Liberty Twilight Qualifier Slated for Wednesday
5/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Meet Schedule
Performance List
Live Results
Lynchburg Weather
Liberty Gameday Twitter (@LUGameday)
Liberty will wrap up its 2016 regular season on Wednesday, playing host to the Liberty Twilight Qualifier at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex.
Athletes from 25 different colleges are entered in the one-day meet, which will begin at 11:30 a.m. with the women's discus. Running events will commence at 2 p.m. with the men's 100-meter dash prelims.
The day's festivities will also include a Senior Night ceremony at 5 p.m., followed by the inaugural Sparky Sprint, which will see children ages 12 and under race 100 meters against Liberty's mascot.
The final event of the evening, a mixed men's and women's 10K at 8:45 p.m., will feature numerous Liberty track & field alumni competitors.
How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames
Live results will be available throughout the meet.
Additionally, periodic updates will be posted to the Liberty Gameday Twitter account (@LUGameday).
Weather Report
Wednesday's weather forecast looks much more favorable than the cold, windy conditions which plagued last month's Liberty Collegiate Invitational. The high temperature is expected to approach 70 degrees under variably cloudy skies, with a slight chance of a rain shower.
Saluting the Seniors
At 5 p.m., Liberty's 26 seniors will be honored on the track during the team's fourth annual Senior Night celebration. The Flames' 2016 senior class, which has totaled 24 Big South individual event titles and 65 All-Big South honors, includes Jeremie Bourget, Steve Feister, Fred Fulton, Alex Geniesse, Sam Hibbs, Jacob Onifer, Ken Ritchey, Eric Schmidt, David Scouten, Josh Showalter, Christieanna Apon, Audrey Bamford, Corinn Bedell, Nicole Bishop, Riley Brandon, Mary Cate Cooper, Mychelle Cumings, Erin Edmond, Kate Flower, Ansley Gebben, Jessica Harrison, Erika Jackson, Abigail Stanley, Rajon Stinnett-Perry, Jasmin Sutton and Enajah Winbush.
Big South Preview
The Liberty Twilight Qualifier is the Flames' final meet before Liberty hosts the 2016 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships, May 10-12 at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex.
The Flames will square off against competitors from Big South foes Campbell, High Point and Winthrop on Wednesday, and 14 different events will feature the conference's No. 1 seed in action. These include:
Women's 400 – Liberty's Erin Edmond
Women's 800 – Liberty's Delaney McDowell
Women's 4 x 400 – Liberty
Women's Pole Vault – High Point's Jill Marois
Women's Shot Put – Liberty's Mychelle Cumings
Women's Discus – High Point's Makenzi Holmes-DiGiovine
Women's Hammer – Winthrop's Marthaline Cooper
Men's 200 – Campbell's Khai McLin
Men's 400 – Liberty's Stephen Racanelli
Men's 800 – Liberty's Michael Todd
Men's 1,500 – High Point's Alejandro Juan Torres
Men's 10K – Campbell's Amon Terer
Men's Pole Vault – Liberty's Carson Waters
Men's Discus – Liberty's Fred Fulton
Pole Vault Power
Beginning at 2 p.m., fans will want to keep their eyes on the pole vault runway for a pair of highly anticipated competitions.
The men's performance list is topped by High Point assistant coach Scott Houston, competing for Run Gum. He currently ranks No. 6 in the world this year at 18-6.5, meaning the facility record of 17-10.5 is in jeopardy.
The men's field also includes three of the top contenders for the Big South title, No. 1 seed Carson Waters of Liberty (16-9.25 season best), defending Big South indoor champion Austin Miller of High Point (16-8.75) and defending Big South outdoor champion Ken Ritchey of Liberty (16-3.25).
On the women's side, four competitors have gone over 13 feet during their career, including the Virginia Tech duo of Kristen Lee and Hannah Meador and High Point's Jill Marois and Alyssa Palenchar.
Carson-Newman's Tori Gaul (SAC) and Washington & Lee's Elizabeth Stanton (ODAC) have each captured women's pole vault titles in their respective conferences this spring.
The Lady Flames' top entrant is sophomore Mariel Finger, who currently ranks No. 4 in the Big South with a season-best clearance of 12-3.5.
High-Powered Hammer
The women's hammer competition, set to begin at 3 p.m. on Campus East, will feature four of the Big South's top six throwers. Leading the way is All-American Marthaline Cooper of Winthrop, who ranks No. 10 nationally at 211-3. Also entered are High Point school record holder Jamie Schnuck (176-2) and Liberty's Dasiana Larson (173-9) and Catherine Oyarzun (169-3).
