HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's indoor track and field team won its first conference championship in program history at this weekend's Mountain East Conference Championships.
 
The Hilltoppers earned 166.5 team points, outlasting Charleston, who finished with 148.5. Head Coach Justin Simpson was named Men's Coach of the Year by the conference.
 
West Liberty was able to hold on after building a 64.5 – 45 lead over UC through day one. The distance medley team posted a school and conference record hitting an NCAA provisional mark with a 10:01.57 and Reese Burnside won his second straight pole vault title clearing 4.70m highlighting day one. Read the full day one recap here.
 
The Hilltoppers got right to work in the early sessions Saturday. John Brown finished in fourth place with a 15.15m weight throw, earning five team points, then the high jumpers set the tone for the day sweeping the podium and more.
 
Not just did the WLU high jumpers sweep the podium, they captured places one through six racking up 36 team points. Liam Vinskovich won the event with a clear of 1.98m, while Dillon Meintel and freshman Dakota Thomas finished second and third after a tiebreaker, both going over 1.93m. Jeremiah Blackmore (1.88m), Daminn Cunningham (1.88m), and Dorde Donovic (1.83m) rounded out the Hilltopper clean sweep.
 
West Liberty wrapped up field action with eight points across three scorers in the triple jump. Brijaun Baylor leaped 12.78m on his last attempt finishing in fourth place. Jared Alphonso also had his best jump on the last try reaching 11.87m to place seventh. Gage Patterson had his meet-best on try number three jumping 11.85 to finish in eighth place and pick up the last available team point.
 
The Hilltoppers took two of the three podium spots in the 800m race collecting 14 team points. Tavian Richardson and Michael Harriman finished neck-and-neck with times of 1:54.37 and 1:54.47, respectively, to place second and third.
 
Freshman Hunter Patterson sprinted his way onto the podium in both the 60m and 200m earning 14 points for the Black and Gold. Patterson ran a 6.93 placing third in the 60m dash and followed with a second-place 21.98 in the 200m, breaking his own school record.
 
Danah Phillips also earned a bronze medal and six points with a 4:20.17 performance in the one-mile race.
 
The distance crew of Philip White, Ben Bumgarner, and Brenden Sands took three of the eight point-earning spots in the 3000m race boosting the team score by 10 points. White led the way finishing fourth with an 8:33.01, Bumgarner followed in fifth place with an 8:35.18, and Sands captured eighth crossing the line in 8:37.79.
 
In the final event of the weekend, West Liberty's 4x400m relay squad featuring Arthur Williams, Richardson, Marshall Cheatham, and Harriman placed third with a time of 3:20.87 resetting thier own school record set last weekend.
 
Cheatham, a freshman, also picked up a point in the 60m hurdles finishing eighth with a time of 8.58.
 
Jonathan Stout finished in seventh place in the heptathlon, which wrapped up with the 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m race Saturday.
 
West Liberty will begin outdoor season on March 16-19 in Charlotte, N.C.

Follow Hilltopper Track and Field all season online at HilltopperSports.com and on Twitter (@WLU_XCTF | @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_xctf | @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.