Cortney Dowling – 55.25), 800 (Tanner Ealum – 2:11.50) and 100 hurdles (Polsgrove – 14.18).
Dansbury's collegiate 100 debut resulted in a Liberty freshman record. Her time of 11.75 ranks No. 4 all-time for the Lady Flames.
Also of note, Polsgrove's 100 hurdles qualifier came less than 20 minutes after the junior completed the heptathlon 800-meter run.
Men's Day Two Recap
Partridge took the men's shot put lead for the first time with a round-five effort of 54-7.5. He then improved to a personal-best 55-1 on his final effort, moving into seventh place all-time for the Flames. The junior's first Big South title makes him the ninth different Flame ever to claim the Big South outdoor men's shot put crown.
Chukwuma Maduka's personal-best decathlon score of 5,935 was good for third place and all-conference honors. His second day featured a personal-best 13-2.25 pole vault clearance.
Jeremy Davis battled a fall in the 110 hurdles and an injury to place fifth with 5,422 points in his decathlon debut.
Also completing his first-ever decathlon was Caleb Hart, who came in seventh with 4,410 points. One day after placing third in the men's javelin, Hart won the decathlon javelin at 175-9.
About 9.5 hours after Zappia's thrilling victory in the women's high jump, another Liberty senior closed out his career in memorable fashion. Competing under the lights in Thursday's final event, the men's steeplechase, Louis Paone earned his first career All-Big South medal with a third-place showing and personal-best time of 9:17.92.
Teammates Nick Doan (9:25.16) and Graham Hansel (season-best 9:30.50) came in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Alejandro Perlaza Zapata (46.91) was the fastest qualifier to Friday's men's 400 dash final.
Other noteworthy efforts in the men's qualifying heats included new personal bests by Jahquez Durham in the 400 (47.70) and Greg Edwards in the 100 (10.74) and an outdoor best by Jeff Jacobs in the 400 (48.46).
Up Next
The third and final day of the 2018 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships will get underway Friday at noon with the men's high jump, women's hammer and women's triple jump.
