West Liberty University Athletics

    A multiple West Virginia Conference champion and school record-holder during his own West Liberty career, David Bell begins his fifth season as head coach for the Hilltoppers’ men’s and women’s track and field teams. Bell replaced Hilltopper Hall of Famer Tim Weaver after serving as a student assistant coach under Weaver during the 2009-10 season.
    The WLU track teams are coming off one of their best seasons in recent years. The men’s team finished a strong fourth at the MEC Championships with Cameron Benson (javelin) and Taven Rohrbaugh (800-meter run) claiming individual championships. Freshman Alexis Montes (javelin) was one of only three MEC women named to the All-Atlantic Region Team.
    A native of Cumberland, Ohio and an All-Ohio Valley Athletic Conference standout at Meadowbrook (Ohio) High School, Bell was one of the premier weightmen in the West Virginia Conference throughout his stellar four-year career from 2006-09.
    Bell won back-to-back titles in the hammer throw at the 2008 and 2009 WVIAC championship meets. His winning throw in 2009 sailed 160 feet, 4 inches – nearly five feet farther than the runner-up. Bell’s 2008 WVIAC meet was highlighted by a hammer throw of 166 feet, 8 inches. That was the second-longest hammer throw ever recorded at a WVIAC championship meet. Bell scored 24 points in the WVIAC championship meet over the course of his career and advanced to the finals of four separate events.
    Bell set a pair of school records as a member of the Hilltopper track team. He has the school record for the hammer throw – 167 feet, 4 inches (51.0m) – and the indoor weight throw – 51 feet, 7.75 inches (15.74m).