Liberty University
Liberty Collegiate Invitational
Smith, Pratt Sweep Javelin Titles
4/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty's Brenna Smith and Denzel Pratt swept the men's and women's javelin titles, highlighting a cool, breezy opening day of the Liberty Collegiate Invitational, Friday afternoon at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex.
The day also included a new facility record, as Olympic hopeful Andy Fryman reached 224-5 in the men's hammer.
Women's Day One Recap
Smith saved her best for last, as the sophomore threw a season-best 139-8 on the final attempt of the women's javelin competition to win by more than 12 feet. The New Jersey native now ranks No. 2 in the Big South this season.
Teammate Nicole Bishop, who is redshirting the 2016 season, placed third at 121-3.
All three of Liberty's women's hammer throwers achieved new personal bests on Friday, as Dasiana Larson placed third at 173-9, Catherine Oyarzun was fourth at 168-2 and Holly Arey came in sixth at 161-2.
Larson (No. 4), Oyarzun (No. 6) and Arey (No. 7) all rank among the top seven women's hammer throwers in program history. The No. 2 thrower on that list, 2015 graduate Jocelyn Williams, won Friday's competition at 176-4.
Through Friday's quartet of events, Audrey Bamford is second in the heptathlon standings with 2,770 points, while Jessica Harrison sits in eighth with 2,453.
In her first heptathlon of the season, Bamford recorded season-best marks in both track events, including the 100 hurdles (15.06) and the 200 (27.35).
Meanwhile, Harrison's day featured an outdoor personal-best high jump clearance of 4-11.5 and a career-best 200 dash time of 27.79.
Men's Day One Recap
Pratt was successful in the first home meet of his collegiate career, winning the men's javelin by almost 10 feet with a 205-8 throw in the final round. The freshman from the Bahamas has now won three of his first five javelin competitions to start the season, also including the Coastal Carolina Invitational and Winthrop Invitational.
Pratt's nearest competitor was teammate Zach Davis, who unleashed a season-best 195-11 heave for second place. Fellow decathlete Lewis Williams followed in fourth place, thanks to a season-best 148-4 effort.
In his first hammer competition of 2016, Fred Fulton reached 181-5 for third place in the event and second place on the Big South yearly list. Teammate Seth Lewis came in fourth at 144-10.
Freshmen Caleb Rider (third place, 3,072 points) and Michael Fairfax (seventh, 2,762) both made their decathlon debut on Friday. Rider enjoyed a big long jump personal best (20-8) and paced all of the decathletes with his 51.58 clocking in the 400. Fairfax's 52.41 effort in the 400 marked his top event of the day.
The Liberty Collegiate Invitational will resume Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with the heptathlon long jump.
