Men's Track and Field | 1/12/2020 11:49:00 AM

    MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Liberty University track teams swung back into action this weekend with a solid performance at the WVU Holiday Classic, hosted by West Virginia University at the Shell Building on the WVU campus.
    Coach Justin Simpson's Hilltoppers had multiple winners on both sides of the ledger as they kicked off what shapes up as a busy and promising indoor season.
    Here's a link to the full meet results: 2020 WVU Holiday Classic Results
    "Coming off such a long holiday break, I thought this was a nice 'rust-buster' for the team," Simpson said. "We had some good performances from our male sprinters and the distance team along with the relays. Even so, you could tell it was definitely an early season meet. We have some fine tuning to do going forward over the next few months but overall I was pretty pleased."
    Male winners included sophomore distance ace Phil White, back in action after sitting out the fall cross country season due to illness. White won the mile run with ease in a time of 4:35.82, nearly 10 seconds ahead of his closest pursuers.
    True freshman Anthony Smoot debuted with a win in the 60-meter dash, clocking a brisk 7.09 seconds. Junior Isaiah Robinson won the triple jump (14.35m) and also ran a leg on the victorious 4x400 relay team. Joining Robinson in the 4x4 were Jacob Pierce, Christian Oberdick and Adam O'Donnell.
    On the women's side, freshman Olivia Miller impressed with a school-record high jump of 5 feet, 4.5 inches (1.64 meters). It was the top mark in the MEC at this early stage of the season and a mere three-hundredths of a meter shy of an NCAA provisional qualifying height.
    Freshman Hannah Kemp also came up big for the women with a runaway victory at 3000 meters. The first-team All-MEC cross country ace finished in a time of 11:18.61, almost a half-minute ahead of the second place runner.
    Sophomore Kelsi Hulit won the shot with a heave of 14.35 meters and the WLU 4x400 relay team also prevailed. Hailey Carreon, Alexis Slusser, Aubree Story and Zayne Brakeall teamed up for a 4:36.13 clocking.
    The indoor season continues on Saturday with a trip to Marietta (Ohio) College for the Marietta Pioneer Open.