Men's Track and Field | 3/28/2021 11:28:00 AM

    ROCK HILL, N.C. – The West Liberty University men's and women's track teams made their presence felt over the weekend with a strong showing at the adidas/Winthrop Invitational.
    Coach Justin Simpson's Hilltoppers were one of 17 teams in a strong field including several NCAA Division I squads from as far away as Western Michigan in the event hosted by Winthrop (N.C.) University at the Eagles' 1,500-seat Irwin Belk Complex.
    Hannah Kemp and Hailey Carreon set school records on the women's side while Tavian Richardson brought home a win in the 800 meters for the win as several West Liberty thinclads took advantage of the opportunity to shoot up the charts on the Mountain East Conference performance list.
    Kemp, fresh off her MEC Runner of the Year Award in last weekend's MEC Cross Country Championships, shattered Sherry Borsos' 10-year-old school record in the 5000 meters with a time of 17:39.54 – the fastest in the MEC this spring by nearly three minutes.
    Carreon also added her name to the West Liberty record book with a brisk 15.34-second clocking in the 100 Hurdles. That broke Tamara Bumgardner's previous standard of 15.89 seconds from the 2018 outdoor season.
    Kelsi Hulit placed in the discus competition with a solid throw of 43.10 meters (141 feet, 5 inches). Just three feet shy of her own school record, it's the best in the MEC this spring by nearly 25 feet.
    Richardson's win at 800 meters highlighted several strong performances on the men's side. Richardson's winning time of 1:54.87 fell just short of Bruce Cox's school record of 1:53.10, which has been on the books since 1976, but is easily the best in the MEC thus far. No other conference runner has gone under two minutes yet.
    After this weekend, the Hilltoppers now have the top four times in the men's 5000 meters. Phil White came home in 15:04.74 at Winthrop to lead the way while Brenden Sands notched his first sub-16 minute 5K with room to spare in 15:54.18. Jared Ullom's time of 16:08.50 puts him No. 3 in the MEC this spring with Cole Wright fourth at 16:12.68.
    In the field events, Cory Wyttenbach cleared 1.95 meters (6 feet, 4.75 inches) in the high jump, which is second-best in the conference this spring while record-setting decathlete Adam O'Donnell cracked the top five in the high jump, long jump and javelin events.
    The Hilltopper men and women will be back on the hilltop next weekend to host the university's first-ever home track meet. The inaugural West Liberty Invitational gets under way Saturday morning at the West Family Athletic Complex.