LEXINGTON, Va. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's and Women's Track and Field Teams returned to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the second-straight weekend to participate in the VMI Invitational.
The Bears lone victory from the weekend came in the men's 4x400-meter relay. The group of Olawole Olanrewaju, Clarence McGill, Marcus Crumpler, and Bamidele Ajayi took the top spot with a recorded time of 3:16.62.
The most decorated meet of the weekend for the Bears was the 60-meter hurdles where LR placed three participants in the top five. Nick Tibolla posted the fastest time of the group with a second-place time of 8.37. Liam Sutton and McGill finished with a simultaneous time of 8.43, however Sutton got the edge for fourth place while McGill claimed fifth.
Sticking with the short track hurdles, Sharonda Priester recorded an eighth-place time of 9.42 in the women's 60-meter hurdle event.
In the men's 200-meter race, the Bears had two participants finish in the top five with Crumpler and Ajayi finishing in fourth and fifth, respectively. Crumpler, a junior out of Huntersville, N.C., nearly matched his personal best with a 21.86 posting. Meanwhile for Ajayi, the freshman recorded a time of 21.97 in his first collegiate 200-meter event.
For the women's 60-meter dash, Zanetta Udo-Obong recorded a seventh-place finish with a time of 7.85. In the preliminary events, the freshman notched a new personal best with a time of 7.78.
Shifting over to the field, the Bears had two participants finish in the top seven for the men's pole vault event. Mike Karicher, a junior from Annandale, Va., recorded a fourth-place result of 4.37 meters while Philip Stomne, a senior from Valbo, Sweden, finished in seventh with a 4.22-meter leap. Both results were season best for the two student-athletes.
On the women's side, Miranda Marr and Pearl Ballard each recorded ninth place finishes in their respective events. Marr, a junior from Powder Springs, Ga., tallied a leap of 1.52 meters in the high jump competition. For Ballard, the junior from Hendersonville, N.C. finished with a height of 2.96 meters in the pole vault competition.
The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's and Women's Track and Field Teams will return to action next weekend with another multi-competition slate. LR athletes will either compete at the VMI Winter Relays at Lexington, Va. or the South Carolina Invitational in Columbia, S.C. Both competitions will be two-day events beginning on Friday, Feb. 2.