Liberty alum Jocelyn Williams will compete, aiming for the U.S. Olympic Trials standard of 219-9. Multi-time Jamaican national champion Natalie Grant is also entered in the event.
Sizing Up the Sprints
The Liberty Twilight Qualifier has often produced fast sprint times, including a world-leading 10.99 clocking by Barbara Pierre in 2013. This year should be no different, if the performance list is any indication.
Men's 100 – 15 runners seeded at 10.50 or faster
Men's 200 – 8 runners seeded at 20.90 or faster
Men's 400 – 7 runners seeded at 47.95 or faster
Women's 100 – 10 runners seeded at 11.90 or faster
Women's 200 – 6 runners seeded at 23.93 or faster
Women's 400 – 5 runners seeded at 54.30 or faster
Mid-Distance Mayhem
Mid-distance races have been some of the top events to watch at past Liberty Twilight Qualifiers. Robby Andrews of Virginia won a competitive 800 in 1:47.73 in 2010. Three years later, nine men broke 3:49 in the 1,500.
Wednesday's men's 1,500 (6:10 p.m. start) features the Big South's top three performers this season, in High Point's Alejandro Juan Torres and Vinny Todaro and Liberty's Cameron Francis. Other competitors of note include 2015 Southern Conference 1,500-meter runner-up Avery Martin of VMI, and 2016 ODAC 1,500 runner-up Tyler Denlinger of Eastern Mennonite.
Forty-five minutes later, the men's 800 will take the track. Liberty runners currently rank 1-2-3 in the Big South in the two-lapper, including Michael Todd (1:51.11), Bradley Prentice (1:51.16) and Colin Schultz (1:51.54), all of whom are slated to compete.
The Flames' half-milers will square off against a field which includes ODAC champion Sam Gunther of Bridgewater, Gulf South champion Harold Smith of Lee, Southern Conference indoor runner-up Avery Martin of VMI and SAC runner-up Aaron Combs of Queens.
The women's 800 will follow, headlined by the Lady Flames' Delaney McDowell (2:08.59 season best) and Ansley Gebben (2:09.33). McDowell finished first and Gebben was second in the 2016 Big South indoor women's 800 final, and Wednesday's race will mark their final tune-up for next week's Big South outdoor meet.
McDowell and Gebben will aim to take down the facility record of 2:07.95 and put themselves in position for a spot at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet.
Last, But Not Least
The Liberty Twilight Qualifier's final event will be a mixed men's and women's 10K, slated to begin at 8:45 p.m. The race will feature a number of Liberty track & field alumni, headlined by the program's first NCAA Division I national champion, Heather (Sagan) Zealand.
Other alumni expected to compete include former Lady Flames Rebecca (Parsons) Boles, Jacy Christiansen, Khristina Kanagy and Marie Williams and former Flames Chris Poluikis, Cory Reed, Jordan Whitlock and Clark Zealand.
Booking Flights to Florida
At this point of the season, it appears that eight Liberty athletes are bound for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet, which will take place May 26-28 in Jacksonville, Fla. These include the following:
Women's 5K – Ednah Kurgat
Women's Shot Put – Mychelle Cumings
Men's 400 Hurdles – Ryan Davis
Men's Triple Jump – Darrel Jones
Men's Pole Vault – Carson Waters
Men's Discus – Fred Fulton
Men's Javelin – Steve Feister
Men's Javelin – Denzel Pratt
The Liberty Twilight Qualifier and the Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships will mark the Flames' final two opportunities to add to this list.
Big South's Best
With less than a week remaining until the 2016 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Liberty tops the Big South Conference performance list in the following events:
Women's 400 – Erin Edmond – 54.26
Women's 800 – Delaney McDowell – 2:08.59
Women's 5K – Ednah Kurgat – 15:48.63
Women's 4 x 400 Relay – 3:42.24
Women's Shot Put – Mychelle Cumings – 49-5
Women's Heptathlon – Erika Jackson – 5,056
Men's 400 – Stephen Racanelli – 47.71
Men's 800 – Michael Todd – 1:51.11
Men's Steeplechase – Josh Showalter – 9:11.20
Men's Pole Vault – Carson Waters – 16-9.25
Men's Discus – Fred Fulton – 173-5
Men's Javelin – Steve Feister – 234-7
